<p>I have a big decision coming up choosing between M&T at Penn and Stanford.
I applied to Stanford SCEA and got in and i recently got into M&T. I plan on majoring in Chemical Engineering and either Finance/Economics depending on which university I choose. Stanford has always been my dream school, but the M&T program is giving me an offer hard to turn down. I think I will lean more towards engineering than business, so my question is how different are the engineering schools (with specific examples) because i hear Stanford is way better but no one has told me WHY. And what other things besides weather and atmosphere should I consider? Anything helps!</p>
<p>ps I am visiting both in these upcoming weeks.</p>
<p>If you are more interested in engineering, I would go with Stanford. There is a much more vibrant techie culture at Stanford. If you go to Penn, you will be drawn into the Wharton culture- New York Private Equity/Investment Banking. It is much less about fostering innovation than it is about financing and capitalizing from other’s innovation.</p>
<p>With all due respect, what makes you say that? Penn’s CS department is EXTREMELY entrepreneurial and creative, and Wharton also places a HUGE emphasis on entrepreneurship. And as a current M&T student, I find myself seriously driven away from banking and pushed into programming.</p>
<p>It’s not like Stanford is some haven of entrepreneurship. More Stanford engineers go into finance each year than go into engineering. Wall Street’s brain drain is a national phenomena, not one limited to Penn and excluded at Stanford.</p>
<p>Ninjandy, people say Stanford is better because it’s Stanford. Hands down, you should NOT make your choice based on which one is “better” for engineering according to rumor and ranking. You’re studying at world-class facilities either way.</p>
<p>You should ENTIRELY make your decision based on the intangibles. Penn and Stanford have pretty different campus environments, although both have extremely entrepreneurial student bodies. There is no one right choice for everybody, so this really comes down to where you feel better at. Since you’re visiting both campuses, I trust that you’ll come to a sound decision.</p>
<p>I assume that you’re coming to M&T Day? If so, hopefully I’ll get to meet you!</p>
<p>Uh, no, that’s not true. MIT has hordes of engineers who go into finance and consulting. Stanford does not; most actually go into engineering, most often in Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>Stanford is definitely “some haven for entrepreneurship.” The most prestigious venture capitalists line the side of campus (Sand Hill Road). There are tons of programs such as the [Stanford</a> Entrepreneurship Network](<a href=“http://sen.stanford.edu%5DStanford”>http://sen.stanford.edu). Tech fairs, speakers from Silicon Valley, entrepreneurship classes, etc. are all abundant. Entrepreneurship is the cornerstone of the university - what made it prestigious, its main claim to fame. It pervades the campus; you can’t escape it at Stanford.</p>
<p>From the Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs web site:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And there are lots of hyperlinks in that excerpt that don’t come through in the above quotation, so click through the links on the web site–or on the drop-down menus along the top of each page–to see things like this:</p>