<p>I am fortunate enough to have been accepted at both of these phenomenal universities. I want to study Computer Science but I would also like to take a few courses in Psychology, Economics and maybe Business etc.</p>
<p>I aspire to be an entrepreneur or venture-capitalist in the tech space someday, and would like to do an MBA after getting a few years of work experience following my undergrad.</p>
<p>I did not apply for aid at either of the universities, so that isn't a factor I need to consider. I visited both campuses in November and I liked Stanford's campus, weather and student energy more but I also loved MIT, especially the Media Lab. </p>
<p>I want a well-rounded experience, which Stanford is famous for, but MIT seems to have a slightly greater pedigree than Stanford. Another thing I am not sure of is the academic stress at MIT. I have heard that Stanford is a more fun place to be, while MIT can be extremely stressful. So how would you compare the social life at the two schools?</p>
<p>What would you advise me to do? I am an international applicant from India, if that helps. Thank you :)</p>
<p>Well, I have a few reasons. Firstly, even though you can argue that MIT might have a higher prestige than Stanford, I think that Stanford trumps MIT, overall.</p>
<p>This is because it is practically next to Silicon Valley. The sheer number of start ups and intern/job opportunities you can avail at Stanford are nothing compared to those at MIT, seeing that you are interested in entrepreneurship.</p>
<p>Thanks Tizil, I think you meant “The sheer number of start ups and intern/job opportunities you can avail at Stanford are FAR MORE compared to those at MIT”?</p>
<p>I think at this stage, it should be a matter of what impression do you have of yourself and which university do you see yourself to be a greater fit for.
Trust me, you won’t go wrong with either as both have unparalleled repute and quality, but one year down the line, it will be more about whether you like the atmosphere of the college or not. </p>
<p>If I were you, I would choose MIT, but an overwhelming majority would choose Stanford. Both are fabulous schools and I extend a hearty congratulations to you on your well deserved acceptances.</p>
<p>MIT is not in Iowa, it’s a 10 minute walk (granted i pace quickly) from Boston and for comp sci I would def. recommend MIT. will you work your butt off? absolutely! but i can tell you that as a graduate from MIT with a degree in comp sci, you will be more than set! best of luck in making your decision.</p>
<p>if you want low level stuff like algorithms, hardware …then mit is better. for higher level stuff… stanford is way better. so if you wanna make software ,go to stanford. if you wanna invent a programming language , go to Mit.</p>
<p>@compact: Algorithms is not low level stuff. It’s at the highest level of abstraction in computer science.
And I’m sorry, such a sweeping generalization about MIT being good in low level stuff and Stanford being good in software is outrageously inaccurate.</p>
<p>I know that nomenclature too, compact. Although I do not want to sound condescending or turn the flow of this discussion, algorithms still fall under high level abstraction barriers.
And to say that one university is good in half of Compsci and the other one is good at the other half, when both are ranked as #1 makes very little sense.</p>
<h2>Stanford University, whose alumni include William Hewlett, David Packard and other electronics tycoons.Stanford athletes won 25 medals, including eight gold medals, more than any other university in the United States.Endowment US$ 16.5 billion </h2>
<p>East Coast business powerhouse the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which boasts an $8 billion (£4.9 billion) endowment, remains a major player</p>
<p>It seems that Stanford word count in your post is more than MIT, so go for Stanford.</p>
<p>If you want to be an entrepreneur, Stanford is the place. MIT is serious hardcore school but despite the number 2 undergrad management school, they don’t seem to turn out those entrepreneurs. </p>
<p>Stanford has been promoting entrepreneurs since they started and know how to capitalize anything and everything. They are making a great return on their investments in their students’ startups.</p>
<p>im not saying good or bad.
all i am saying is mit’s CSAIL works much more on low level. while in siliconvalley …its more about applications and stuff.
i am not saying one is good and other is bad.
all i am saying that one has a slight edge over other in those 2 segments.</p>
<p>I want to thank all of you for responding and helping me as I try to make my final decision. These posts are definitely helping me measure the pros and cons (or rather, the pros and more pros) of both schools.</p>
<p>I would choose MIT. Despite my varied interests which would be sufficed by the broad education at Stanford, here’s why I would still settle down with MIT.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You mentioned you would like to be entrepreneur. By that premise the obvious choice would be Stanford. After all its in the Mecca where new companies come up almost every day and is home to one of the largest concentration of some of the most brilliant people. But still in this aspect I think MIT holds the edge. The reason is its education. It is a hard place and it’ll more than once that you will say the full form of the phrase IHTFP. Yet it will prepare you for your future challenges and the roadblocks and the hurdles you’ll face in your life as an entrepreneur. </p></li>
<li><p>The hacker culture. I know, the first glance at this, most of you will think this isn’t even a major reason. But according to me this is perhaps the single greatest reason why MIT is so different from other universities in its league. MIT students, at least the majority of the lot are playful, and there’s this creativity and ingenuity that infects a lot of people in the campus. They play around, fool with the laws of physics, making things purely out of fun, which often turn into an idea which in turn turns into a business model. There’s a reason why almost everything about MIT is somehow connected to engineering, be it their mascot the beaver or be it their cleverness in pulling off next to impossible hacks. I guess at MIT engineering transcends the boundaries of science and is applied to almost every field, after all majority of the ideas for financial engineering came from MIT. </p></li>
<li><p>The undergraduate education at MIT is for me, one of a kind. You can always go to MIT for grad school after finishing your undergrad from Stanford, but its not the same the other way around. MIT’s undergrad is this mix of adventure, heavy doses of education coupled with a jazzy feel of life. They literally live up to the popular phrase work hard and play harder.</p></li>
<li><p>You mentioned that you would want to take up courses in economics and business, well MIT has the best program for economics and also a very unique business school in Sloan. You would have the advantage of taking up courses that are very very math oriented. </p></li>
<li><p>It was estimated that if MIT were an economy, then if all the companies founded by people from MIT were put together, it would be the world’s 11 largest economy. I guess this speaks for itself. MIT grads have established so many enterprises and companies like Koch, Bose, and of course Intel. </p></li>
</ol>