<p>Any comments on choosing between Stanford and MIT for Engineering?
My child was fortunately accepted to both schools. She is not sure which field, but is very interested in both Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. She also loves computers and coding. She's not currently interested in research or teaching but that could change. I'd like for her to study hard and qualify for a good job but I'd like for her to enjoy her time in college (a little, not too much).
I'd like to hear of the experiences you or your child had at either institution. Thank you so much.</p>
<p>It’s hard to say.
My son chose MIT and he was happy at MIT.
Did she visit both campuses?</p>
<p>hard to choose… but i would go for MIT</p>
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I faced this decision several years ago and was also interested in EE. I ended up choosing Stanford. Some of the reasons I favored Stanford were the entrepreneurial culture with Silicon Valley; my experiences while visiting during admit weekend, particularly a very friendly and helpful atmosphere; what I perceived to be increased opportunities outside of engineering; and the moderate CA coastal climate.</p>
<p>While at Stanford, I ended up doing a lot of things I hadn’t planned on during high school, things that would have likely impacted my decision. For example, I did a double co-term where I simultaneously pursued a BS in engineering, MS in engineering, and MS in a business related field. It’s likely easier to simultaneously pursue a BS and MS at Stanford than at MIT. I finished these degrees surprisingly quickly because all of my ~1 year’s worth of transfer credit from classes I took during HS were approved. I’m not sure if MIT would have been so generous about the transfer credits. The program I entered was designed to foster tech entrepreneurship. While at Stanford I heard about experiences from many alumni who have started successful companies, including some well known ones, such as meeting one of the Yahoo founders. This atmosphere and my degree background contributed to me starting a successful Internet company. I doubt that would have happened had I attended MIT.</p>
<p>I was involved in many areas I didn’t plan on while at Stanford, which related to random exposures or things going on around campus. For example, 1st semester freshman year chem was taken by both pre-med and engineering, I found chem really interesting, so continued with the pre-med track, as well as my original plans for an engineering major, which led to taking bio classes as well. After being inspired by my classes in psychology and being involved in some psychology related research at the medical school, I tried to make a self designed major that combined neurobiology and psychology into a unified theory. After getting a bike and biking to my classes (most bike to their classes because of the large campus size and bike-friendly weather), I joined the cycling club-team and went on their daily rides from the post office, when it fit my mood. The sports-friendly atmosphere led to me briefly joining the crew team as well (Stanford has won more div I national championships than any other school over the past few decades). Stanford probably has a more diverse student body, in terms of things like percentage of students who are focused on non-STEM areas, and with it probably has more of this type of exposures to random things in unplanned areas. It also probably influences that atmosphere in dorms and generally around campus. It can be either good or bad, depending on what you are looking for in a college experience.</p>
<p>I’m originally from NY. I now live in CA. After college, I stayed in CA because the bulk of the recruiters in career fairs were from the west coast, and I came to enjoy the CA weather and atmosphere (more laid back, healthy, athletic, … than were I grew up). I’d find it quite difficult to get used to NY winters again. If I had gone to MIT, I’d probably still be living in the northeast. If you are majoring in a tech field, I think the Silicon Valley area has the advantage in terms of work/internship opportunities and salary. While I was a student, I was able to find a part-time job at a tech-research company that was within biking distance (did not have a car). One big downside is to this area is the cost of living, particularly home prices.</p>
<p>They are both excellent schools, and your D will likely be content either way. I’d suggest checking out the colleges during admit weekend (or equivalent at MIT).</p>
<p>My son was the opposite to Data10. He grew up in CA but did not want to live in CA. He had job offers in both Silicon Valley and NY and chose NY.</p>
<p>@radio96. Congratulations to you and your daughter…I have a good feeling you KNOW where your D wants to be and where she BELONGS…</p>
<p>…if she is the type that would enjoy the hardcore high level engineering/CS 24 hours a day by breathing and eating this stuff…she belongs at a place like MIT or Caltech…</p>
<p>…if she is the type that would enjoy high level engineering/CS in a setting that allows you to take a “break” and smell the roses (literally there are roses on the Quad year round) and also have a more balanced mix of students who also enjoy high level humanities/social sciences along with high level (future Olympic/professional) athletics…thrown in with exciting outside extracurricular activities (too numerous to mention)…and being able to wear flip-flops year round…then she belongs at a place like Stanford…</p>
<p>…she can’t go wrong with either school for engineering/CS…they are both TOPS in the world…it’s just a matter of picking between the lifestyle and FIT now…</p>
<p>…best wishes!</p>
