<p>MIT and Caltech are outstanding schools, without question. And there’s no doubt that overall they’re stronger schools than Purdue. In many circumstances, I’d be inclined to say go with the strongest school even if it costs more, assuming you can afford it. If your son were considering a math or physics major, I’d say go with Caltech or MIT. But if he’s dead set on mechanical engineering, I think it would be hard to pass up the drastically reduced price tag that Purdue offers. Purdue engineering is really outstanding, and Purdue mechanical engineering is among the very strongest in the country, a top-10 program to be sure. Purdue mechanical engineering grads are going to have very similar job and grad school opportunities to those of MIT and Caltech mechanical engineering grads, for the simple reason that all three schools are known to be among the very best in that field.</p>
<p>Will the experience be different? Sure. At MIT or Caltech he’d be surrounded entirely by brilliant classmates. At Purdue there will be some at that level, but not as many. That means the classroom experience will be somewhat different, and the social interactions may be somewhat different. But for an engineering student, I’m not sure how that much matters. He’s still going to spend most of his time in class, studying, doing his problem sets, prepping for exams, and the content will be virtually indistinguishable (at least in his major). It would be different if he were into literature, or philosophy, or social theory. But in my experience (speaking not as an engineer but as someone with a lot of engineers in my family), engineers tend to be a pretty practical lot, good with math but mainly interested in it only to the extent it has practical applications, innately curious about how things work and sometimes clever, creative, and inventive in practical problem-solving, but with not a lot of patience for the late-night intellectual bull sessions that are the red meat of the college experience for many people in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and even some more theoretical sciences. I don’t mean to be dismissive here; I have great respect for the work engineers do and for the skills they possess, but in my experience they tend not to go overboard on the whole intellectualizing thing (though others may differ). If that’s his personality type, then my guess is that getting one or more degrees from a top engineering program at a small fraction of the cost will look to him like the efficient engineering solution, and that’s the way I’d be inclined to go.</p>
<p>The only other reason I can see to choose Caltech or MIT would be the pure prestige value, i.e., lifetime bragging rights, but that doesn’t seem to be part of the equation here. And in any event, having the opportunity to turn down BOTH Caltech and MIT is something special to boast about.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the input! Yes, a lot of it comes down to the prestige or bragging rights I think! But also, S has wanted MIT since about 4th grade. It’s kind of hard at this point to say that if he’s done his part (worked hard enough to be accepted) that we’d rather not pay that much. I do think he’s a very practical kid though and definitely likes the finer things in life - meaning not that he’d want MIT because it’s more expensive but that he’d choose Purdue if it means he can afford every new Apple product that comes out and get a car, etc. instead! </p>
<p>That said, we haven’t been to Caltech yet. Both “prefrosh” visit weekends are in mid-April, which seems awfully late to me to be making a decision! He has been to MIT and Purdue a couple times and seems happy with both. Right now I have no idea how FA will play out for MIT or Caltech (we’re working on forms and hoping for the best!).</p>
<p>Basic financials - yes, we’re in our mid 40’s, not 60’s, and he’s the youngest kid. Oldest is at the Air Force Academy (obviously fully funded) and middle son is at MIT, but on a full ROTC scholarship so paying only room/board is obviously a good deal for that education. So this is our first (and last) time looking at paying sticker price. Husband and I have both had job losses (and fortunately gotten new jobs) in the last 3 years so while we’re stable right now, we realize how quickly that can change. Son has about enough in his 529 to pay for 2 years at MIT/Caltech (or obviously all of Purdue with money left over). Does that change the situation any?! ;)</p>
<p>While I realize that MIT is a 4 year experience, I do have to say that for the most part I’ve been a bit disappointed for my other son (freshman) so far. Yes, the facilities are great, people are wonderful, opportunities (research, jobs down the line) are all there. But as far as actual classes - well, I feel like they teach themselves. My son didn’t go to his calc or chem classes after about October (and got A’s in them) because it was just easier to learn the material with classmates (which granted may be the case BECAUSE of the caliber of classmates at MIT) than to suffer through lectures of 500+ students. He says the real MIT education from what he’s heard doesn’t begin until junior year. That kind of annoys me with that kind of price tag! </p>
<p>re: MIT
n that case, marciemi, your MIT kid could’ve thought about CMU. Our kid got D’s on his first midterms in Physics and Calc for engineers. (profs had never taught frosh courses and consequently eased up on the exams).</p>
<p>IMO you could look at the hiring companies and positions taken at the schools on DS’s accepted schools and make a final selection from that.</p>
<p>Bizarre as it may seen, my son currently at MIT was waitlisted by CMU - who can figure this all out!? Younger son didn’t apply to CMU, despite my urgings, because he “didn’t want to live in Pittsburgh!” ;)</p>
<p>marciemi, what a bright bunch of boys you raised! I’m sure you say “no school’s worth money problems” to yourself every day…and then wonder how you could possibly say no to MIT and Caltech?! What a tough situation. I hope the Caltech visit + FA answers will lead to a clear decision your son happily embraces and can afford without incurring unreasonable debt or causing your family financial distress. Too bad you have to wait until April to get to that point! It’s wonderful to be able to come to CC in the interim and get feedback like bclintonk’s about what a great opportunity Purdue is for your son in his chosen field. </p>
