MIT vs UPENN

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>I’m a parent and my son wants to study business and computer engineering. His life goal is a foundation in business (own his own business), but he is very innovative and inventive and wants the tech-skills to help him create new products for our tech-savvy global environment. I’ve looked at the Jerome Fisher Program at Penn (or doing a dual degree in business & engineering at Penn) and I’ve looked at course 6 (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) and course 15 (Management) program at MIT. This is what I’ve discovered:</p>

<li>Upenn is # 29 or so in Engineering, MIT is #1</li>
<li>Wharton is #1 in business, MIT is #2 (on most rankings they are both within the top 5 or top 10)</li>
<li>The Jerome Fisher program at UPenn is quite good, but are the technical skills learned on par with MIT.</li>
<li>I don’t want him to graduate from UPenn and then have issues with getting work because he studied engineering at UPenn. </li>
<li>I don’t want him to graduate from MIT and be seen only as tech-savvy as opposed to being a business savvy person.</li>
<li>Which school fosters innovation/creativity more? My son is very creative</li>
<li>UPenn seems to have a more well-balanced curriculum while MIT seems more tech-based and not as well-rounded.</li>
<li>MIT dual degree requires a 4.0 after 2 semesters in the major subject (1st degree option chosen). What if students don’t get that? Are there dual degree options lost forever? (this seems to be a big risk!)</li>
<li>UPenn makes it easier to get a dual degree. Not as much red tape. </li>
<li>What other programs are comparable to UPenn’s Jerome Fisher program?</li>
<li>I’ve looked at other schools which are tops in Business & Engineering and have come up with: UMichigan, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley (very difficult to transfer b/w majors and they have impacted majors, plus you have to wait 2yrs to apply to the business school and there is a chance you won’t get it - they are not tops on my list).</li>
<li>MIT has EA (great option, non-binding), UPenn has ED (a risk if we want to consider other schools).</li>
</ol>

<p><strong><em>I love Penn because of Wharton & I love MIT because of the Tech-focus</em></strong></p>

<p>Help!..any advise you could give would be much appreciated!</p>

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<p>
[quote]
7. MIT dual degree requires a 4.0 after 2 semesters in the major subject (1st degree option chosen). What if students don't get that? Are there dual degree options lost forever? (this seems to be a big risk!)

[/quote]

This is a 4.0 on a 5.0 scale -- in other words, a B average. If students are just under the required average, they can petition to be allowed to double-major. If they need to do some more work to get to the B average, they can take classes in the other department -- you don't need to be a major to take classes in a department -- until they have achieved a B average. A second major can be declared any time up until February of senior year.</p>

<p>I got two undergrad degrees from MIT. There is really not that much red tape.</p>

<p>
[quote]
6. UPenn seems to have a more well-balanced curriculum while MIT seems more tech-based and not as well-rounded.

[/quote]

MIT requires about a quarter of classes (8 total) to be taken in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. That seems pretty well-rounded to me. Regardless, a curriculum is only as well-rounded as the student choosing the classes, and many MIT students choose to pick up a minor in the humanities, arts, and social sciences, if that's what floats their boats.</p>

<p>
[quote]
5. Which school fosters innovation/creativity more? My son is very creative

[/quote]

I can't say which school fosters creativity more, but MIT does a great job of this.</p>

<p>
[quote]
5. I don't want him to graduate from MIT and be seen only as tech-savvy as opposed to being a business savvy person.

