<p>Hey! Whilst I have long been the biggest dissenter to this sort of threads, for the mere reason that fit is subjective, I am currently in a significant quagmire! I recently learned that I was admitted into Harvard College, Stanford University, The Management and Technology Program within the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I have no idea what choice to make from these.
I would appreciate any insight into the relative merits, and demerits of these undergraduate programs. Ideally I would like to double major in Engineering and Business/Management Science. With this in mind, the M&T program obviously takes the lead. However, I want more of an intellectual undergraduate program as opposed to one which is overtly preprofessional. With my STEM bent, MIT is also a big contender for the simple fact that it is the best engineering school in the world (I would double major in course 10 and 15 if I matriculate) as is Stanford University( Chemical Engineering with Submatriculation into the Management Science Program). However, I also love intellectual breadth and as such Harvard represents an ideal location.
Please offer any advice you can. I anticipate a lot of Visit both and determine your fit which is valid. I intend to do that. So other than that, what other advice can you render?
Thank you so much for reading this and for taking your time to help. Much appreciated.</p>
<p>PS, Im posting this on all the schools forums as well.</p>
<p>How important is it for you to double major in Business/Management Science? Harvard offers neither. It also doesn’t allow double majoring.</p>
<p>If they are not that important, and engineering would be your main focus, I think MIT would be considered less because you want intellectual breadth, and the breadth Harvard offers is worth studying in only a marginally lesser engineering department, Imhotep.</p>
<p>A bachelor of science degree in engineering requires 20 half-courses at Harvard, and adding on to that general education requirements, it will be very difficult to pursue a secondary in economics at the same time, which requires 6 half-courses of its own. You won’t be able to take very many interesting courses outside of your concentration or take advantage of the wide breadth of the different course offerings in other departments.</p>
<p>Economics department ordinarily does not participate in dual concentration. Secondary concentration is minor, not double major.</p>
<p>Also, the feel of Harvard is pretty different from pure engineering schools like MIT, because one is strictly science/math focused while at the other, there would be an equal number of people majoring in the humanities. Not too familiar with Stanford or the UPenn program, but definitely visit, talk to the department faculties at each of these schools, sit in on some courses, and get a sense of the different atmospheres.</p>
<p>If you spend time at Harvard for 5 years, it is possible to double major in engineering and economics, and still take interesting courses outside of your concentration?</p>
<p>Personally I would bring it down to the type of academic atmosphere you like. Stanford’s chill, highly intellectual atmosphere. MIT’s intense, but incredibly high end world. M&T’s highly professional, career oriented success model. I would say that for your interests, Harvard takes a backseat. Personally, I would take Stanford, but that’s only because I feel I am Stanford type of person.</p>
<p>@yowman - No, Harvard doesn’t work that way. You can’t spend more time to get more “majors” or such. Once you hit 32 courses, you graduate.</p>
<p>@kimathi - If you really want a double major in business and engineering, you shouldn’t go to Harvard, as Harvard doesn’t offer that path. However, if you want to study engineering and have experience running a business - there are a plethora of ways to do that at Harvard (i.e. run a business at Harvard Student Agencies, become Business Manager of The Crimson, do a startup over a summer, etc).</p>
<p>Note that if you disqualify a school outright because it doesn’t have a specific major, you’re going to feel pretty silly when you succumb to the statistical likelihood that you won’t end up majoring in it anyway.</p>
<p>For your interests, biomedical and finance- I’d say Penn M&T and MIT. MIT has an excellent econ department and I think you could take some classes to get a solid foundation in that. Recruiting for Wall Street is the best at Penn M&T but Stanford and MIT are better engineering schools overall than Harvard and Penn. For biomedical engineering in particular, Penn and MIT have the best programs.</p>
<p>a few years ago, D was in the similar situation, deciding between H, Princeton, MIT and Penn M&T. (Many of her fellow M& T candidates picked Princeton ORFE or MIT, there were many cross admits between M&T and Princeton and MIT, not as much with Harvard) In the end, she picked H and has been very very happy. In Harvard, you could major in Applied Math with a focus on Econ which IMHO, has some similarities as Penn M&T. But you could go no wrong to pick any of the schools you are considering.</p>
<p>Wow, Ok I got into Princeton as well. Should I be considering the ORFE? I mean it is really good! But the fit?? Ok I am now more confused! Thought that is a very valid point. </p>
<p>I’ll look into Applied Math with a focus in Economics! That seems very much like what I am going for! </p>
<p>Though I want to do engineering, I do not see myself living as a practicing engineer so yeah! I just really love the skills you gain while studying engineering. Thanks guys, you are actually helping A LOT!</p>