MIT vs. Stanford

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>Stanford has been my first choice for a while, but I was recently admitted to MIT as well. I honestly didn't think I would get in. I figure I should really consider it as an option, so I am asking about people's general feelings between Stanford and MIT. I'm considering majoring in computer science or economics, but I can see it changing to almost anything. How are MIT's programs in cs and economics? What about humanities? I know they are great, but what makes the special? Did anyone else decide between the two? If so, what were the deciding factors? Are there a lot of siblings at MIT because my brother is there?</p>

<p>I plan on visiting both in April before making my decision, but if you have anything to add, I would appreciate it!</p>

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<p>I think there were many threads about this in the past, so you should search around.</p>

<p>I was admitted to both and ultimately chose MIT over Stanford. I didn’t know too much about the two schools at that time, but after being a student here for 3 years, I think one of the biggest distinguishing factors of MIT is the unique campus culture that’s here. I honestly don’t think you can find it anywhere else…just to give you a few examples: hacks, IHTFP, brass rat, Athena, our building/course/major numbers, very unique dorm vibes (try to visit all the dorms if you can during CPW)…etc.</p>

<p>What makes our humanities really special is that the humanities department here is definitely still top-notch, but there’s a lot less humanities majors and minors compared to other Ivies, so if you’re humanities inclined there’s a lot of room to distinguish yourself and thrive here. : )</p>

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<p>I highly suggest going to CPW :smiley: (And whatever Stanford’s version is called, if they have one.)</p>

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<p>Affe - </p>

<ul>
<li><p>We have one of, perhaps the, best program in CS in the country. </p></li>
<li><p>Our econ program isn’t too shabby either. If you want to learn more about it, I suggest asking [Paul</a> Kominers: Index](<a href=“http://pkoms.com%5DPaul”>http://pkoms.com) <- this guy. He’s one of our admissions student workers and pretty brilliant. </p></li>
<li><p>We have an excellent humanities department, including 4 Pulitzer Prize winners on staff. But what really sets MIT apart in this regard is that unlike any other school I have heard of we have a pretty serious humanities requirement from even our engineers. All MIT students, no matter what their major, must take 8 classes (one full year) of humanities work. We consider ourselves a liberal arts school with a science bent. </p></li>
</ul>

<p>As for the MIT cultural match…attend CPW. After that, you’ll know or you won’t.</p>

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<p>I’m kinda in the same situation as you…I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m just going to go to all the preview weekends and decide from there.</p>

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There are, actually, a fair number of siblings at MIT. I don’t know if there are more than at other schools or anything, but I was certainly surprised by the number of siblings when I arrived at MIT. Among my immediate group of friends were a set of twins, an '06 whose brother was an '02, and an '05 whose brother and sister were '97 and '96.</p>

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<p>MIT’s and Stanford’s campus cultures are very different. MIT is just across the river from a large city; it requires either a car, or a train ride, to get to a large city from Stanford. MIT has much more of a “hacker” and “geek” culture than Stanford does; you won’t find near as many people exploring the tunnels under Stanford buildings, etc. They call Stanford “the farm” for good reason; you are within walking distance of horse trails, golf courses, hills that overlook that part of the SF bay area, etc.</p>

<p>Both schools have excellent CS and Economics departments.</p>

<p>With respect to humanities, you should probably contact both schools to see to what extent they issue humanities degrees, if you think you want one. There will be more people majoring in the humanities at Stanford than at MIT.</p>

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<p>Even though I am a huge advocate of MIT humanities, I think that may be a bit misleading. More than anything else, I think a technological university with a humanities bent is probably more accurate, IMO.</p>

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<p>When you come to CPW, there’s this thing called the Academic Fair, where all the departments will be on hand to explain to you what their major offers. Usually there’ll be a few professors there along with current students at each booth. If you can decide ahead of time what humanities topics you would be exploring at MIT, you can be sure to stop at their booth. Here’s a site where you can explore all the major offerings at MIT: [MIT</a> Freshman Class: Exploring the Majors- Course Profiles](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/firstyear/2013/choiceofmajor/courses/index.html]MIT”>http://web.mit.edu/firstyear/2013/choiceofmajor/courses/index.html)</p>

