<p>DD wants to double major if possible or a major in Computer Engineering and minor in Economics.
Which would be a better choice career wise MIT or Princeton?
She will be a full paying student at both.</p>
<p>Princeton doesn’t allow double majors. You can minor, although they call it a “certificate”. Check out Princeton’s ORFE major- combines economics and computer engineering stuff. I’m not real familiar with it since my D there is a humanities person. But, I have heard that the ORFE is tremendous. Of course, the economics and the Computer Science departments are outstanding. </p>
<p>I know virtually nothing about MIT- but I am quite familiar with Princeton. I am an alum '77 and my D is a freshman there now. The campus is not only beautiful, but incredibly safe. The town is safe. My daughter describes life there are a little bit of a “bubble”- meaning she doesn’t get much chance to go into NY or Phil, even though they are close. There’s just too much work and stuff to do on campus. My experience years ago was the same.</p>
<p>pipmom: Thanks, I did hear about it and seems like 30% of Pton engineering students graduate in that.</p>
<p>How does that compare to MIT 6-3 with Minor in Management Science from Sloan School of Management at MIT?</p>
<p>I can’t hep you there. I now there are a few ORFE students answering Princeton questions over on the Princeton board. Perhaps they have a better feel for this. </p>
<p>Will your D go to the admitted student weekend at Princeton? I bet she can get some very good answers to this type of question then.</p>
<p>She should go to both admitted student weekends and get a feeling for the social life. The two schools have very different cultures. That may be a more important consideration than which school will be better for her future career. She will have wonderful opportunities coming out of either school.</p>
<p>We have already booked ourselves to attent MIT CPW from April 16th thru April 20th. I’m looking into the possibility of staying over till April 26th in Princeton.</p>
<p>Neither is better than the other. She should choose which one she wants, for whatever reasons. That’s my opinion.</p>
<p>They will both be good schools to come out of, but I will go out on a limb and guess that Princeton will be the best undergraduate experience. That’s just my 2 cents from knowing people who went to both. I have never heard of an unhappy Princetonian but I have for MIT as undergrad. Visit both!</p>
<p>If you’re interested in CS and econ then ORFE seems like a good fit-- it also involves a lot of statistics and modeling. Both departments are good- econ is a bigger department, but ORFE and CS are relatively small, leading to a lot of student/professor interaction. Students from all three departments (ORFE/CS/ECON) get very good jobs out of undergrad (or at least did before the financial crisis, I’m not sure about this year). I’m sure the same is true of MIT. </p>
<p>Having gone to princeton for undergrad and then MIT for grad school, the two schools have completely different feels. Personally, I loved my time at Princeton, and the more time I spend at MIT the happier I am that I chose princeton for undergrad, but that’s just my personal opinion. Both schools are great places, and you will get a good education in econ and cs in either of them.</p>
<p>Princeton mom and alum here. Concur with the wise folks. It’s about the feel. Either place is fantastic. City? Suburbs? And perhaps whether your D is more apt to end up in general management or on the senior technical track. Eric Schmidt of Yahoo, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Meg Whitman used to be of eBay, as well as the CEO of Pandora are all Princeton people. It tends to both attract kids with social skills and foster those social skills.</p>
<p>If she is a hardcore techie, she should go to undergrad in Princeton and doctorate at MIT. That is a better combination than doing both at MIT. If she is not a hardcore techie, (as in she wants to do engg now but switch to something non-engg later), Princeton is a better choice. Net-net: Princeton over MIT -:)</p>
<p>
Is it? A large number of MIT alums would beg to differ – MIT is the most common graduate school destination of MIT undergrads, and it’s a big honor to be “MIT cubed”, or to get your bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD from MIT.</p>
<p>In MIT’s defense, I think MIT provides a fantastic undergraduate experience. I think the deciding factors between such great schools should definitely be social and fit-related. MIT and Princeton are different places.</p>
<p>I’m going to join Mollie in defense of MIT. My athletic, outgoing, and proudly geeky daughter can’t imagine being anywhere else. I have been particularly impressed with undergraduate advising at MIT, not to mention the level of teaching. I think that she has had only one graduate student and one post-doc teaching a discussion section. All the rest have been full professors, and she says that they are so excited about teaching! Plus the research opportunities are boundless.</p>
<p>I do know someone who was not particularly happy at Princeton, so universal bliss does not exist there any more than on any other college campus. It’s really about finding the campus where you feel you fit in.</p>
<p>molli>>Is it? A large number of MIT alums would beg to differ – MIT is the most common graduate school destination of MIT undergrads,</p>
<p>No need to beg. I would grant you that. You are proving my point. Point is MIT offers superior doctorate program for technical areas. So an undergrad at MIT would choose MIT for follow on education. But the comparison is: is MIT-cubed better experience than Princeon-MIT-squared experience. Since OP is looking for split hair’s difference anyways, I am offering an alternate views here. And if his D was not to pursue a technical area ultimately, and go to business/wallstreet, etc. one could argue Princeton is better than MIT. I agree w/ Marin Mom that social fit is more important than relative differences in college prestige when it comes to MIT and Princeton.</p>
<p>DD informed that she will be able to attain advance standing at Princeton becuase of her APs. Will that be of any help as MIT doesn’t extend credit to more 2 or 3 APs?</p>
<p>"How does that compare to MIT 6-3 with Minor in Management Science from Sloan School of Management at MIT? "</p>
<p>I can’t comment on the comparison, but keep in mind that the Economics Dept at MIT is within the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. While there is an economics component to the Sloan School curriculum, it is not the same as a minor or double major with the Economics dept.</p>
<p>Can’t answer that question ParentofIvyHope but my son currently attending princeton was also granted advanced standing for his APs. In his first year it was offered to study abroad since he had numerous AP credits. But he choose to stay and the extra units allowed him to take additional classes he might not have taken. He has thoroughly enjoyed his years there, with similar interests as your daughter.</p>
<p>And he too was admitted EA to MIT & CalTech. He was able to make a decision after his visit to BOTH schools. </p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>It depends on what “advanced standing” buys her. </p>
<p>In the UC’s it means that you get priority for class registration - a big deal at UC, where it can be hard to get classes, but I can’t imagine that will be a problem at Princeton. It certainly doesn’t seem to be at MIT. Will be able to graduate early, and does she want to do that? Will she be able to avoid taking some distribution requirements that she really doesn’t want to take? Does it reduce the number of classes that she needs for her major? </p>
<p>While MIT doesn’t give much credit for AP’s, the AP’s are helpful for class placement, so, for example, she won’t need to re-take beginning calc if she has taken that AP. I believe that the physics and chemistry departments offer placement tests, so she might be able to place out of those classes. Keep in mind that most AP classes are just not comparable to the introductory college class, so it’s not easy to test out, even with a 5 on the AP test. </p>
<p>So while advanced standing sounds like a nice thing to have, I wouldn’t think that it would make or break the deal. I still maintain that the social fit will be the most important factor. Only your D is going to be able to make that call, and she should trust her instincts.</p>
<p>^^^: Thanks for the responses, it is just my DW and I are having second thoughts as now she got in at Princeton. DD seems to have more or less made her mind about going to MIT as she thinks it might be a better fit to her personality than Princeton.
I think we should just step aside and let her make this decision.</p>
<p>POIH, you are so right. Here’s how I looked at it when my D was making the decision. She had worked so hard - she had earned the right to make her own decision based on any criteria she chose, no matter how trivial or silly. Academically your D can’t go wrong.</p>