<p>My son has been accepted by both colleges and would like to pursue engineering, most probably mechanical engineering. He has not received any merit based financial aid from either college (yet). We do not qualify for need based financial aid.</p>
<p>Sincerely appreciate any opinions, ideas, suggestions etc.</p>
<p>Is there any advantage of going to MIT, if he wants to get exposure to some business courses in his junior/senior year?</p>
<p>Thank you very much.</p>
<p>Well, MIT has the Sloan school. I talked to a Sloan prof the other day, and he said that the Sloan school, unlike the HBS with which he is also familiar, is very entrepreneurial because of the importance of engineering at MIT. I assume that the presence of the Sloan school also has an impact on what engineering students study and research. My feeling is that it is highly practical and marketable. This is not to describe what goes on at Caltech, with which I am not familiar, just to give my impression of MIT.</p>
<p>Economics is now a major at Caltech too. Many students are finding field fascinating, and then applying for internships at i-banks & the like. Ben G. posts frequently on Caltech board, and econ is his major. In addition, many grads do start-ups & employ UGs. Ask for Ben on the Caltech board.</p>
<p>Caltech offers merit scholarships for upperclassmen. Such awards vary from 1/2 tution to everything. They grant $1M a year. GPA, research, ECs are included in the evaluation. Kiplingers lists Caltech as #1 in value. I think what has helped my S is that he earns good money for his campus jobs.</p>
<p>Congrats to your S. I hope he visits. His education and opportunities for hands-on experience will be great at both schools. The rest is "fit".</p>
<p>My impression is that the differences in the educational opportunities at the two schools are microscopic compared to the vast differences in size, location, environment, etc. You can't really go wrong either way; it's a wonderful dilemma. I think MIT has much broader offerings in non-engineering and hard science fields, in part because of its size, but if your son really knows he wants mechanical engineering he wouldn't necessarily plan to take advantage of all that breadth anyway, and Cal Tech's offerings in economics and finance would be fine (and likely to be pitched to his interests). </p>
<p>Given the huge obvious differences between the schools, I think it's impossible to be indifferent between them on that basis, and I can't imagine that one or two courses he might take in a few years ought to make enough difference to change his mind in either direction. If he likes MIT better, that would be another reason to confirm his choice, but if he likes Cal Tech better it would be more like "of course, MIT has some good qualities, but . . . ."</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your response.</p>
<p>How easy is it for undergrads to take courses at Sloan?</p>
<p>Also, can anyone discuss the non-academic life at both schools? Thanks.</p>
<p>Courses at MIT are courses at MIT: students sign up for them and take them. It's all one school, "Sloan" isn't a separate school. If a Course 2 (MechE) student wants to take a Course 15 (Management/Business) class, they just sign up for it and get their advisor to sign off on their course schedule. (Pending things like having satisfied pre-reqs, fitting it around required courses for their major, etc.)</p>
<p>Short answer: it's easy.</p>
<p>Girl/Guy ratio is a lot different too right? I don't know if that's a factor for you, it was a huge factor for me when I was applying.</p>
<p>Thanks, mootmom.</p>
<p>Who would be more entrepreneurial among engineering students? Those at MIT or those at Caltech?</p>
<p>There's been an argument that it's those at Stanford. ;), I'd give the edge to MIT there historically over Caltech, (which may be more a function of size), but past performance doesn't guarantee future performance. However if you are interested in lists of companies founded by the two schools start here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=30761&page=6%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=30761&page=6</a></p>
<p>
Having looked at both schools in the last few years, I agree with this statement. The differences seem to be more along the lines of social issues, location, size (Caltech is really pretty small), gender balance. I think Pasadena is prettier than the MIT campus (sorry!) and the weather is better, but MIT strikes me as more well-rounded.</p>
<p>NUM83R5 I suggest that your son go to CPW (campus preview weekend) at MIT. He'll get a good sense as to his 'fit' and probably have a fantastic time as well.</p>
<p>
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I think Pasadena is prettier than the MIT campus (sorry!)
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Haha, I don't think this is an opinion -- I think you could make a good case for it being a fact. :D</p>
<p>Yeah, but the MIT campus has a good personality!!</p>
<p>It's not just size and beauty (or lack thereof): </p>
<p>MIT is in the middle of an exciting, student-oriented city with a good public transportation system. Cal Tech is in the distant suburbs of an exciting but diffuse city with barely any public transportation to speak of.</p>
<p>MIT explicitly considers diversity in admitting its classes, Cal Tech explicitly eschews that. (Something that may account for a teeeeeny-weeeeeny portion of that gender-ratio difference.)</p>
<p>MIT has lovely snow, ice, and slush for part of the year. Cal Tech just has super-boring sunshine and blooming flowers.</p>
<p>MIT is probably 4-5 hours by car or train from the OP's home. Cal Tech is a 6-hour flight, and then probably a 4-5 hour cab ride from the airport. (Joke! Joke! Don't shoot!)</p>
<p>MIT is a couple miles from Harvard and Wellesley. Cal Tech is about 15 miles from the Claremont Colleges.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Noam Chomsky doesn't have tenure at Cal Tech.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Cal Tech is a 6-hour flight, and then probably a 4-5 hour cab ride from the airport. (Joke! Joke! Don't shoot!)
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As a native So Cal girl, this is fact, not opinion!</p>
<p>
[quote]
On the other hand, Noam Chomsky doesn't have tenure at Cal Tech
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</p>
<p>But he must be so busy penning another diatribe or pontificating to the converted that he is probably not much of a fixture on the MIT campus.</p>
<p>I was actually pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to from LAX to Pasadena even at rush hour. (Less than an hour.) The public transportation options weren't too awful either. You can get downtown now, which was not true in my day. The nice thing about Caltech is you drive an hour you can be at beach, mountains or dessert. Pasadena has lots of shopping and restaurants though it's gotten a bit upscale for my taste. If you like Spanish Colonial revival architecture (which I do) I think it's the prettiest campus I know of. It's beautifully landscaped and I like it's (mostly) small scale.</p>
<p>But I also love Cambridge and Boston. And MIT has some interesting buildings even if it also has a few too many plain Janes.</p>
<p>
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The nice thing about Caltech is you drive an hour you can be at beach, mountains or dessert.
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Hey, from MIT it's an hour to Cape Cod and 2 hours (if you drive fast and there's no traffic), to the White Mountains. And.....OK, maybe there's no dessert, but there is desert at Toscanini's Ice Cream. And you can walk there.</p>
<p>Such a nice, civil discussion!</p>
<p>Remember that ancient thread that became a, shall we say, vigorous, certainly lengthy, exchange between Ben Jones and Sakky about grading practices at Caltech ... are those issues still relevant?</p>
<p>I suspect it was Ben Golub (the Caltech student and former admissions office adjunct), not Ben Jones (the MIT admissions officer) who were arguing Caltech grades with sakky. But I could be wrong. (Hard for me to imagine BenJ in such an exchange, that's all...)</p>
<p>While there will always be good-natured poking and hacking/pranking between the schools, this goes with a lot of respect. Their appeals are different but I'm grateful they are available to students who will thrive at each.</p>