<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 Caltech (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>We've got one of the best econ departments and business schools in the country, so that probably fits in with him. He could also major in 2A, which is MechE but with a concentration in another department -- so he could do 2A with management (15), and get a bunch of business classes.</p>
<p>I've always thought of Caltech as the best school for pure science, and MIT is the best school for engineering. Also, Sloan is an awesome business school, so I'd recommend MIT for business, too.</p>
<p>MIT is engineering, and engineering is MIT.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that answers from this forum will very likely be biased towards MIT, by the way.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your son! Being accepted to both is a great accomplishment!</p>
<p>Have you checked out Olin at all?</p>
<p>mathwiz, it's too late to apply to Olin for this year. ;) NUM83R5's son was accepted at and is deciding between MIT and Caltech, so for the purposes of this discussion, Olin is off the table.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your response.</p>
<p>sran - Good point.
Fermion - Are undergrads allowed to take courses at Sloan?
mathwiz - Yes, we did check out Olin, but he felt it was too small.</p>
<p>Any other viewpoints?</p>
<p>Yep, Sloan does both undergraduate and graduate business. Here's the website for some more information.</p>
<p><a href="http://mitsloan.mit.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://mitsloan.mit.edu/</a></p>
<p>Go to Academic Programs -> Undergraduate Program for more specific information about the undergrad program. I'm not even a student at MIT, so I don't know much more, though.</p>
<p>Whoops, sorry, missed the fact that you've already applied. My bad.</p>
<p>It appears from what I've seen MIT is considered a better school for engineering in general, although CalTech is also very strong. I don't want to study engineering so I'd never looked until today. The one of two people I know who is currently studying engineering did a double major in mechanical and aerospace as an undergrad (actually a triple major with German added) and then decided to go to MIT for graduate school. So I guess he also thought it was a little stronger academically.</p>
<p>Sloan would definitly be a tip factor toward MIT in my mind.</p>
<p>But maybe they're both so good academically it would be other subtle factors like campus atmosphere or the variation in course offerings that would make the difference?</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses.</p>
<p>Who would be more entrepreneurial among engineering students? Those at MIT or those at Caltech?</p>
<p>To echo others: Yes, undergraduates can take courses at Sloan.
Again echoing others: MIT and Caltech have very comparable academic environments. Seriously consider other factors in your decision.</p>
<p>Regarding entrepreneurialism, this is not a focus area of mine so I am not the best source. However, I know there are a lot of product classes and design classes designed specifically around developing initial products and then carrying them forward. I was at a event for choosing your major a while back, and one of the panelists had done 2A with 15 and was founding a company. I read in the tech about several course VI people going into startups too. I cannot offer a comparison with Caltech because I don't have the data.</p>
<p>An entrepreneurial engineer is a better academic fit at MIT than Caltech. But visit both to see how you like the cultures at each and which one fits better personally too.</p>
<p>My child's physics teacher believes that Caltech would be better for her over MIT because she likes theoretical math/physics, and MIT has more focus on engineering. This teacher's reasoning suggests that your son might be happier at MIT.</p>
<p>For other applicants: Please note that while MIT has incredible engineering, we also have incredible theoretical physics etc (CTP, Guth, etc are massive theory engines). MIT offers choice: engineering and theory of equal absolute quality, as opposed to just one strong program.</p>
<p>Right, but the Caltech culture is more sympathetic to theorists, and research opportunities in theoretical physics are probably more accessible. But MIT is also a great place.</p>
<p>Also, Caltech engineering is plenty strong. I'd just choose MIT if I were optimizing for engineering.</p>
<p>My sincere gratitude to everyone who responded. Thank you very much.</p>
<p>We stole their cannon! 'Nuff said</p>
<p>YARRRRRRR ;)</p>
<p>The only way to really know is to visit both schools.</p>