<p>Interested in doing Econ and EECS. Trying to decide between these two schools. Grateful for thoughts on pros and cons, MIT vs. Harvard. Thanks.</p>
<p>It doesn’t get better than MIT for EECS.</p>
<p>For economics, both are great.</p>
<p>Have you visited both schools? Did you prefer the environment of one over the other?</p>
<p>Academically, of course, Arch3r25 is right – MIT’s EECS department is considerably stronger than Harvard’s, and the econ departments are both outstanding. But you should make your decision based on which school made you feel more at home.</p>
<p>If really into EECS, I would go to MIT over Harvard any day, and you almost SHOULD feel more at home there anyway! Else, frankly, you may not even be an EECS person at heart. Trust me, I come from a school that is a big hotspot for EECS, and I know what those guys are like – generally would be some of <em>the</em> best fits for MIT.</p>
<p>Edit: Also know a graduate student in math at my school who studied EECS, econ, and math at MIT. Again, if you’re anything like this guy…you really should feel at home in MIT. </p>
<p>Coincidentally, I think this graduate student was in Mollie’s year at MIT.</p>
<p>As has been said, the economics departments at both Harvard and MIT are top-notch. However, a big difference for undergrads in the two departments will be the interests of students with whom you interact on a daily basis. </p>
<p>I believe that Economics is the most popular undergrad concentration at Harvard, followed by Government and Social Studies. Many of the more technically-inclined undergrads concentrate in applied math instead. In contrast, MIT economics has very few undergrads, and most of your friends would be studying very technical subjects (since humanities and other social sciences don’t figure as prominently at MIT). Both government and technical subjects (like CS or math) are complementary to economics, but they’re for very different crowds. </p>
<p>Since you’re interested in CS, is it fair to guess that you’d prefer your daily interactions to be those on a similar, more technical, wavelength? If so, I would think MIT would be a better fit. Also, Econ + CS is a rare combination (and very appealing to both industry and Econ PhD programs), and combining MIT’s strengths and both would make it all the more valuable!</p>
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<p>According to the stats I have, econ is a fairly popular major - has more undergrads than chemistry and only slightly less undergrads than materials science and engineering. Not to mention that a lot of people do their HASS concentration in econ and often expand it into an econ minor.</p>
<p><a href=“Statistics & Reports | MIT Registrar”>Statistics & Reports | MIT Registrar;
<p>Thank you all for your kind responses. I really appreciate your input. It’s very helpful. I attended CPW and enjoyed it. Going to H this weekend. Then decision time. Anyway, best wishes to you all.</p>
<p>Thanks Piper. </p>
<p>But to put it in perspective, that’s ~80 of 4,000 = 2% of MIT’s undergrads majoring in economics, vs 15% at Harvard [The</a> Harvard Crimson :: Opinion :: Economic Surplus](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=523697]The”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=523697). At Harvard, government and another social science (psychology) round out the top three most popular majors (and social studies is up there too), accounting 33% of the student population right there. In contrast, the combined HASS majors at MIT make up less than 5% of the undergraduate population, even though HASS includes not just the social sciences, but also the humanities and media studies. With such an extraordinarily difference distribution of the student body studying economics and the social sciences, I think it’s inevitable that you’d likely come out of MIT economics with a different perspective than you would Harvard, and this might at least something worth considering.</p>
<p>I’m a senior at MIT and i love it and its so close to harvard that we have the same college life (hang out in the weekends) except that at MIT we learn a lot more… that’s just me… half my friends at MIT got into Harvard… I don’t know…</p>
<p>I don’t really think the total population matters that much. In your major, you want people to tool with, and 80 people will certainly be enough (not to mention the many people who minor in that field or take classes in it otherwise).</p>