<p>Are there any current Harvard College engineering students here? I just got accepted and now I am debating between MIT and Harvard. Obviously the former is more famous for its engineering, but the problem is that I really don't know if I want to do engineering or just one of the pure sciences. If any current Harvard engineering student could PM me and tell a bit about his/her experience, I would really appreciate that.</p>
<p>Harvard engineering is awesome because it is within the context of a liberal arts degree, and they really play that up. If you have a diversity of interests, you will be enables (in fact required by Gen Eds) to have a good breadth of courses. Moreover, as there is both the SB and AB offered, you can go deeper into engineering if you so wish but also can have a degree that is more superficial if engineering is a major interest but not so much so that you want to devotes ll your time to it.</p>
<p>The natural and physical science here are also great, the chem and physical departments especially are know to be wonderful with great professor, interesting course offering and wonderful research going on. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.</p>
<p>I’m in a similar boat: not MIT, but Georgia Tech President’s Scholar versus Harvard for engineering. I’ll say I’m more likely to stay engineering, but if I change from engineering GT’s value diminishes. What more can you say about the SB engineering program at Harvard? How’s job scene for Harvard engineers?</p>
<p>harvard engineers can participate in mit campus recruiting. so access to jobs won’t be a problem.</p>
<p>no denying: “engineering” education at mit and gt is better. but at h you can cross register for classes at mit</p>
<p>choose h if it’s financially not a problem. if gt gives you a full-ride and you are sure you want engineering and don’t mind the tech bent campus and hotlanta, then gt all the way.</p>
<p>gt can also help you if you do extremely well in some cases - nomination for some fellowships etc. the competition at the high end at h is horrendous.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. Down to the wire here and looks like it is probably GT. I went to Visitas and just didn’t get anything positive about the engineering program…most students I talked to (even engineering students) said that the engineering program is trying, but it just isn’t there. Visitas was fun, but definitely more geared toward those who already know they’re going to H. I want to want to go to H, but I’m just not there. The lack of the Harvard Engineer is just a really negative. Just hope I don’t ever want to change my major from engineering or decide I want to go medicine.</p>
<p>ESPNgEEk,</p>
<p>My son will be going off to Harvard in the fall, and is double-majoring in engineering and classics. He spoke for quite a while a couple of weeks ago with folks from the engineering school at Harvard when we visited (we went the week before Visitas as the Visitas weekend just didn’t fit our schedule otherwise). The university is strongly committed to enhancing the program over the next few years. Increased and enhanced faculty, new facilities, new programs, heavier recruitment of students. The next few years may be a good time to be at Harvard for engineering.</p>
<p>Of course, for my son, because of his strong interest in classics, it may make more sense for him than for most engineering students. There are a number of schools (including Georgia Tech) to which he didn’t apply because they don’t have classics. Harvard, conversely, has one of the top classics programs in the country.</p>
<p>As well, I’ve spoken to a number of folks who went to Harvard for engineering, and one thing many of them tell me is that only a minority of folks who finish with a degree in engineering sciences from Harvard actually become working engineers, at least immediately. I forget the exact numbers, but something like 30% immediately go off and get a masters degree (which has been my son’s plan all along), and I imagine there are decent grad school opportunities for Harvard graduates.</p>
<p>However, even for folks who don’t go get masters degrees in engineering, it isn’t that their degrees go to waste. They often wind up with opportunities that arise from their engineering backgrounds, just not directly doing engineering.</p>
<p>For my son, a critical question that I asked him was, where do you want to be in 20 or 30 years? Without hesitation, he said, “the boss.” In other words, in corporate management. His thought is that a Harvard degree will help him to that long-term goal a little more than a degree from a good engineering school.</p>
<p>We should be able to judge the worthiness of that hypothesis sometime in the late 2030s, I figure. ;-)</p>
<p>Best of luck to you, no matter what you do. If you really want to be a great engineer, and that’s what you want to be doing in 20 or 30 years, Georgia Tech is a great school. If you want other options as you move through life, Harvard could be a better choice.</p>
<p>espngeek- my son said the same things you did in your last post, engineering students there said their departments were tiny/lacking, he also had the same impression of visitas, its purpose did not seem to be to get you excited about the school, My S went needing to be convinced that Harvard was the school for him and sadly they did not achieve this.</p>
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<p>I think your son is spot on.</p>
