I apologize…I have posted this on Stanford forum too to garner more replies since links are not allowed. My son has been accepted at both these universities and we are not sure which is a better choice. He plans to double major at Stanford in CS & Econ/finance/business whereas M&T is a dual degree - CS & Business. He likes the fact that M&T has a small cohort of 50 students and has higher priority than Wharton students for opportunities. He plans to go to admit visits at these universities to get a feel for the places. He is doing his own research; we parents thought to get some feedback from CC.
Some background- He wants to go to a place where he will be challenged intellectually - he does NOT want to be in the top. He has done many research projects at prestigious universities as a high schooler and won awards in Siemens/Regeneron STS. He also is an entrepreneur and has founded some ventures. He wants to pursue research in CS and Economics during undergraduate study and wants to possibly work at high tech innovative firms/financial industry initially in CS and then step into management.
Is someone with some experience with these 2 programs through friends/employees/family able to shed some light?
Posted before on your other post but I will try to share some other points I didn’t before.
As I said before, fit is the most important factor here as both Penn M&T and Stanford will provide comparable opportunities and have similar strength, prestige in business tech circles. Fit is important not only because it will mean a happier college experience, but also because people are bound to perform better when they are happy and fit in well.
Overall, Penn and Stanford have a lot of similarities. They both value both intellectualism and the practical application of knowledge, have great start-up incubators, great opportunities for research and do a very good job at balancing social life with academics.
Penn M&T pluses: small program of seriously accomplished students, they enjoy huge individualized attention and guidance from the M&T office at Penn. The M&T alumni network is very close-knit, they have events all the time, it can go a long way in terms of networking for jobs. Also having a business degree can help his transition into management later on.
Stanford pluses: greater overall name/prestige, stronger in CS, better location for his interests, better weather, prettier campus, more grade inflation than Penn (easier to get a high GPA).
After visiting both, it might be good to come back here and post your key takeaways, impressions, concerns and people familiar with either school might be able to comment on them.
The primary benefit of an M & T degree is the dual degree and broader expertise. Entrepreneurship takes both technical and business skills.
CS is the largest major in Penn SEAS. Penn CS students take a wide variety of jobs in technology, consulting, and business. It depends on your interest. They do not have difficulty getting positions in the big name tech companies. Many are also interested in startups. It is not an easy major.
There is a entrepreneurial management concentration available in Wharton and entrepreneurial minor (I think) offered via SEAS.
D also hates to be the smartest person in the room, and she has been very happy at Penn. She is more interested in that than in protecting her gpa. She worked with her faculty advisor to make sure she was placed in challenging courses that were right for her.
@winwin111, if your D are genuinely interested in business, M&T is the choice. Excluding the H name in general, what H offers can also be offered by M&T. But, what M&T offers may not be offered by H. There is only one Wharton. GL
@winwin111 I agree with the post above. While the Stanford vs M&T choice is more difficult given Stanfird’s strength in engineering, tech and also its location, I feel M&T is a better choice than Harvard for students interested in engineering and business. Definitely Harvard ( and Stanford) have an overall stronger name than Penn, but M&T is a unique program that opens amazing doors and is extremely prestigious in sophisticated business and tech circles. As I said above the level of individual attention and guidance M&T students get is really second to none and the access to the incredibly close knit and really successful M&T alumni network can go a long way for getting too jobs and making connections.
You might want to have your son look into the Management Science and Engineering (MS&E) program at Stanford. There are three separate tracks which he can pursue depending on if he’s interested in Working in finance , startups or what have you. M&T is a very strong program but I don’t think you lose anything by going to Stanford which perhaps has a stronger name and is in the heart of Silicon Valley. He should definitely go to both admitted students days and see where feels right to him. There’s no wrong choice as you know. Good luck to him!
Both can offer excellent education and tremendous opportunities. So you can not go wrong with either choice. One thing is worthy to note, by doing M&T, you get a whole systemic business education at Wharton. From accounting, finance, management, marketing, entrepreneurship etc, both hard and soft skills. You save the time and money by pursing MBA.
Go to Stanford. Econ and CS are both better at Stanford. M&T is incredibly hard and stressful. People who do it are another breed. Usually they all become successful and can get any job, but idk how often these people go to more interesting startups, do CS research, etc. If he’s interested in academia, M&T is not really the place for it. It’s better to do just one major and dive deeply. M&T’s more of the place to be if you want to start your own company or work for McKinsey. Also the weather here sucks - you will undoubtedly miss the sun.
M&T isn’t too bad if you do the BASc option* instead of getting a BSE and you carefully choose** your classes/professors. Out of my cohort, there was only one person interested in academia and another who got his PhD from Stanford in operations research and then went immediately to financial services. Almost everyone else went to Wall street with a smattering of people in other industries. The most fascinating outcome was the person who eventually ended up playing poker professionally.
*when I was there, a BASc in systems engineering was commonly combined with finance.
**as an example, careful planning for Stat 530/531 was routine as people would often arrange their entire junior schedule around getting a specific professor.