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<p>Well, I’m not sure what you are referring to when you say simultaneously pursuing a BS and MS. People at MIT often stay for a 1 year M.Eng degree, especially in electrical engineering. The requirement is that you have a 4.3/5.0 GPA, although if you have lower than that they may make an exception. I know a few people who did it in mechanical engineering too. I think many times they just award the B.S. and MS at the same time but don’t know for sure; it basically is a seamless transition regardless.</p>
<p>As for the business degree, MIT has a bachelor’s degree in business, and many people take a second major in that. Most elite schools don’t offer business as an undergrad major. So that’s probably roughly equivalent to taking an M.S. in business at Stanford.</p>
<p>About the transfer credit, I think MIT would honor first year classes like chem 101, etc., if they were taken at the college. It has gotten a little harder to AP out of all the intro classes, though. It used to be you just needed a 5 on the AP to get out of single variable calculus, physics (mech and E&M), biology, and chem. I think you can still get out of bio, calc, and one of the physics classes, but you may have to take an advanced standing exam to get out of everything.</p>
<p>The education is good (but different) at both places. I think the determining factor should be the vibe you get on the campus, where the student feels the most comfortable and would like to spend the next 4 years. Looking at the curriculum, what excites you the most?</p>
<p>I think the entrepeneurial spirit in the EE/ME fields is the same at MIT and Stanford. I would say it might be a better environment for entrepeneurship in software at Stanford, though. </p>
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I was referring to Stanford’s coterminal master’s program, which is described at <a href=“Coterminal Advising, Program Proposal, and Time Limit | Stanford University Bulletin”>http://exploredegrees.stanford.edu/cotermdegrees/</a> . In short you can enter a grad program while you are still an undergrad, then simultaneously work towards both degrees, with a schedule that contains a mix of classes for your undergrad degree and classes for your grad degree. In some cases, you can count classes towards both degrees. However, you need an extra 45 credits (~1 year) beyond what is required for an undergrad degree. The grad program does not need to be in the same field as your major. You can apply to become a coterm after you have 2/3 the number of credits required for an undergrad degree. I became a coterm during my 2nd year at Stanford since I had a lot of transfer credits. </p>
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MIT’s website states that they require students who want transfer credit in chemistry to submit copies of all HW, problem sets, and exams for review. This suggests the approval depends on the detailed content of the course. </p>
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Some charts and tables comparing the degree of entrepreneurship at Stanford, MIT, and other schools is at <a href=“One University To Rule Them All: Stanford Tops Startup List - ReadWrite”>One University To Rule Them All: Stanford Tops Startup List - ReadWrite; . Note that Stanford dominates every measure by a large margin. The history of entrepreneurship relates to an EE professor at Stanford who was concerned about his students having to go to the east coast for jobs, so he encouraged and assisted his students in starting their own companies. His students for several successful companies. The most well known one is Hewlett Packard. He later became provost at Stanford and continued the tech entrepreneurship spirit. After several decades, Stanford students had created thousands of companies and millions of jobs. The area around Stanford became full of startups and known as Silicon Valley. There is a class at Stanford called the The Entrepreneurial Engineer that requires students to identify a startup formed by Stanford students that does not appear on their existing list. The current list is up to over 1000 companies, nearly all of which were formed in the last 10 years. I graduated with degrees in EE and found nearly all the startups at the tech career fair that I found interesting were interested in hiring EE majors for related positions, including ones that we typically think of as more software than HW.</p>
<p>^From the link you provided:
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<p>I already acknowledged that Stanford might be a better climate for software startups. However, it’s not clear whether this would extend to other fields; there is no breakdown at either field. Yes, I agree an EE major could be hired for more software-related jobs, but that is beside the point. </p>
<p>I can only tell you that there is a strong culture of entrepeneurship at MIT. Silicon valley is one advantage of Stanford, and another advantage is that the undergrads have a more reasonable workload so there may actually time to build a startup. However, regardless, it’s important to note that it’s unlikely that an undergrad would found a non-software startup at either place, simply because there is so much training that is required to even get to the point where you might be able to patent something. </p>
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<p>Well, I know someone that got credit for a year of intro classes they took at a state flagship (U. of Illinois Urbana Champaign). </p>
<p>U. of Illinois Urbana Champaign has a top 5 engineering program ranked by usnews. I would think their intro classes are quite rigorous and meet MIT’s standards. </p>
<p>At least one poster noted that a very advanced student in math got significant subject credit at MIT for math courses taken at community colleges and/or a local state (non-flagship) university, though the courses needed to be individually evaluated. Stanford also presumably has a similar policy, since it does accept a few transfer students, about half of whom come from community colleges.</p>
<p>Both schools have AP credit lists on their web sites.</p>