[/quote]

MIT</a> graduating student surveys from the past few years -- note that a huge percentage of MIT grads go into business careers.</p>

<p>In my opinion, this isn't a time to be picking a first-choice school. Both MIT and the M&T program at Penn are exceedingly selective, and the best choice for your son is probably to apply to both, then pick a first-choice school next March/April after getting acceptances.</p>

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<p>Well, I think he should apply to both first, then pick later. UPenn Wharton and MIT are both REALLY hard to get into. MIT allows you to take classes from any major/school and pick majors once you get there. I am not sure if UPenn does that. I also heard Wharton is as hard to get into as Harvard, if not harder.
If you are worried about ED at UPenn, just apply to MIT EA.</p>

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<p>I have degrees from both MIT and UPenn (S.B. and M.S., respectively). I can tell you that my MIT experience was head and shoulders above my Penn experience: socially, academically, and culturally. The spirit of innovation at MIT is palpable and undeniable. I did not feel this way whatsoever at Penn. Going from MIT to Penn was a serious culture shock. I honestly felt like I was at a state college at times.</p>

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<p>I would say that your son should go to MIT for its rigour. There is a certian oomph that I've noticed that MIT has in terms of jobs; it garners a great deal of respect many times greater than that of Ivies.</p>

<p>Of course, this is TOTALLY personal opinion. Honestly, you're cannot go wrong.</p>

<p>I will say though, MIT graduates do not in any way suffer not being thought of as "business-savvy." MIT is known for being very business savvy with tons of business and new ideas coming out of it. Also, if you were to account for all the start up companies and technologies stemming from MIT and their revenue in the world, MIT would considered the 27th largest economy. Heck, to top it off, the current chairman of the Fed reserve is at MIT! I don't think you're son would suffer from being seen as too "tech-savvy." In fact, part of being business savvy is also being tech-savvy.</p>

<p>Of course, I would say MIT, but again, I am going there, so I am a little biased =)</p>

<p>Both are truly wonderful, and as I mentioned, you cannot go wrong. I hope you posted the same question in the Penn forums, because it is likely that the answers you reserve in the MIT forum will likely be... pro MIT!</p>

<p>I think for you son it will really come down to the fit of the school. Have your son visit each, get a feel for the campus.</p>

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<p>I've talked to some people who are going to Penn before, and they said that the engineering professors at Penn are pretty--horrible. The Wharton professors are nice and attentive and will talk to you outside of class, but what I heard is that professors in other subjects make themselves very unavailable to students.
--I can't guarantee the factual accuracy of any of these b/c I don't have firsthand experience to go on.</p>

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<p>I always thought MIT was harder to get into than harvard?</p>

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<p>Reading through the thread I think the OP is comparing specifically the Jerome Fisher M&T (Management and Technology dual degree) program in UPENN against MIT.
What do you people think?</p>

<p>Original post:</p>

<p>I'm a parent and my son wants to study business and computer engineering. His life goal is a foundation in business (own his own business), but he is very innovative and inventive and wants the tech-skills to help him create new products for our tech-savvy global environment. I've looked at the Jerome Fisher Program at Penn (or doing a dual degree in business & engineering at Penn) and I've looked at course 6 (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) and course 15 (Management) program at MIT. This is what I've discovered:</p>

<ol>
<li>Upenn is # 29 or so in Engineering, MIT is #1</li>
<li>Wharton is #1 in business, MIT is #2 (on most rankings they are both within the top 5 or top 10)</li>
<li>The Jerome Fisher program at UPenn is quite good, but are the technical skills learned on par with MIT.</li>
<li>I don't want him to graduate from UPenn and then have issues with getting work because he studied engineering at UPenn. </li>
<li>I don't want him to graduate from MIT and be seen only as tech-savvy as opposed to being a business savvy person.</li>
<li>Which school fosters innovation/creativity more? My son is very creative</li>
<li>UPenn seems to have a more well-balanced curriculum while MIT seems more tech-based and not as well-rounded.</li>
<li>MIT dual degree requires a 4.0 after 2 semesters in the major subject (1st degree option chosen). What if students don't get that? Are there dual degree options lost forever? (this seems to be a big risk!)</li>
<li>UPenn makes it easier to get a dual degree. Not as much red tape. </li>
<li>What other programs are comparable to UPenn's Jerome Fisher program?</li>
<li>I've looked at other schools which are tops in Business & Engineering and have come up with: UMichigan, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley (very difficult to transfer b/w majors and they have impacted majors, plus you have to wait 2yrs to apply to the business school and there is a chance you won't get it - they are not tops on my list).</li>
<li>MIT has EA (great option, non-binding), UPenn has ED (a risk if we want to consider other schools).</li>
</ol>

