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<p>I don’t see MIT or CalTech in line with the OP’s question. CalTech is a great school if you KNOW engineering or comp. sci. is your thing and you don’t want humanities to get in the way.</p>
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<p>But the general public is, for lack of a better word, dumb when it comes to science, technology and engineering fields, so it really doesn’t matter if they know much about it. The people in those fields know about it and that is what matters.</p>
<p>^Haha. If you go to any Asian country, all the people know Caltech (up there with MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, and Harvard).</p>
<p>Has anyone said yet that you don’t just get into an Ivy engineering program because you have high stats? And/or are female. You have to prove out, there has to be some experience and pattern of interest.
Plus, there are thousands of applicants who are “pretty much off the charts in GPA and SAT.” And the rest of their apps speak very strongly to their fit.</p>
<p>@Penguinone sorry that is not what I meant. My point was that there is a small advantage when applying to engineering programs and may be able to squeak by if you dont have things like that (again not saying girls in general dont have them). These schools are crapshoots for most ppl and being a female in eng makes it a lil less of a crapshoot at places like mit, but plays no advantage to maybe Harvard or something. </p>
<p>I honestly think if someone is interested in engineering, the school does not matter as much (egalitarian field). The ivies have some decent programs (outside of cornell and princeton which are very good) and they wont hold you back. Chances are you may go to grad school and if your set on engineering then maybe goto a hardcore eng program for ur phd or masters.</p>
<p>Satancata, given your child’s academic interests (ranging from Engineering to Theater), and assuming financial aid is not required, there are several universities to consider:</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon University
Cornell University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (cross-register at Harvard for Theater classes)
Northwestern University
Princeton University
Rice University
Stanford University
University of California-Berkeley
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor</p>
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<p>MIT does a lot more than Brown does to ensure that all students get a well rounded education.</p>
<p>MIT is definitely very well-rounded. Caltech probably isn’t, but MIT definitely is.</p>
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<p>Brown is a liberal arts school and MIT is a technical institute. The student bodies are completely different. The MIT students are super techie and have been interested in tech stuff since they were in short pants. Brown students are much more well rounded and have broader interest.</p>
<p>Brown doesn’t force one to take a lot of specific classes but the opportunities are plentiful for those interested in other disciplines. That being said, I don’t think Brown has invested as much in their engineering program recently and the facilities are quite dated.</p>
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<p>If Brown students are like those at most colleges, most of the humanities and social studies majors are not very well rounded at all, taking the minimum (none in the case of Brown) possible math and science courses. Brown does include humanities and social studies requirements for engineering majors (presumably for ABET accreditation), but fewer than what MIT requires.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to see how many Brown students take courses that approximate those needed to fulfills MIT’s General Institute Requirements (including math, science, humanities, arts, and social studies).</p>
<p>The Brown curriculum lacking breadth requirements gives the student a lot of flexibility – but it does not ensure well roundedness.</p>
<p>I’m of the opinion that forcing people without broad interests to take wide-ranging requirements does not make them well-rounded - only those who have broad interests will ever actually absorb the ideas that a broad curriculum give them.</p>
<p>At MIT, the fact remains that most people are technically oriented. I know one humanities major from MIT, for example (the first I’ve ever met…) and he majored in something to do with media, and is now a video game developer.
At Brown, there are a mix of different types of people. You have humanities majors who, as you stated correctly, take the minimum STEM classes, and then you have a mix of STEM majors.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I think Brown does encourage you to take classes that sound interesting but are not your strong areas, with its highly-prevalent system of P/NP.</p>
<p>If you’re not sure about what schools to apply to, remember that rankings don’t mean as much as most people think (just because MIT is ranked number 1 in engineering doesn’t necessarily mean it’s superior to Stanford and such in that field). Most universities use the same (or very similar) textbooks, so you’re going to get the same information; the main difference is the experience. Obviously a technical school like MIT will have most of it’s resources aimed at STEM fields, and there are more opportunities to find research/lab opportunities and like-minded students (assuming you’re very big on science and math above everything else) than most other places.</p>
<p>There are people that prefer Cornell over MIT. I’ve met people that have turned down schools like MIT and Stanford to study engineering at Penn, for example (Penn’s undergrad engineering program is actually big on hands-on experience). Their reasons range from undergraduate experience, the way the program is set up, and opportunities for individuals (and these are your die-hard engineers that build robots and rockets for fun). Though most wouldn’t have made the same choice, they felt that it was right for them.</p>
<p>If you love MIT’s or Carnegie Mellon’s undergrad experience (just to name two schools with very strong focuses on engineering; I’ve been mentioning MIT a lot only because of how famous it is for its engineering prowess), go for it. Just do your research, and make the best choice that fits with your interests.</p>