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<p>I had to make the same decision you did last year. And I absolutely don’t regret it. I don’t have any complaints about MIT, except for the weather. Honestly, I can’t imagine how Stanford could beat the amazing dedication of the institute to academics and learning. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>On thing that distinguishes MIT is how much power/choice it gives to the students. The academics here are extremely well scheduled and flexible, you can add class until the 1st month, you can drop it 2 month after class start. You want to take a grad quantum class? No one is going to forbid you. And prereqs are more “guidelines” than anything else. MIT really let’s you challenge yourself and exploit your potential to a maximum.</p></li>
<li><p>The CS department here is extremely strong. I took 6.01 (intro to EECS), 6.002 (circuits), and I can tell you that the teaching was nothing short of amazing (btw, the dude teaching 6.002 also wrote the book). In 6.01, you’ll get to code your own robot brain, and there are gazillions of grad students to help you debug (where they find so many people to help you is not obvious). They even organize Saturday and Sunday study sessions to help you debug/code. Another emphasis of the CS department here is that coding/syntax is relatively unemphasized (hence the choice of programming languages: Scheme (which not one really uses), and Python (extremely simple syntax)). Thus, you’ll be instead concentrating on the programming paradigms, on things like State-machines, on organizational concepts/abstraction, which will be skills that are timeless. While MIT does not baby you (maybe a major difference with Stanford), it really does a good job at teaching you the right material, and carefully implementing the classes so that the ones who are truly motivated/interested will get the most out of it. MIT will be hard, but everytime it is hard, it is also worthwhile. We also have a 5 yrs MEng. program, which a lot of people participate, because all you need a GPA higher than 4.3/5.0. You can choose the option VI-A, where you get to work on specific real world problems with a certain company.</p></li>
<li><p>Needless to say, Employers LOVE MIT CS grads. If you go to career fairs, you’ll see that there are gazillions of companies recruiting CS grads for MIT, and they get amazing job offers, not only in sofware engineering/IT, but also in Consulting, trading, Ibanking, finance… If you are CS grad from MIT, you are pretty much set.</p></li>
<li><p>Research here is extremely easy to get. I think it stems from the faith MIT has in its students. Here, while you don’t have much handholding (class registration, etc… gives you a lot of choice and independence), it is because MIT really trusts in your abilities. That also means it is a lot easier to get involved in research. I know many freshmen who work at the Media lab, and none of them had difficulties to find an awesome project. I don’t think Stanford can beat MIT with respect to research opportunities for undergrads. </p></li>
<li><p>The students here, especially in CS, are extremely independent ambitious. Heard of Battlecode? You should definitely check that out. Maslab, another activity during the month of IAP, is when you get together with a few friends, and work 30-40 hrs a week to try to build a completely autonomous robot. I think this primarily because of the initiative-taking attitude of MIT students in general.</p></li>
<li><p>There is a mentality of “we’re in this *** together” that really contributes the atmosphere of collaboration between students. While MIT is hard, people here really do help each other out so we make it through. Part of the fun of MIT is that you get to explore how much you can handle, what you can build/create, push yourself to your limits. </p></li>
<li><p>Check out the admission blogs. They definitely were helpful to make my choice.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Good luck with your decisions! And feel free to ask more questions, that is why we’re here.</p>

<p>-A frosh who loves MIT so far.</p>

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<p>"I was able to take hard classes and do cutting-edge research, and I developed more as a scientist than I would have if I’d been somewhere that didn’t value the intelligence of undergrads so much.</p>

<p>I really loved the freedom given to students in many aspects of MIT life. Students choose their living groups and the way they want to spend their dining money. Students can choose to take graduate-level classes and/or classes for which they don’t have the prereqs."</p>

<p>Here’s a quote that Mollieabmit wrote to help me decide between MIT and stanford. She was able to put into words what I clumsily tried to express.</p>

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<p>^Haha, faraday, I was just thinking how nice it is for me to see former prefrosh coming to express the sentiments that I felt myself as an MIT student. But then I find out that I’m just being quoted. :D</p>

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<p>faraday, I remember you from last year. I’m glad to hear you’re so happy.</p>

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<p>I’m just throwing this out there as a question because it may help the one who posted this thread – how much of this stuff is unique to MIT? When you’re talking about two schools with world class CS departments, perhaps a good question to ask is if one simply seems to get the students to actually take advantage of it more surely and with more ease.</p>

<p>Simply out of example, if I were to compare and contrast with my home university, another place with a huge CS culture, and a key thing MIT lets you do which we don’t have is the 2 month drop deadline. As far as flexibility, somehow nobody really cares what we do – probably this is (subtly?) different from being pushed to do your best. </p>