<p><strong><em>I love Penn because of Wharton & I love MIT because of the Tech-focus</em></strong></p>

<p>Help!...any advise you could give would be much appreciated!</p>

<p>P.S.: in terms of combining business and engineering, how do you think of Stanford besides these two schools?</p>

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<p>We had the same thread on the MIT forum, with several strong responses: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/475232-mit-vs-upenn.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/massachusetts-institute-technology/475232-mit-vs-upenn.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Why did an identical question get re-posted?</p>

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<p>I would also point out that the chances of getting accepted to Penn are markedly reduced by applying RD; they accept almost half the entering class from the ED pool.</p>

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<p>This topic is kinda old but whatever neuron39. :)</p>

<p>MIT's economics department is ranked first and they're philosophy department is just outstanding. So they're is really the whole package I think. But Penn is just different, not only in its curriculum, so its hard to say. What I've learned is that your undergraduate education isn't just about education in a sense. The culture at the school really becomes a part of you too, so definitely tell him to look into that.
I'd say MIT kids just love learning, more so than most students from other top schools. Learning for the sake of learning I guess you can say. My own first impression is that your son would be pretty happy at MIT, but I'm not qualified to say that.</p>

<p>Go on to MIT's blogs, I think its one of the best things they've done. It really helped me so yea. good luck to your kid</p>

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<p>From what I've seen, the people who tend to succeed in business/entrepreneurship are the science and engineering majors with business/finance concentrations. It's easy to switch from engineering to business but cumbersome the other way around. Plus, knowing the language of engineering and being able to communicate with both engineers and clients will really separate you. Most of my friends at MIT graduating this year are getting offers from top firms such as McKinsey and BCG as well as hedge funds such as Citadel and Bridgewater. Honestly, the MIT name will carry you pretty far, better than most Ivy schools and on par with HYPS.</p>

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<p>The M&T program at Penn is insanely hard to get into (only 50 students each year are admitted). From what I've heard, you get the top offers from the top companies (for both business and engineering). Some Wall Street firms will only recruit at M&T and not even Wharton which shows how well the students are prepared and how far the M&T name goes. Also, you get the most options for a career after 4 years and can switch your career path between the two easier than someone else.</p>

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<p>To compare with Penn's M&T program, look at the new Gordon Engineering Leadership program at MIT. It sounds like it would suit your son's ambitions.
Gordon-MIT</a> Engineering Leadership Program</p>

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<p>I have a totally different view from the others...</p>

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<p>It might be because I am 18 and all, but seriously, whether you "want him" or "not want him" to do anything is absolutely irrelevant. This is your son's life and they are his choices. I understand you're concerned and you're just trying to guide him but this is something he has to pick ENTIRELY on his own. If you try to influence his choice, he might end up forced to take a decision he didn't really want to take.</p>

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<p>@MetdethGNR,
Depending on the context, I agree with you. If an 18 year-old gets a full-ride scholarship to several universities, then I believe that the decision about where to go lies with the 18-year old. Similarly, if an 18-year old chooses to work through community college and then transfer to a public university and complete a college education with a combination of work and loans, then the 18-year old should decide where to go.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if the 18-year old expects the parents to pay for the tuition at MIT or Penn (which can total somewhere around $200,000 these days), then the parents have a right to weigh in on that decision, because such a large outlay of family resources should be weighed like any other investment. It becomes even more critical a decision when the parents are sacrificing retirement income to cover the tuition. </p>

<p>Of course, this is a parent perspective. :-)</p>