Hello everyone I was admitted to and am considering attending the following schools:
MIT - about 17k a year
Caltech - about 5k a year
Rice - About 12k a year
Harvey Mudd - About 6k a year (but includes loans)
Stanford - about 13k a year (18k if you don’t include work study and other such things)
Pomona - about 15k a year
UChicago - about 10k a year
Swarthmore - about 21k a year (very expensive, probably not going here)
My personal top 3 favorites are MIT, Caltech, and UChicago, but my parents don’t like UChicago so I probably won’t go there. Also I won’t get to visit since it conflicts with the MIT and Caltech admitted student weekends. Therefore my two main choices are MIT and Caltech. My parents like Stanford though because they think it’s the most prestigious. On the other hand, I don’t like Stanford that much, I only applied because my mother really me wanted to and I didn’t expect to get in. I may visit Rice if I have reason to but right now I don’t find it as appealing as MIT or Caltech and I’m trying to whittle down my list of choices. I love Harvey Mudd but my parents hate it because it isn’t prestigious enough for them. To put it frankly, they want me to go somewhere that they can brag about to people. Therefore their top 2 choices are MIT and Stanford.
I’m majoring in math, though all these schools have good academics so I’m not too worried about that. I’m a black female, I’m not sure if that should be a factor in my choice, you guys probably know better than me. I’m very shy, I definitely will not be partying or anything so that doesn’t really matter to me. I’d like to go to a place where the students enjoy learning and appreciate both STEM and the humanities/social sciences. I’d also like to have a single freshman year, not sure if that should be a factor in my decision. I’m originally from Southern California and I don’t like the cold but I guess I’d get used to it haha.
I’m about to visit MIT and will visit Caltech later this month, but there’s a good chance I’ll still be stuck between them after visiting so it would help to have some of you guys’ viewpoints. I’ve visited Stanford before and as I said before I didn’t like it that much (though the campus is very nice). I see Stanford as too fratty and pre-professional and entrepreneurial, but maybe I have the wrong view of things.
Also some of you guys might think Caltech is the clear choice since it’s cheapest (I also thought that at first) but my parents say they are willing to pay for MIT/Stanford since they view them as more prestigious.
I think you may have a hard time finding students like yourself at CT, especially those that are as interested in the Humanities as you will at MIT. MIT has a wider range of majors than CT, is far bigger than CT, and is located in Boston which is full of other smart colleges kids at Harvard, Boston U, etc. I believe MIT students can cross register at Harvard for some courses.
I think you’ll find your “people” easier in Boston than at a small U in Pasadena that is heavliy slanted toward the sciences.
Given the choice btw MIT and CT I’d choose MIT.
@dsi411 “I’d like to go to a place where the students enjoy learning and appreciate both STEM and the humanities/social sciences.”
Out of the three schools you and/or your parents want (MIT, Caltech,Stanford), Stanford fits that description.
MIT is well-rounded compared to Caltech, not as much as Stanford.
Also while Stanford has prominent fratty, pre-professional and entrepreneurial elements, it is much more than that. It is top across all fields (probably the most well-rounded university out there), and attracts also a big intellectual, quirky, shy types in addition to the typical silicon valley-entrepreneur-bro types. Stanford has in fact a very quirky and unique culture.
At the end of the day if your parents are only willing to pay for either MIT or Stanford you will probably have to choose one of the two (not a bad position to be in i might add haha).
MIT seems like the best compromise between what your parents want and what you want.
Other than the weather, one of the big differences between Caltech and MIT is the size. Caltech is tiny in number of students. Given that you describe yourself as very shy, probably you will be able to tell at CPW and PFW which of the environments is likely to be a better fit for you socially. For some shy people, a small environment is a place where they can come out of their shell. For others, a large environment is more comforting.
Honestly, I think based on everything you have said and prioritized, Pomona, U’Chicago, and Rice seem like the best fit for you. Especially the note about " I’d like to go to a place where the students enjoy learning and appreciate both STEM and the humanities/social sciences." Pomona has the highest % black students in its first year class of any top LAC or university this year, whereas Caltech in particular has one of the lowest. And this is a tiny factor, but 70% of Pomona rooms are singles.
Sure Pomona may not have the general prestige of the others, but it has exceptional outcomes: https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/blog/category/infographics/ It is a top 20 feeder school for math PhDs, top MBAs, med schools, and law schools. More importantly, it and the other LACs (+ Rice) will give you a much more supportive atmosphere than your most prestigious schools. If Pomona does turn out to be your best fit, I think you should show your parents all of its rankings (there are tons of them) so they can be made aware of its strengths. Pomona’s most popular majors are CS and math, and it has the highest % of STEM majors of any LAC after Harvey Mudd as well as more than most of the Ivies.
On finances, all of these schools have comparable financial aid policies (100% need met), so if it’s a big factor, you should pass your Caltech aid to the other schools and have them hopefully match it.
