<p>I have been admitted to both schools and am having a difficult time deciding where I should go (for undergraduate). I assume that quality/prestige in physics would be the same for both schools. I plan to go on to graduate school.</p>
<p>A few of my concerns are the availability of undergraduate research, dorms, the unfortunate financial aid situation at MIT ($40,000 [possibly more] student debt after four years vs. 0 debt at Princeton [it's slightly cheaper for parents too]). What are your thoughts? I feel like I would fit into/enjoy MIT's culture more, but lately I've been thinking that I would also be happy at Princeton.</p>
<p>Any advice or advantages of one school over the other would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>(I posted a similar thread in the MIT section, so I thought I should balance it by posting one here in Princeton's. If this is against any rule I apologize.)</p>
<p>Do you like the Princeton campus more than MIT? If so you go to Princeton! Collge is about the whole equation, and that includes where you live. You will not be living/breathing/eating academics 24/7, you will also be socializing on the weekends. If you want undergrad research bad enough, there will be opportunities, it is up to you to get it! This will be true at either school.</p>
<p>My second reason for Princeton is that many kids enter as a freshman with a certain major in mind, very few graduate with that major. They become exposed to a broad spectrum and typically something else peaks their interest. At Princeton you have a larger base to expand your educational experience.</p>
<p>Don’t put the debt into the equation…40K isn’t horrible, when you are 40 and the debt is paid off, you don’t want to say my biggest regret is I didn’t go there. Trust me I gave up DUKE b/c of FA and it is still a life regret for me!</p>
<p>It is a lot, but when you realize that it is paid over 10 yrs, even with interest it isn’t alot. Don’t buy a brand new car and carry a car pmt for $700 a month, instead buy a used car and carry no car pmt, and put it to school. Add into the factor that a grad from either of these schools will command close to a 6 figure salary. If you are 22 making 75K a yr, paying 15K in taxes, that leaves you with 60K to survive on, 500 a month or 10% of net is not horrific for an ivy league education, and I am pos. my starting salary is low!</p>
<p>40K is from what I read for the entire collegiate education. Many kids are walking out with that from LACs to become a school teacher that their salary wouldn’t even match the debt in a yr, compared to making 2x the debt as a starting salary right out without a grad degree.</p>
<p>Teachers with grad degrees in NC start in the low 30’s. VA in the 40’s. Putting perspective into what a starting salary is and debt is important. My cousin works for Lockheed with an engineering degree and Masters(Lockheed paid for the 2nd degree), she is 27 and is making close to 100K, Our DD’s dream is to teach, we have told her to do the 5 yr (comb undergrad and grad degree program), her starting salary will be 43K for public school. That is when 40K in student loans hurt!</p>
<p>No matter how much money you make, $40,000 is a lot of money!</p>
<p>Princeton has a very good physics department, though it is much smaller than MITs. This means several things. On one hand, you will be more noticed and more well remembered by the faculty. On the other hand, there will not be as many options for courses to take or students to interact with. Princeton physics graduates generally have very good job prospects and good rate of admission to graduate and medical schools [numbers not on hand right now] – though I’m sure MIT physics grads do as well.</p>
<p>But dude, $40,000 is a lot of money! You could start a small business with that.</p>
<p>You can’t start any business for 40K, unless it is AVON or Pampered Chef, 95% of new companies fail in the 1st 5 yrs, b/c they don’t have finanical resources.</p>
<p>If you put it into realistic terms a 2009 HONDA ACCORD loaded will cost over 32K, that car in the best case scenario will last a dozen yrs, your education is a lifetime! If you are willing to take a 5 yr car loan, even with 0% int. you are looking at over 500 a month, your loans for college will make you more money not cost more and is well worth that investment. A loaded 2005 with under 40K miles is @15K, in our area. Right there you have almost half of that 40K.</p>
<p>If you want that education you need to be willing to sacrifice, maybe driving a 6 yr old Honda that is not top of the line (10K) is worth it for the education and maybe it isn’t, but it is up to you to decide what you are willing to sacrifice. It might mean a used car until you are 30, it might mean no Coach purses or buying 150 sneakers. You need to decide if the debt is worth it. For me, I still say take the $$ out of the equation, b/c you can find the way to pay for it if you are willing to sacrifice things that as you get older you will consider trivial. I am on our 7th car and only 43, but I only have one undergrad degree and 1 grad, those investments allowed me to buy my cars. BTW I went full ride scholarship/grant/loan for undergrad, and paid 200/mo for 10 yrs.</p>