<p>A similar sort of compare/contrast would probably be helpful to the thread creator; although, this would take someone with intimate knowledge of Stanford, which of course an MIT student needn’t have, but may :D</p>

<p>Also, I remember you, and am glad things are going well faraday.</p>

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<p>There’s really no need to oversell MIT vs. Stanford. Each is without doubt one of the strongest institutions in the world for both computer science and economics. They are vastly different in their physical settings, geographical locations, cultures, intensity. Most people who can succeed at one would succeed equally well at the other, but most people will also have a pretty instinctual idea which they prefer. If you get off on intensity, MIT has a lot more of it than Stanford. If you are prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder, by all means choose Stanford.</p>

<p>This is the kind of decision where it’s more than OK to trust your gut, and if your gut isn’t telling you anything then flip a coin or something. Overanalysis isn’t worth it.</p>

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<p>I taught at Stanford a year ago as an invited professor (I’m from another California institution), and my husband is a Stanford graduate. My daughter was admitted EA to MIT and also RD to Stanford. She chose MIT three years ago, and we supported that decision.</p>

<p>But for some students, Stanford can be the better choice. So here’s how I’d put it:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>If you are burnt out from having put nose to grindstone all through high school and want a college experience that presents the opportunity for a less intense existence, choose Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>If you love sports, either as an athlete, or because you really enjoy rooting for a team, and if you want to attend a school with amazing school spirit re: sports, choose Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>If as a freshman and sophomore you would enjoy the opportunity to live in housing only with other freshmen and sophomores, choose Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>If you want a school where math/science/engineering is not the central focus, choose Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>If you can stay focused in a dorm and tool long hours on math/science/engineering problem sets while most of your humanities and social-science dormmates relax (having had relatively easy work), choose Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>If you want a school where you can abandon Computer Science if it proves too difficult and switch to a humanities major — without feeling like a sort of fish out of water, or like that’s a hard decision to make because everyone around you is committed/passionate about math/science/engineering — choose Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>If you want lots of sun and great weather, choose Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>If you enjoy suburban living and don’t want nearby access to a bustling city, choose Stanford.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Stanford faculty members who graduated from schools like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and MIT often expressed to me the opinion that Stanford students are not as hardworking. I believe this may be true, simply because of the students that self-select Stanford. Figure out who you are, and where you will be happy.</p>

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<p>@faraday, I think you should learn more about the Stanford CS department and its influence on academia and industry before making such claims.</p>

<p>BTW @CalAlum, I have heard from some Stanford students that they tend not to “show” how hard they work; they may appear cool and calm in public but when you get them alone in their dorm rooms or libraries they’re studying as hard as MIT students (in general).</p>

<p>For every good/bad thing I’ve heard (and experienced, as an alum) about MIT, I’ve heard (and experienced, to some extent, as a part-time student) the same at Stanford. IMO, in general, it comes down to the type of campus atmosphere/culture you like.</p>

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<p>^ They are both great schools; both have outstanding computer science departments. I’ve heard the same thing about the “hidden work” of Stanford math/science/engineering students. A student there described it to me as the “ducks on a pond” phenomenon: At Stanford, everything looks calm and placid, but the ducks on the pond are paddling mightily just to stay float.</p>

<p>I met students at Stanford who’d started out as science majors and dropped when the work became really hard and it seemed as if everyone else around them had more free time. It is probably true, as you say about Stanford students, that “when you get them alone in their dorm rooms or libraries they’re studying as hard as MIT students.” But at MIT, students have a relatively enormous community of peers who are struggling along with them. That’s a huge difference, in my opinion.</p>

<p>Those admitted to both should visit the campuses, ask some tough questions, and see how they feel.</p>

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<p>I still don’t think this is true. Maybe the Stanford science majors are working hard next to the humanities majors at Stanford, but there is no comparison to the MIT science majors–based on my friends that went there. I also know firsthand what classes are like at another top 10 university. It is night and day with MIT–although the science majors at the other top 10 university also mentioned that they were much harder working than the humanities people. </p>

<p>If you’re going to found the next software giant, having less workload as an undergrad may help. You have more time to fool around with your computer and strike out on your own. I’m not convinced the extra rigor will necessarily help you do this. I don’t know.<br>
Also, comp sci. is taught very differently at MIT. Unless you go for the math with comp sci. option, you will have to learn a lot of electrical engineering because it is part of the core for course 6.</p>

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<p>yeh, Stanford computer science department has a reputation unmatched by any other place.</p>

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<p>Nope. MIT and Stanford CS are very comparable.</p>