Ah, also, while yes MIT/Caltech/Stanford will dwarf your other schools in the strength of their math departments + number of courses offered, Pomona/Mudd extensively collaborate along with the other Claremont Colleges to create a thriving math community. I think some 200 math courses are provided each year, and the rare student who has already taken all the advanced coursework at the first two schools (which I’ve never heard of) has access to Claremont Graduate University’s graduate level math programs too. So you’re not going to be in a shortage for the courses you can take, which may be the case at other small, stand-alone LACs. Pomona students have access to a lot more opportunity than their size indicates thanks to the Claremont Colleges + Pomona’s huge endowment per student (second highest of all your schools, after Stanford)
Will you be attending CPW tomorrow? My D16 had the same choices you had (minus Stanford) and she chose MIT. Prestige wise all schools you got into rank very high so this should not be a factor. What do you like : small LAC or large university? East coast or west coast? My Southern California girl loves Boston, but bad weather is something to consider. Do you like quarter or semester system? MIT has this amazing one month IAP period in January when students can do winter externships, take fun classes, do UROPs or travel abroad.
If money is not a concern, MIT will give you the best experience. MIT puts a lot of emphasis on humanities even though it is primarily a tech school. I would avoid Stanford, it has become a tech school where you are looked down upon if you are a humanities major. Please read the blog of Cath a current student. You can Google it “Cath in College W for Wisdom”
Thanks everybody for the responses so far! Pomona sounds very appealing but my parents aren’t fans of the lesser known schools on the the list. I’ll still look more into Pomona though.
I’d say Mudd because you have the Claremont consortium to satisfy your interest in humanities. And it’s seriously as prestigious as the others by those who are in the know (grad schools and top employers). True, it doesn’t have the same “brag” as Stanford or MIT for your parents’ friends.
Otherwise, I’d go with Caltech over Stanford or MIT. Not to mention cheaper! Wow. Congrats.
If you go to Caltech or Mudd, be ready to study hard. Very, very hard. You will not eat or sleep for four years ;). But you’ll get a fantastic education, be with the smartest kids in the country and have your pick of grad schools and jobs. By the way, Mudd and Caltech have higher average SAT scores than Stanford and MIT. Also, Caltech and Mudd top the list of colleges who produce STEM PhDs (Reed is 3rd).
Wow, congratulations! That’s an impressive list! My son was in a similar situation (MIT/Caltech/Rice… he didn’t apply to Stanford). He chose MIT and is VERY happy there.
My son went to both MIT CPW and Caltech PFW. At the latter, he learned that a significant percentage of students “flame out.” My understanding is that if their grades fall too low, they have to sit out a semester. That really freaked him out.
As several have already mentioned, MIT and Caltech are very different: Big vs small. Cold vs warm. Diverse vs not so diverse. Gender balanced vs skewed male… MIT is also arguably much better known. Since your parents care a lot about prestige, show them this ranking:
which has it as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, in that order. Caltech comes in at 10.
I encouraged my son to go to the university that was the best fit for him. If he had attended Rice, that would have been fine with me! I am a Rice grad and loved it there. But I also asked him to consider the relative strengths of the various schools. A huge appeal of MIT is that it’s so incredibly strong in so many disciplines, and not just in STEM; MIT is at the top in linguistics, philosophy, economics, business, architecture, etc. Many kids end up changing majors. Nothing is lost at MIT, if you choose to do so. That’s generally not the case at other universities.
@dsi411 What were your stats? How was tuition reduced so much for each of these very expensive colleges? Btw, just like everyone in the chat, I’d recommend you to go to Stanford since it’s a mixture of STEM and a liberal arts college.
You have some really great universities to choose from. Each school has its own unique culture. Harvey Mudd has just as high of a reputation in the STEM world as MIT, Caltech, and Stanford do. It’s just that outside the STEM world, not as many people in the general population know about it.
Consider the culture at Caltech, for example:
You’re assigned to a “house” at the beginning of freshman year. There’s a rotation where all of the freshmen spend time in each house before being assigned. Dinner each evening is at the same time for everybody in the house (aka dorm) and the meal is held family-style. You can’t officially declare your major at Caltech until the end of freshman year and every freshman takes the exact same set of classes.
Between Harvey Mudd and Caltech, both schools are pretty active when it comes to partying. BUT there are also plenty of students there who don’t drink.
I’m at MIT CPW right now and I like the school a lot so far (though I wasn’t prepared for the weather to be this cold and rainy). It will be interesting to see how Caltech’s Prefrosh Weekend compares.
@Mahindra Here’s my comment on the Stanford results thread, it includes my stats. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20506433/#Comment_20506433. My mother owns a business and my dad is retired from the navy, but the business lost money in the tax year that I used for financial aid, so the schools gave me a lot (or at least most of them did).
Thanks again everyone! I appreciate this, it will help make the decision easier.
If you are visiting Caltech, can you extend the visit another day? If you are from So. California, then you know that Harvey Mudd and Pomona are 20-25 minutes away. I would recommend that you try to talk to some math faculty at Harvey Mudd, as it sounds like there could be a good fit for you. As for your parents, maybe they can learn to laugh when their friends ask Harvey WHO?
I’ve been on the campus alot over the years and I’ve never found Stanford to fratty, pre-professional and entrepreneurial. Now, I think the Stanford band and the mascot (tree) are ridiculous, but otherwise Stanford seems to have a bunch of very nice kids and teachers. And I’m not sure you can find a more diverse student body anywhere else in the country. Now, I’m sure someone here will come up with a statistic that shows Stanford is last in terms of diversity.
I wish my D will have the pick of MIT, CT, Stanford, etc. next year. Wow, awesome choices.