<p>Look at the Obama’s they even admit that they finished paying off their student loans a couple of yrs ago,do you think they regret that debt?</p>
<p>We’ll have to disagree on this one. I bet Yahoo!, Google, Myspace, Facebook, and a host of very successful companies were all started with less than $40,000.</p>
<p>I would also agree that $40k is a lot of money (who wouldn’t?). Have you tried telling the MIT Financial Aid office that you’d really like to attend MIT but won’t be able to due to the $40k debt? If you mention Princeton will leave you with 0 debt, maybe MIT will try to match it or at least give you more aid to get you to come. They want you after all. </p>
<p>If they don’t end up giving you more aid, I’d pick Princeton. Even though you believe you’ll “fit/enjoy” MIT culture more, is that really worth the $40k debt? Besides, Princeton is also a fantastic school that is equally prestigious (and our physics is great as you’ve mentioned). Though you may “relatively not enjoy” Princeton as much, I highly doubt you would be unhappy at Princeton. </p>
<p>Regarding your concern about undergrad research: Princeton is heavily focused on undergrads, and research opportunities with a professor is usually as easy as sending an email expressing your similar interests to the professor’s research. It should not be a problem at all to find research you would want to do. Most professors prefer undergrads over grads for research, which I don’t believe you’ll find at MIT.</p>
<p>Regarding your concern about dorms: can you be more specific as to what exactly you want to know about Princeton dorms? Your freshman year you’ll be randomly assigned to one of six residential colleges, with anything from a single to a suite (possibly up to 10 people I believe). On the room preference sheet they have you fill out over the summer, you’ll have an option to indicate the number of roommates (or none) you want, along with whether you want to live in a substance free (no drugs, alcohol, etc.) building, and whether you want to live in a male/female only building (if I remember correctly. Hopefully someone will correct me if I’m wrong). You’ll then be asked to rank these 3 in order of preference. The form then asks a bunch of other things for you to fill out (i.e. your sleep habits, work habits, etc.) and then they try to randomly find you a suitable room/roommate(s). The dorms range from crappy to great… so I can’t help you much there. I’m sure not every college has nice dorms for everyone, especially freshman.</p>
<p>I did appeal to MIT’s Financial Aid office, and they didn’t really help (The $40k is after appealing). Concerning the research you speak of at Princeton, is it easy specifically to get research during the school year, as early as second semester of freshman year?</p>
<p>Slagathor, I went to a Princeton meeting yesterday for admitted students, and many of the alumni had concentrated in science fields and were recent graduates. They said that it was simply a matter of asking the professor for a research opportunity, and the answer would generally be yes. Obviously, I cannot confirm this at all, but they had all done research with professors.</p>
<p>There are tons of research opportunities available for students at princeton, at least as many as at MIT. Plus you have to do a senior thesis, so you will be very well prepared for graduate school. The physics department is one of the best departments on campus, and has some amazing professors. You should go to the preview weekend and give it a chance, I loved princeton and am at MIT right now, and am sooo happy that I went to princeton for undergrad. It is truly an amazing place, that I don’t think that you’ll find anywhere else. Both schools are great schools, but princeton + $40k seems like a pretty easy choice, unless you end up hating it at the preview weekend.</p>
<p>Once I saw this thread, I had to answer - I was in the same situation! </p>
<p>…And now I’m at princeton. True, I would not be 40k in debt, but MIT was more expensive (7k more/year). I felt the same about the culture at MIT. Truthfully, their preview weekend is a lot more fun that Princeton’s (In MY opinion). But here is the thing: The department here has a 1-to-1 ratio of physics majors to professors, and we get to write a senior thesis - something that gets published in many cases. I will be working at the Plasma Lab here over the summer, and I will be writing a paper while I’m there (maybe to get published!)</p>
<p>In any case, feel free to private message me with any specific concerns about princeton physics.</p>
<p>It’s good to hear that there are great opportunities for physics and research at Princeton. Does anyone know the student to professor ratio in physics (majors) for MIT?</p>