MIT or Olin?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Basically the question is as stated-I have been accepted to both and now am in a (nice) dilemma. </p>

<p>My pros for MIT are:</p>

<p>Sloan
UROP
Student Involvement in Extracurriculars
Location
Job Placement (aka it's well established)
Environmental Activities (I'm an environmentalist)
Dorms (freshmen singles)
Overall Resources</p>

<p>My Cons for MIT:
Greek Life (not a fan)
Stress level?
Possibly large freshmen classes</p>

<p>My pros for Olin:
size (I'd like to be a valued member-MIT I feel would have no problem replacing me whereas I feel like people would notice if I disappeared from campus at Olin)
students (very friendly, helpful)
professors seem more down-to-earth and personable
student entrepreneurship (the Foundry at Olin)</p>

<p>My cons for Olin:
Location (suburban and 15 minutes from home)
Risk
Job Placement may not be as strong</p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

2

<p>lol, I like the username too.</p>

<p>First: CONGRATS ON OLIN!! That is super-impressive.</p>

<p>But anyways, I wouldn't worry too much about the Greek scene at MIT - I take it you mean that you're worried it's so big, but there are PLENTY of people who never pledge, and there are lots of service frats, etc...although someone who's actually on campus would probably give a much better/more accurate answer!</p>

<p>I also wouldn't worry about job placement from Olin too much...I mean, it's probably going to be a <em>little</em> below MIT, simply because MIT's name is so media-ified, but among most engineering employers/grad schools who know what schools are really good, Olin is going to be one of their big ones, I'm sure.</p>

<p>The main stickler is that Olin is FREEEEEE. So really, if I was debating at all, I would choose Olin because of that! Plus, it looks like you're leaning that way anyways... but of course, the best best way to know is to visit. I would visit MIT and see if it's really too big for you, and just check out the atmosphere. Colleges just have "feels", you know, and you gotta check 'em out.</p>

<p>YAY for two cents!</p>

3

<p>Random comment: You saw the dorms during CW, they were fantastic!</p>

4

<p>What do you want to study, sir (or madam)?</p>

5

<p>You'll still very much be an individual at MIT. Although there are about 1000 students in a cohort, once you break down into majors, it's a much smaller world than that. You'd also, of course, be invaluable to your living group, any extracurricular groups you join, and your UROP lab.</p>

<p>I agree that the Greek scene shouldn't be a worry. If you don't want to participate, that's totally okay -- there's no stigma attached to not pledging. If you don't want to join a fraternity or sorority, you'll just find a group of friends who are equally uninterested, and you guys can have fun doing other stuff.</p>

<p>If you don't want to be in big freshman classes, you have a couple of options. First, you could join one of the freshman learning communities (which I think sran can talk about). You could also choose to take one of the alternate first-year classes, like taking 18.023 instead of 18.02, etc.</p>

<p>To be honest, I never felt like the classes at MIT were too big. I mean, friends of mine at state schools were in lectures of 1000+! Our very biggest lectures are around 250, and lectures get smaller very rapidly as you move into your major.</p>

<p>I can't speak to stress level, because it's an individual thing. I hope you'll come to CPW and assess for yourself how stressed out the modal MIT undergrad is.</p>

6

<p>I dont know why people flip out about how big classes are. What's more important is whether or not the professors make time to see undergraduates. You're not going to be buddy-buddy with your professor while he/she is lecturing, no matter how small the class, if making friends with faculty is something that is important to you, you go to office hours. And every professor holds at least 2 hours of office hours (JUST for undergrads... really! they're not allowed to do anything else) once or twice a week.</p>

<p>So my classes this semester,</p>

<p>physics classes - one about 45 one about 70? I'm not sure, those are just estimates since only about 30 and 40 people show up on a lecture basis to each class.</p>

<p>biology - 300. yeah. we fill up the ENTIRE 10-250 lecture hall. </p>

<p>math - about 3 students. no, really. I think mabye 6 are registered altogether but a few weeks ago I was the only one who showed up. </p>

<p>Which of my professors do I know best? Actually, the 70 people lecture one. Cause I go to office hours.</p>

7

<p>actually, nothing beats doing research with a professor in the whole getting-to-know-them category. And MIT does that really well.</p>

8

<p>I would go with Olin: connection with classes at Babson for Business and Wellesley for Humanities and any other discipline offered. Olin scholarship and required internship, totally new campus, proximity to Boston, 20-30 mins. Free tuition for all students, plus work study and low student loans. Be Happy, choose Olin!</p>

<p>MIT: Stress level is among the highest in the nation.</p>

9

<p>^ But "stress" can be good or bad - I personally am a crazy masochist and enjoy being stressed and overbooked. Doing too much is waaay better than just chilling and doing nothing, in my opinion. Plus, most aspects of college are stressful no matter where you go - interpersonal stuffs, being away from home for the first time, etc.</p>

10

<p>this choice is seriously killing me</p>

11

<p>That's what makes spring break so appreciated :o</p>

12

<p>flip a coin.</p>

<p>actually, something that i heard works is pretending you're going to one for a while, and then seeing how you feel about it.</p>