<p>Harvard Engineering is best for more sciency engineering fields like applied physics or material science. </p>
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<p>This is highly questionable unless you are going to go the corporate route completely and will be avoiding the entry-level engineering position. And, of course, if MIT is your other choice like in the OP’s case, it is completely wrong. </p>
<p>At the very least, talk to a real engineer first before making a judgement on which is more valuable.</p>
<p>Parents’ leadership Weekend was on SEAS-- esp how SEAS classes get their students involve very quickly in developing real world solutions to real world problems --the course that has highlighted was biomechanics where doctors from MGH present problems and the students choose which they wish to pursue with their “client”. Over the course of the semester they develop a solution and build a prototype and test the prototype. They have input from business school and soon the law school to create as close a realistic picture of a start-up as they can. The designs get IP and published. The kids had absolutely “drunk the kool-ade” and loved the courses and the profs. </p>
<p>It seemed as if the more grunt theory intensive fields may be not as strong. --at least that is one graduate student suggested…</p>
<p>Hmmm… Interesting reactions. Kind of like the reactions my son has been getting as he’s moved through the process of making his decision. One person (an engineer, if I recall correctly) told me that this was an IQ test, and the only correct answer was, “Harvard.” He put it in rather insulting terms. Others have denounced my son for even thinking, and me for encouraging him to think, that Harvard might be the way to go.</p>
<p>To clarify, his final choice came down to three schools, including Harvard. The first school has a very good engineering reputation, but also has a modest classics program (and thus, to careful readers, it’s clear that it wasn’t MIT, LOL). The second school has a very good engineering program, although not as large and comprehensive as the first school, and a very good classics program. And then there is Harvard, with all its good points and bad.</p>
<p>The first school offered full tuition, room, board, books and a stipend. The second school (possibly the best compromise) offered modest financial aid, but overall would have left my son or my family with many tens of thousands of dollars in student loans after five years (his intention from the start has been to obtain a masters degree immediately, before leaving school, which also figures crucially into the equation). </p>
<p>Harvard did not offer what the first school offered, but offered enough aid that he will finish school with no loans (and I will not need to take any out to get him through school). The difference between the second school and Harvard is on the order of around $50K over four years.</p>
<p>As I explained to the financial aid folks at the second school, I refuse to feel guilty if my son winds up going to HARVARD because their school is unaffordable.</p>
<p>We’ve spoken with all sorts of folks through the process, including a close family member with a nearly 40-year career as an engineer (His advice: send your kid to the best school to which he’s accepted, regardless of costs, loans, etc. So, I guess that makes him a vote for Harvard, although he was also skeptical of sending a kid to Harvard for engineering, so maybe that’s a vote for the first school? But he recognizes my son’s interest and excellence in the classics, and thinks that should be a consideration, so maybe that’s a vote for the third school? Or Harvard? LOL. At least, he acknowledged the difficulty of the question and, as he pointed out, “There are no bad choices, here.”).</p>
<p>Anyway, we’ve been offered opinions that are on opposite sides of the question, and many have offered their opinions rather vehemently. It’s like watching two sides violently insisting, “Two and two equal three!!” “No! That’s wrong! Two and two equal FIVE!!” Somehow, no matter how strongly they express their opinions, they can’t both be right. ;-)</p>
<p>My son recognizes that his final choice unavoidably compromises something. Life is sometimes like that. There are trade-offs in this decision. But, he spoke with the engineering faculty, and was heartened at the concrete programs being rolled out over the next two years. He also stayed in a dorm with a few engineering students, and found that, yes, these kids are actually learning real, live, engineering! And also that the opportunities afforded to them are really, really cool.</p>
<p>But at the end of the day, we think a degree from Harvard is ultimately more flexible, and will accommodate a wider variety of career paths, than a degree from a good public university with a strong engineering program.</p>
<p>notjoe – sounds like you should pick Harvard. OP – MIT is better bet for you.</p>
<p>Poster whose son wants to be boss – MIT undergrad followed by Harvard or MIT MBA is the best bet here.</p>
<p>Just figured I’d chime in with a relevant (at least I think) question. Does Harvard treat premeds who do engineering at H (or anywhere else) different than those who take a more traditional route. I ask this because I’m very interested in engineering (and Harvard) but I know that most eng. programs at any school are notorious for being harsh on the GPA.</p>