<p>I have been accepted to both of these colleges, and am in completely ambivalent position. I applied to MIT (MIT was my first choice) considering that it has an outstanding research opportunity for undergraduate students; but after watching videos of some MIT classes through Open-course-ware, I found that the interaction between students and faculty is virtually zero. It seems like a seminar or . </p>
<p>Im interested in physics. How is Haverford physics department compared to MIT?
Help me</p>
<p>Also accepted to Swarthmore and Williams (early write), but Haverford and MIT are my top two choices.</p>
<p>thats a hard comparison, two completely different colleges. Thats the type of choice which you are going to have to make based on what youre looking for in a college.</p>
<p>Definately MIT. The videos are usually around 40 minutes, whereas classes there are an hour or two, depending on the course. I think you'll have plenty of interaction with the professor in the second half of the class. Then again, I'm not a student there, so I can't say for sure.</p>
<p>wow if you're doing physics, MIT is the place for you.</p>
<p>All of the physicist rickoids who got into Caltech on a full ride is turning it down for MIT Physics Department. It's the best in this country. You really can't go wrong with it.</p>
<p>Moreover, it's hard to compare orange to apple. Tech school vs. liberal arts.</p>
<p>Physics and anything math or science oriented... MIT... basically anything else I'd say Haverford. It's a pretty sweet liberal arts school from what I hear. But if it's physics you're looking for.... you really can't go wrong with MIT.</p>
<p>Funny. I'm at Haverford and am applying to transfer to MIT. The physics program here is known all over academia. You cannot go wrong with Haverford if you're majoring in physics. I'm not sure if I want to major in physics, though. I'm still trying to make up my mind between math, physics and cs. I posted on the Haverford board, so you might wanna read that as well. Basically, I'm not overly thrilled about life at Haverford. That's not to say the programs aren't great, but I want a different atmosphere.</p>
<p>i know absolutely nothing about haverford as a school or its physics department. i am, however, a physics major here, of sorts, and feel like pointing out that the lectures posted on OCW are just that: lectures. they don't post tapes of recitations, which tend to have far more interaction. also, depending on which course you were looking at, that lecture could have 100 to 300 students in it (frexample, 8.03 and 8.01, the former being recommended/required for 8 and several other majors, the latter being a GIR) in which case i hardly fault the professor for not interacting with students much. other popular venues for approaching professors are office hours, the online feedback forms present on many class websites, or even just talking to them after class. lecture time is for lecturing, but they're not the sum of the class experience.</p>
<p>on a strictly personal note, i've had some truly outstanding professors here in the physics dept, both as instructors and as people i've worked with. quite literally, a professor's walked up to me in the common room before a colloquium and said "hey, you were awesome in my class last term. come work for me this fall as a TA?" compared to other departments, both by experience and by what i've heard, physics appears to be one of the better ones in this regard. my final bit on the matter would be that a lot of times, it's what you yourself make of it; i'm both lazy and tend to be busy, and so never make it to office hours, and often skip recitations, and i get by well enough. other people prefer to go and make themselves known, and reap the appropriate rewards. a little effort will probably get you all the attention you want, and that seems eminently reasonable in my book.</p>