13

<p>ah I'll give it a shot! The pretending thing I mean, haha</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
connection with classes at Babson for Business and Wellesley for Humanities

[/quote]

But MIT would have classes at Sloan for business and Harvard for humanities. Not, shall we say, particularly shabby.</p>

<p>And how is proximity to Boston a plus for Olin but not MIT? Haha, like a third of MIT students live in Boston.</p>

15

<p>First off, I want to say that this decision should be between you and your parents, and though you may love the people on CC (and they're amazing ppl), you should consider all replies w/ an open mind.</p>

<p>I went through this same deal last year and got in a major argument w/ the parents on where to go. In the end, they won out and I'm now at MIT. </p>

<p>I can't say I'm unhappy at MIT. After all, I got a great UROP my during the fall semester of my freshman year, picked up a lot of the same design/machining skills that I would've learned at Olin (though not through classes, just on my own time), and got a pretty good head start on my plan to major in MechE and Robotics (Course 2A), not to mention the fact that I'm quite happy/excited as a new fraternity member.</p>

<p>However, I'd have to say that the majority of the time I still think I would've enjoyed Olin more. I don't want to downplay the excellence at MIT, but there hasn't yet been a class here where the professor really got me excited about the subject. In fact, my experiences in Micro/Macroeconomics have been quite disappointing, almost horrendous. Finishing each pset felt like a chore and didn't seem to have much purpose. That may be because I just haven't started taking the right courses or just had a bad run of luck w/ professors. </p>

<p>In any case, I still keep in touch w/ a few CW group members of mine who ended up at Olin, and they're among the happiest college students I've talked to this year. Despite all the work, they really had a lot of fun through their classes, something I've yet to really experience (though hopefully soon <em>fingers crossed</em>). It just feels to me that Olin awards hard work a bit more than MIT. It's pretty frustrating sometimes to put forth your best effort on quizzes and psets and still end up missing a chunk of points, regardless of the curve. </p>

<p>Also, I think the teaching arrangement at Olin is an understated virtue of their system. Remember that their professors get 5-year (or was it 3?) contracts and have no chance at tenure (unless things have changed). To me, that means that they come in dedicated and focused purely on teaching. Maybe I've been reading the PHD comic too much, but I get the feeling a lot of times that the professors here at MIT are more focused on their own research and just don't put as much effort as they could in really teaching the students. </p>

<p>Again, just one guy's opinion =)
Hope you make a decision that'll make you happy. I think at this point that's the most important part.</p>

16

<p>
[Quote]

First: CONGRATS ON OLIN!! That is super-impressive.

[/Quote]
</p>

<p>It's funny there's no congratulations for MIT...</p>

17

<p>Thanks for the interesting perspective CrazyRay. I am surprised your parents pushed MIT on you. As a parent, the $130,000 scholarship is a HUGE plus for Olin, given their students are of similar caliber as MIT. My son is now trying to decide between MIT, CalTech and Olin. We decided for him to go to the admitted students weekends at MIT and CalTech, so he can get the same in depth view that he got from Olin at CW, and then make an informed decision, but in the end, it is HIS education and HIS decision. In terms of the money, I just want him to consider it as A factor, not the sole factor, but A factor. Fortunatly CalTech offered to pay his way for candidates weekend, but MIT didn't. Once financial aid offers come out from MIT and CalTech, again it will factor into the equation, not as the ONLY factor, but as A factor.</p>

18

<p>Well one thing is I got a $30,000 scholarship ($7500/year) already but it only applies for tuition, so the difference is already down from $130 to $100000</p>

19

<p>Congrats on the scholarship electron5! Even the money thing is a bit hard to evaluate though, because you have to look at it not just that you are saving 100,000 - 130,000 if you go to Olin, but also ask what that extra money buys you if you go to MIT or Cal Tech, that is to say does will it give you more opportunities to make that money back over you career. I don't know the answer to that question, but I am throwing it out there. My major concern about Olin is how can a 17 year old kid be absolutely sure they want to be an engineer, and only an engineer. I think a 17 year kid that is excited about science can honestly believe that he wants to be an engineer, go to Olin and get terrific training. However, that same 17 year old kid could go to MIT and CalTech and be exposed to some cool science that he didn't even know exisited and end up a physicist, mathematician, etc. Now, I now that can happen at Olin too, and all that kid has to do is go to grad school in a pure science, but is it less likely when the only majors are in the engineering disciplines.</p>

20

<p>Tgirl: At Olin you need to be pretty sure. I think that is why they have the selection processes they do. Having said that they have graduates that do change fields and feel that the experience will benefit them no matter what they do. I agree if you just go to Olin for the money it is a big mistke. You better love it and be prepared to be flexible. I think the schools are very different and that by this time a student/parents need to just huddle together and list the upside and downsides for either each choice. Obviously and hopefully the posters on a particular site are pro that school. But I really think that the risks of any chioce can be defined but not eliminated. Even at Olin and certainly at MIT if things did not work out a good student would have many transfer options. Nice to have such good choices. I am sure many folks are jealous.</p>