Stanford vs MIT vs Harvard vs Penn Jerome Fisher Program in M&T

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>Hey! Whilst I have long been the biggest dissenter to this sort of threads, for the mere reason that fit is subjective, I am currently in a significant quagmire! I recently learned that I was admitted into Harvard College, Stanford University, The Management and Technology Program within the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I have no idea what choice to make from these.
I would appreciate any insight into the relative merits, and demerits of these undergraduate programs. Ideally I would like to double major in Engineering and Business/Management Science. With this in mind, the M&T program obviously takes the lead. However, I want more of an intellectual undergraduate program as opposed to one which is overtly preprofessional. With my STEM bent, MIT is also a big contender for the simple fact that it is the best engineering school in the world (I would double major in course 10 and 15 if I matriculate) as is Stanford University( Chemical Engineering with Submatriculation into the Management Science Program). However, I also love intellectual breadth and as such Harvard represents an ideal location.
Please offer any advice you can. I anticipate a lot of “Visit both and determine your fit” which is valid. I intend to do that. So other than that, what other advice can you render?
Thank you so much for reading this and for taking your time to help. Much appreciated.</p>

<p>PS, I’m posting this on all the schools forums as well.</p>

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<p>Congrats. That is pretty amazing. I think that out of the four schools, Penn is the least prestigious. Choose from Harvard, Stanford, and MIT if you think prestige is an important factor.</p>

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<p>Well Penn is not as prestigious, but the M&T program is as is Wharton. </p>

<p>Prestige is a secondary factor. :)</p>

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<p>As you said, Stanford has management science and engineering (MS&E), which just got a brand-new home in the awesome Huang engineering building (part of the science and engineering quad):</p>

<p>[Stanford</a> School of Engineering - Building for the future](<a href=“http://soe.stanford.edu/giving/building.html]Stanford”>http://soe.stanford.edu/giving/building.html)</p>

<p>The MS&E program is well-regarded (tied for first with MIT for quality, but indisputably #1 in reputation):</p>

<p>[NRC</a> Rankings Overview: Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering - Faculty - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124751/]NRC”>http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124751/)</p>

<p>These are obviously grad program rankings, but the point is that Stanford MS&E is top-notch and well-regarded.</p>

<p>MIT and Stanford are equal in STEM, but Stanford also has the intellectual breadth that you mentioned you like in Harvard. IMO Stanford has the most intellectual breadth and depth: the highest # top programs in NRC, US News, etc., and in the THE world rankings, it’s the only university in the world to be ranked in the top 5 in all the main areas–engineering/tech, life sciences, health sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, and arts/humanities: <a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/engineering-and-IT.html[/url]”>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/engineering-and-IT.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>All this obviously should not be the basis of your decision–program (not overall) rankings can be useful but only to an extent. My point is that if some criteria important to you include a top management/engineering program + intellectual breadth/depth, Stanford is equal to or at times better than your other options. (Actually, it’s the only one of your options that fits both those criteria.) Also, if you want to stay away from overt pre-professionalism, you should definitely think hard about Harvard, which I’ve heard a lot complain has an extremely pre-professional feel–as in, a ridiculous number of students obsessed with going into finance, business, law, etc. Take this with a grain of salt, because it’s only what I understood when I was considering H, but obv. I’ve never attended.</p>

<p>Like you said, it’ll come down to fit, visiting, where you can see yourself for 4 years, etc.</p>

<p>So here’s some other advice: since you seem to have your interests well-defined, you’ll likely want to take a lot of classes in areas you’re interested in (more so than the average person). While core curricula and general ed requirements don’t seem like a big deal, they are–they really do affect the classes you have room to take, not to mention your happiness with the courses in your schedule (sucks when nearly half the classes you take in college are general reqs). I’m a STEM major but back when I was a senior, one of the reasons I personally decided against MIT was its GIRs; Stanford’s quarter system also allowed me to take more classes anyway. So unless you really don’t care about whatever the required curriculum is, it’d be useful to figure out which ones appeal to you the most/least. Some, even non-hard science people, love the GIRs at MIT.</p>

<p>Most everything else I can think of has been said a million times in Stanford vs. X threads, so I’ll trust that you can find them.</p>

<p>Good luck deciding–no way to go wrong, so many ways to go right. :)</p>

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<p>Hey kimathi, I was accepted into Stanford and the Jerome Fisher Program as well, but I went with Stanford because I loved the feel of the campus and like you said, I wanted an intellectual undergraduate program.</p>