Accepted into Harvard today, Stanf/MIT last week, and received likely from M&T a few weeks ago.
I’m probably a computer science and electrical engineering (EECS) major, with a business/entrepreneurship leaning. Worked in startups/hacking for most of my life, and building products using STEM is one of my passions.
I’m visiting all three, but am having trouble deciding. Am worried about watered down liberal artsy/humanities influence at Stanford (heard that tons of humanities majors end up filing into CS classes over the whole ‘startup’ hype of silicon valley hence reducing material intensity/quality in certain classes), but pure hardcore academia isn’t an interest either (often associated with MIT). Which is sort of where Harvard and M&T come into the equation - both have strong theoretical departments with a strong business/management side, but neither are the STEM powerhouse of MIT nor have the startup environment that I’ve grown up with in the Silicon Valley + Stanford.
Here’s the heart of my question - which college is best for a hardcore STEM guy (CS, Math, Artificial Intelligence Research background) who wants to work on products (startups, hacking, etc.)?
You have a lot of misconceptions…
I don’t know where you get the notion that Stanford’s CS has been “watered down [with] liberal artsy/humanities influence”. Harvard is indeed a STEM powerhouse… its engineering is a tad weaker, but the rest of STEM is on par with MIT, Caltech, etc. MIT is not only “pure hardcore academia”… it ranks pretty damn highly with its own entrepreneurship and start-up culture.
All 4 of these institutions would be outstanding for you… there is no right or wrong here. But please don’t base the decision on misconceptions and outdated stereotypes.
That said… with those interests, I would recommend Stanford or MIT.
To answer your question, without doubt MIT is for someone looking for that hardcore technology. That said the outlook, skills, and focus necessary to work on typical modern products (such as those of AirBnB, Uber, etc.) require an element of entrepreneurship sometimes to the exclusion of technology. MIT is not necessarily the best place to acquire that entrepreneurship. Your other choices would be better, and of them, in my opinion, Stanford is the best. That very smart “humanities” majors see the world as encompassing computer technology as well as Shakespeare is not necessarily a negative. In my opinion it’s refreshing.
I will focus on M&T because the other posters kind of ignored it lol. At the undergraduate level, those programs are will essentially give you the same education. UPenn will be a bit more practical than the others maybe, but the material will be largely the same. The advantage of UPenn M&T however is the very small number of students in the program and the amount of perks it receives on campus. You will essentially be on a pedestal. At the other schools, you’ll just be another student among thousands.
So (from what I know):
MIT = sheer technical rigor
Stanford = very solid all round + Silicon Valley startup edge
M&T = Wharton + pedestal on campus
Harvard = don’t know too much about harvard tbh but well it’s Harvard
Why is Harvard on the table? It does not compare to the others for what the OP is intending to study. Send Harvard home. How do you associate MIT with " hardcore academia" . You are confusing it with CalTech or Chicago. MIT does have a huge start-up environment but not just a start up environment. it is rated high on all the dimensions you are interested in. Can’t go wrong with any that you have listed except Harvard for what you are seeking.
H A R V A R D. Why? Because you’ll gain admission to the Harvard Club in Boston and NYC, which is worth the school alone.
How are you as a high schooler even remotely aware of what admission to the Harvard Club in Boston and NYC gets one?
Because my pop is a corporate lawyer and told me so.
Are you aware that probably 99% of corporate lawyers don’t give a hoot about the Harvard Club of any city?
Glad you admitted you’re a high schooler, though - you seem to be pretending elsewhere on other threads.
Go to Stanford, don’t even think about it. A leading computer science department+California is a killer combination.
Stanford and then big gap everything else.
But Harvard will provide and open the doors to the land of milk and honey, the riches only the most illustrious college in the world can offer; the golden key to endless and exclusive invitations, cocktail receptions, high society parties; the finest dinners and wines that only the Harvard Club can serve; the unsurpassed networking and career opportunities; the exclusive and truly rarefied academic environment of Cambridge; the ability to hobnob with the intelligentsia of the elites; the unique ability to own and don a supper jacket with a Harvard crest emblazoned on your chest; the membership in the oldest college alumni association in America; the Harvard-Yale game at Soldiers Field; and the path to the sine qua non to every thing that is exceptional about America.
Oh Harvard, America’s finest institution of higher learning, the Athens of the world, in the center of the universe, how she welcomes you with open arms!
I hope you’re joking, as the vast majority of people who go to Harvard get up, go to work, come home, putter around the house on weekends and live pleasant upper middle class lives indistinguishable from grads of most decent colleges.
Nope, they get to do things upper middle class people don’t do like enjoy a life of leisure and luxury.
Goodness. Maybe when you graduate high school you’ll get it. Harvard grads work alongside grads of other schools. They haven’t been granted the keys to heaven and they put their pants legs on one at a time.
Nope, I know a Harvard grad and he has a butler who helps him get dressed. He goes to the Harvard Club and drinks vintage cognac each night, a truly bon vivant existence. He’s what they call “a Harvard man.”
M&T: UPenn offers you a dual degree program, and it focuses immensely on practicality and being pre-professional.
Congrats on picking stanford 