<p>annasdad, if Anna’s intellectual passion wasn’t supported by MIT or Caltech, but Harvard, Yale or other schools you’d regard as pricey “elites” in her field came knocking, are you saying you wouldn’t fund that education even if you could? I admire how well you know yourself. I have a hard time predicting “what if.” (Yes, I read the 75 tips book and agree it offers a lot of helpful info and tips! The fact the author doesn’t share your belief that “elite” is a dirty word doesn’t take anything away from your position or his; I simply felt you should’ve been up front about that instead of selectively quoting and paraphrasing the author and his sources.)</p>
<p>MIT Open Course Ware does allow sampling MIT courses through videos of class sessions, assignments, etc. if that may help with the decision.</p>
<p>Or the student could go to Purdue and use MIT Open Course Ware as a supplement or second means of explanation if he happens to not understand a particular topic in class.</p>
<p>Caltech will, of course, be a much smaller environment (and smaller class sizes, etc.). It will also likely be the most rigorous freshman experience (e.g. Caltech’s “freshman calculus” course is accelerated and honors level; MIT’s is accelerated with an optional “with theory” honors version offered).</p>
<p>To some, what car you drive makes a big difference. Take a Real Estate Agent for example, would you drive a 10 year old Nissan Quest to show a client to buy a 20 million dollar “house”? Can you sell a 5 caret diamond ring on a street corner flashing your overcoat? Why Tiffany has to have a store on 5th Avenue? Why don’t they open a store on 125th street at Lenox?</p>
<p>Different level of ppl have different stokes. Prestige does matter and it is not all emotional.</p>
<p>marciemi, I think Cambridge/Boston and MIT are too extraordinary an opportunity to pass up in your circumstances. As is Cal Tech, for the right student.</p>
<p>Marci- many of my son’s MIT friends are at startups. Some they’ve started, some they’ve gone to work for older students who were grad students when they were undergrads, some are for well established “serial entrepreneurs” who recruit aggressively at MIT, and some have no MIT connection whatsoever. This is a well worn path for Mechanical Engineers at MIT- and may not show up in the “recruiting literature” per se. One guy going off to do a bizarre sounding medical device company doesn’t sound too impressive; when you see whole packs of them doing it, it feels like something significant for society.</p>
<p>I know Caltech does the same with its graduates.</p>
<p>So I wouldn’t focus too heavily on who gets employed where coming out of Purdue, Caltech, MIT. Other than the Boeings of the world, you may not have heard of any of the companies- and that’s just fine. </p>
<p>My kid had an incredible experience at MIT and it was worth every penny. YMMV. But at least with one already there, you aren’t shooting in the dark with this decision!</p>
<p>I am not into prestige and I agree that job/grad school opportunities may be similar at both schools. However for a certain type of kid MIT offers an amazing experience that is hard to turn down. We are paying the full cost and don’t regret it.</p>
<p>"Personally, I would pay for a great dining experience faster than I would pay for an elite education. I am not really into cars, but …would you say the actual driving experience is the same? I’m talking about handling, and such.</p>
<p>To some, what car you drive makes a big difference. Take a Real Estate Agent for example, would you drive a 10 year old Nissan Quest to show a client to buy a 20 million dollar “house”? Can you sell a 5 caret diamond ring on a street corner flashing your overcoat? Why Tiffany has to have a store on 5th Avenue? Why don’t they open a store on 125th street at Lenox?</p>
<p>Different level of ppl have different stokes. Prestige does matter and it is not all emotional. "</p>
<p>I specifically mentioned the way the car drives, because I think its separate from prestige. Personally, I think cars do contribute their image to the drivers, and prestige has always been the opposite of what I wanted to convey. I spent a (relative) fortune customizing a twenty year old Karmen Ghia rather than drive something off the lot. I also wanted to be able to fix it myself. </p>
<p>I can speak with more authority on food. There is just no way that Olive Garden and say, Ad Hoc in Napa are the same experience. I can go into detail, but food is not the point of this thread. I never thought a name brand education was important (unless the name is Howard!), but husband did, so we compromised, and the family grew from that experience. Husband never thought food was important, but he has grown too. And I just turned in a BMW for an Audi, but still drive my kids’ (they share one) 20 year old Acura Integra, and I am now convinced that there is more to life than just getting from A to B.</p>
<p>Of course, very few real estate agents are dealing in $20 million houses… some real estate agents who deal with more ordinary houses drive minivans because the potential buyers are families (plus, the minivans have space for signs and other stuff that they may be carrying around).</p>
<p>“Bizarre as it may seen, my son currently at MIT was waitlisted by CMU - who can figure this all out!?”</p>
<p>Not bizarre at all if your son applied for CS at CMU. The odds of getting in that department are about the same as to MIT, so both would be a crapshoot. Hard to win both crapshoots that are seemingly random with such highly qualified students.</p>
<p>No I would not. I could find better uses for the money, and my kids can get just as good an education at far cheaper places. If the difference in price was small - a few thousand dollars - and my kid twisted my arm, I would probably yield. But $60,000 for a pricey elite versus $27,000 for our state flagship, or $21,000 for a Truman State - no way.</p>
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<p>I didn’t quote the whole book. But neither did I take anything out of context. The title of Tip 1 is “You Can Get an Equivalent Classroom Education at All Reasonably Selective Colleges and Universities,” which is exactly what I said he says.</p>
<p>EDIT: And I don’t believe that “elite” is a dirty word - it’s just something that I think is not worth paying for.</p>
<p>It is quite relevant that the course content differs between different schools. But maybe not to you since it inconveniently argues against your claim.</p>
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<p>What if the “elite” school happened to be generous with financial aid so that its net cost was less than that of the state universities?</p>