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I consider the physics department at MIT to be small, not large – there are 50-60 majors per year, about the same size as the biology department, which allowed me lots of access to professors.</p>
<p>PsychoLord13,</p>
<p>I did contact the FinAid office, but they hardly changed anything. Basically they transferred some EFC into loans for me. However, if I can get some scholarships, I may be able to push my debt down to $30k.</p>
<p>A few questions:</p>
<p>For those of you who think MIT is a better choice for physics, how much better than Princeton do you think it is?</p>
<p>Do you think it would be easier to secure an undergraduate research position at MIT than at Princeton, even though MIT has many more students that excel at science and math?</p>
<p>How often is graduate school in physics free?</p>
<p>Everyone I’ve heard of that’s gotten into grad school for science has received a stipend. Stipends vary - my best friend received offers of 20-40k a year depending on the school.</p>
<p>I think you’re going about your college decision in the wrong way. In the end, it doesn’t matter whose physics department is better, or where it’s easier to do research - you’re probably going to be able to do research at either school, and I’m sure you’ll get a fabulous physics education regardless of where you go. What you need to do is stop worrying about money (30k is around the national average for the debt of a graduating senior, I believe, and at MIT I’d be <em>very</em> surprised if you didn’t manage to shave off 10-15k before you even graduate) and determine which school is the right fit for you. You’re in class and doing homework for maybe 60 hours a week at MIT, sleeping for 50 if you’re lucky, and spending the rest of the time with the people around you. You need to determine who you want those people to be.</p>
<p>Thanks k4r3n2; your comments have been helpful. After CPW and Princeton Preview weekend, I will hopefully find out which school ‘feels’ better for me.</p>
<p>Graduate school in the sciences is always free if you’re going for a PhD. The government considers training graduate students to be an important aspect of keeping the US competitive in science and technology, so graduate programs in the sciences receive money from the government to pay tuition/fees and a living stipend to science PhD students.</p>
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I don’t have any information to compare MIT’s situation to Princeton’s, but at MIT, everybody who wants to do research is able to do so. About 80% of students participate in UROP, which is a substantial underestimate of the actual number of students doing research because students who are paid by professor funds don’t necessarily register with the UROP office.</p>