<p>How does the rigor of Stanford's Engineering program compare to that of MIT? Please only answer in the context of engineering. I know Stanford is better in the humanities. Also, in the engineering world, does going to MIT vs. Stanford, give you and edge? If so, how much? Thanks. Oh, btw, I still have a year and half before i go to college, but I plan on majoring in Aerospace Engineering. I know Stanford doesn't have an undergrad degree but if I get in I plan on studying Electrical Engineering with a minor in Aero/Astro. I plan on concentrating in Aerospace Software Engineering so this seems like a logical choice.</p>
<p>read "the world is flat: a brief history of the twenty-first century" by thomas l. friedman</p>
<p>has some interesting implications about the future of engineering fields due to globalization and the digital revolution</p>
<p>Stanford doesnt offer a degree in aeronautical/aerospace engineering?! Hmm i think MIT just jumped to my first choice for college now. But i just checked the stanford website and they say you can declare it as an interdisciplinary major and get a bachelor of science degree in general engineering with it. Hmm im really disappointed though. Stanford was going to be my first choice, but with aerospace and nuclear engineering lagging behind MIT, i think im gonna have to reconsider. Being ranked the second best engineering school to MIT on US news, I would have expected a little more.</p>
<p>See if they have the classes/faculty/resources you want and need. If they do, the nomenclature doesn't really matter.</p>
<p>o0CrazyGlue0o, I saw that too on the AA website about the interdisciplinary major. But I don't like it. I don't want my degree to read "General Engineering". That's like saying I sampled bits and pieces of every engineering discipline but am not really good at anything in particular. You might also want to look at GeorgiaTech. They are the top public school in Engineering after Berkeley and their Aerospace program is ranked #2 by USN&WR, and #1 by practicing engineers. I have actually heard wonderful things about Tech.</p>
<p>Airkimchaek - I think you are making a mistake by letting this be such a major issue. The differences between the two schools' engineering programs should be a relatively small factor in your decision-making process.</p>
<p>1) Are you planning to go to graduate school? If you are, any difference between MIT and Stanford engineering doesn't matter. If you have a graduate degree in engineering nobody will care what it says on your undergraduate diploma. Even if you don't go to graduate school, employers will want to see your transcript, where they can see your list of aero/astro courses, and you can note that you specialized in that area on your resume.</p>
<p>2) Most students change their prospective major field between matriculation and graduation. You may well discover that you don't like engineering and would rather be a a chemist, a doctor, or a professor of philosophy. (I started undergrad planning to be a physicist and now that I'm in grad school I'm on track to become a legal sociologist.) Even if you stay in engineering, you may decide you'd rather be an electrical engineer than an aerospace engineer.</p>
<p>3) MIT and Stanford are completely different schools. They're across the country from each other. The climate in Palo Alto is nothing like the climate in Boston. Stanford has more girls; MIT has more guys. Because they attract different students and are in different places, the undergraduate cultures of the two schools are different. At MIT, 45% of your fellow students will be engineering majors; I don't have figures for Stanford, but engineering doesn't even make their top 5 list, Stanford's student body is 150% the size of MIT's. If you are lucky enough to have to choose between the two schools, your choice should be driven by enormous differences like these, not differences between the engineering departments.</p>
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I don't want my degree to read "General Engineering".
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<p>It's not that bad. It happens at other schools too. </p>
<p>I'll give you an example. Caltech has the #1 rated AA program in the country. But guess what - Caltech also doesn't give you an actual AA bachelor's degree. Instead, you get a degree in "Engineering and Applied Sciences". You can get a graduate degree from Caltech in AA, but not a bachelor's degree. A degree is "Engineering and Applied Sciences" is not dissimilar to a degree in "General Engineering". Yet nobody disputes the strength of the Caltech AA program.</p>
<p>Don't believe me? Then check out the commencement data for Caltech in the last 5 years. Check out all of the bachelor's degree recipients and notice how you can't find a single person who graduated with a bachelor's degree in AA. You will find people who designate their degree as "Engineering and Applied Science (Aeronautics)", but nobody can actually get a bachelor's degree that is labeled AA. </p>
<p><a href="http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/05/bs.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/05/bs.pdf</a>
<a href="http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/04/bs.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/04/bs.pdf</a>
<a href="http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/03/bs.html%5B/url%5D">http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/03/bs.html</a>
<a href="http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/02/bs.html%5B/url%5D">http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/02/bs.html</a>
<a href="http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/01/bs.html%5B/url%5D">http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/01/bs.html</a>
<a href="http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/00/bs.html%5B/url%5D">http://pr.caltech.edu/commencement/00/bs.html</a></p>
<p>Here's Caltech's official policy about it.</p>
<p>So the point is, if Caltech AA students can live with it, then so can anybody else.</p>
<p>I have heard from people that Stanford is not as hard as CAL or MIT in terms of work.</p>
<p>also isnt grade inflation overplayed at stanford? (not that i;m complaning)</p>
<p>my college choice is probably going to come down to two factors
1. Which college will make it easier for me to get into my first choice graduate college
2. Which college offers the most diversity in majors, especially in engineering and science</p>
<p>MIT will most likely be my first choice for grad school. A few things I need to know is what is the exam for grad school that i need to take if i major in engineering or science and what subjects does it cover. Also, would going to MIT for undergrad college increase my chances for getting there for grad school?</p>
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A few things I need to know is what is the exam for grad school that i need to take if i major in engineering or science and what subjects does it cover
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<p>Usually, it's just the general GRE. Some disciplines may require the subject GRE. You may want to poke around MIT's website for the department that interests you and examine their graduate admissions requirements.</p>
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Also, would going to MIT for undergrad college increase my chances for getting there for grad school?
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<p>Anecdotally speaking, the answer is probably yes. While this obviously can't be proven, the fact is, MIT undergrad is vastly disproportionately overrepresented within the graduate population. Part of that surely has to do with simple geographic preference (i.e. once you get used to a place, you just don't want to move). But I have a hard time believing that that explains all of the difference. For example, of all of the MIT undergrads who go to graduate school, they choose MIT for the grad school on the order of something like 10x more often than they will choose some other school, even a nearby school like Harvard. I have to believe that that means there is some homefield advantage.</p>
<p>However, in fairness, it should be pointed out that Stanford is a pretty darn good place to go to graduate school too.</p>
<p>"my college choice is probably going to come down to two factors
1. Which college will make it easier for me to get into my first choice graduate college
2. Which college offers the most diversity in majors, especially in engineering and science"</p>
<p>I personally think it is a mistake to base you choice of college on only the two above factors. Stanford, MIT, and Caltech will all prepare you well for any graduate program. Diversity of majors doesn't really say much either. Take a look at classes offered. If there is something you want to study and the school does not offer any classes on the subject then there might be a problem. Otherwise it's probably not a problem at all. You can also design your own major if the school doesn't offer the exact program you are looking for. </p>
<p>You are going to be living at the college of you choice for four years. Your college experiences are likely to shape what type of person you become. What will your day-to-day life be like? Will you be happy at the college you choose? I think this is the most important thing to consider, and probably also the hardest to figure out as a profro. </p>
<p>As an engineer, I think it is actually very important to be around other people who are not techies. A good engineer should be creative. I feel that sampling classes from different departments can actually help foster creativity. Ever wanted to draw a graph or write a proof for an english essay? I know I have. Perhaps in the future your non-engineering classes will, in a similar way, offer a new perspective.</p>