Schools like MIT?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I fell in love with MIT earlier this year: its vibe, its weather, its rigor, its emphasis on math and science yet opportunities in the humanities and music, and essentially its complete nerdiness. However, I know that it's extremely competitive and I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket. Any recommendations?</p>

<p>Here are the requirements:
Engineering (Mechanical and/or EECS)
Internships/research opportunities
Choir
Intramural tennis
Nerdiness & sense of humor
History and linguistics on the side
Rigorous- I want to be challenged academically for once (my high school is considered very tough, but it's easy for me: I've skipped a grade in several subjects)</p>

<p>While 1, 2 & 5 seem to go hand in hand, and 4 isn't that hard to find, it's 3 and 6 that are the killers. I refused to go to the Texas Academy of Math and Science because it's too focused on just those subjects: I absolutely have to keep my music and I need to get my humanities fix. I think Caltech may be in too much in the same vein. And while not necessary, cold weather (and snow!) would be nice. I'm growing up in Houston, and I sincerely hope I get the opportunity to curse my decision to go up north instead of Rice (too close to home) or UT or A&M (everyone goes to either one or the other; I want to meet new people). I realize I'm very picky, but I thank you for your advice in advance. Or if you could talk me into reconsidering one of the ones I've scratched off, I'd appreciate that too.</p>

2

<p>Well you will have to check how many check marks this will satisfy, but there are the main points covered:</p>

<p>Harvey Mudd</p>

<p>Possibly Carnagie-Mellon</p>

<p>No interest in convincing you or not on these or your other scratched offs, though you should consider costs.</p>

3

<p>Don’t worry about Rice being too close to home, once you are on campus you will forget about it almost immediately.</p>

4

<p>UT-Austin and Texas A&M are both humongous universities, with 10,000-12,000 undergraduates and 40,000 students total each. Even if your graduating class had 1,000 people and every single one of them went to UT-Austin with you, they would still only make up 10% of the student body, and only about 16% of the freshmen. If you don’t want to see anyone from high school, you don’t have to. Texas A&M seems like a great place to go to keep up with music, and I know they are nerdy and engineering-y. And Austin as a city has a fantastic music scene, or so I’ve heard.</p>

<p>The great thing about both of them is that they are flagship universities, so they are likely to have a LOT of degree offerings and classes in all of the things you are interested in and strong departments (I know UT-Austin is strong in the social sciences and humanities in addition to engineering). UT-Austin also only has a 47% acceptance rate and you know that most of your classmates will be in the top 8% of their class, given the whole Texas promise thing.</p>

<p>And on a very practical level, it seems silly to rule out two top 10 programs where you have very good chances of admission AND that are very affordable for you.</p>

<p>I also agree that you will forget that Rice is close to home; I went to a small liberal arts college 20 minutes from my hometown and I rarely went home.</p>

<p>Anyway, do you have cost constraints? Because a lot of large public universities (Virginia Tech, Penn State, Ohio State, UW-Madison, UW-Seattle, CU-Boulder, Pittsburgh) will satisfy your requirements. Ohio State and Penn State especially have musical traditions - mostly in the bands, but probably also have choirs plural available.</p>

<p>On the private side, you may be especially interested in Cornell, Columbia, Princeton, maybe Caltech. Caltech is an engineering school but also has humanities options as well, much like MIT (although without the strength in linguistics); I don’t think it snows much there though. And Columbia has a special mention because the SEAS division means that you will be concentrated in classes with other nerdy engineering majors, but also have the freedom to explore history and linguistics on the side (and will participate in the Core with all of the other undergrads). It will snow a ton in Ithaca, and I’m pretty sure Cornell has strengths in linguistics and history. And Princeton has those too. The upside is that these schools (maybe except Caltech) offer to meet 100% of your need if you get admitted.</p>

<p>Also consider Harvard, Yale, and Penn. University of Rochester may be a more matchy school that may satisfy you, as might Lehigh and Case Western.</p>

<p>If you definitely want to go to a more techie school, consider also Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Colorado School of Mines (lots of snow in Rochester and Colorado!)</p>

5

<p>Colorado school of mines sounds like a good option</p>

6

<p>I’d look into Johns Hopkins (my D’s friend who did not get into MIT ended up there and is very happy).</p>

7

<p>Have you really checked out the the offerings at Caltech to know that there aren’t enough music and humanities offerings for you? A lot of the more tech-y schools will have the nerdy vibe you crave with more than enough arts and humanities courses and activities as well. Many nerdy kids also have another dimension to them - often music, or drama, or languages or whatever. You are not that unusual. RPI and WPI are good examples.
However, if you like a balanced student body (not all nerds), then schools like U. Rochester, Tufts, JHU might be a better fit. CMU, Case Western are kinda in the middle.
There are lots of options.</p>

8

<p>Check out ISP at Northwestern. The rigor matches MIT/Caltech.
[Integrated</a> Science Program – Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences: Northwestern University](<a href=“http://www.isp.northwestern.edu/]Integrated”>http://www.isp.northwestern.edu/)</p>

<p>Some ISP students have the second major in engineering.</p>

9

<p>ReallyWantsMIT: How about Cornell? Ithaca is a very different setting than Boston/Cambridge. But you’ll find it meets your list of requirements. [disclosure: my EE degrees are from MIT & Cornell]. I like the other suggestions above, like CMU, Hopkins, Columbia… also, what about UT-like schools in the north that have good engineering programs, such as Illinois, Wisconsin…?</p>

<p>RRR</p>

10

<p>Rigorous, cold weather, nerdy and artsy…this just screams Carnegie Mellon.</p>

11

<p>Although not very artsy, Purdue seems like a good match.</p>

12

<p>A totally different school with the academic rigor and the nerdiness you seek would be Swarthmore. It has engineering but is also strong in the humanities and definitely has the rigor you seek. Maybe check it out, you may prefer a smaller more intimate college experience… A close family friend loved it there.</p>

13

<p>Harvey Mudd is serious about letting you stay involved in the humanities, and the Claremont Consortium gives you a lot of choices of classes to do that. Their mission statement is:</p>

<p>Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.</p>

14

<p>Swarthmore is an awesome school, but the OP should look carefully at their engineering department which is clearly the weak link or forgotten stepchild in the school. My son loved everything about the school for many of the same factors as the OP is interested in, but when we toured, the engineering department and offerings were a huge letdown. The courses offerings in engineering are limited compared to other schools mentioned above and the facilities looked less than state-of-the-art for such a great school. Also acceptance rate is 14%…</p>