MIT vs. Stanford - Mechanical Engineering

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I have been accepted by both MIT and Stanford's Mechanical Engineering graduate program with a focus on design and product development, and I will have to make a decision soon. I would highly appreciate if anyone could provide me with insight on the following criteria.</p>

<p>The main criteria for me to make a decision are:</p>

<p>Silicon Valley vs. Cambridge/Boston:
-Quality of life (cost of living, convenience, local environment)</p>

<p>-which area do you think have more potential employers looking for Mechanical Engineers?</p>

<p>MIT vs. Stanford:
-Alumni/ Networking/ reputation</p>

<p>-Field of Design/ Product Development</p>

<p>Please feel free to post your thoughts. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>congratulations!</p>

<p>I call this even</p>

<p>visit both and see what your “gut” tells you</p>

3

<p>Thank you JamieBrown for your response. I have visited MIT and like it a lot. I will also visit Stanford to make a final decision. </p>

<p>Would you have any suggestions on the questions I posted before? Thanks again!</p>

4

<p>Silicon Valley has a much larger market for Mech. Engineers than Boston does. I believe Boston is more med/ biomed based. Quality of life really just depends on you. I think the costs would even out and then it would come down to the weather for which most people would prefer Silicon Valley. Everything else is about even. I would say if you’re more social and business oriented, go with Stanford. If you’re more quantitative and quite go with MIT but you can prosper in either school</p>

5

<p>joker311, thanks for your reply. Definitely, I agree that Silicon Valley has lots of employment opportunities for engineers, but I heard the majority of them are for CS, EE, system eng, so I was not quite sure about MEs. As I have been pretty much around the east coast, I always heard how nice the weather is in CA like what you suggested. I will visit Stanford and see how I like it. Thanks again!</p>

6

<p>Talking about Boston, I would say it is another great place for MEs. It’s true Silicon Valley might be slightly better and has more stuff going on.</p>

7

<p>Is this for a masters degree or PhD? If it’s a PhD, you want a professor you like and doing research you enjoy. Your sponsor professor should have more weighting than potential job opportunities from these equal programs. Congrats on your acceptances!</p>

8

<p>UCBChemEGrad, Thanks for your response. I applied for the master program for both. </p>

<p>If I guessed correctly from your online name, you are a grad student at UCB. From your perspective, do you see or have you heard if a fairly good amount of employers in Silicon Valley looking for MechEs? I have been pretty much around the east coast all the time, so I am not quite familiar with the west coast. Thanks! I appreciate it!</p>