Stanford vs. MIT

College Search & Selection
1

<p>CAMPUS/SETTING
Boston vs. Silicon Valley
urban vs. suburban
college city vs. isolated
New England cold vs. NorCal moderate weather
modern, varied, weird architecture vs. Taco Bell, Spanish arches, palm trees
tighter campus = walking vs. spread out campus = much biking
housing is really varied for both</p>

<p>ATMOSPHERE
IHTFP vs. paddling duck
intense East coast vs. superficially laid-back West coast
nerd pride vs. athletic spirit
widely recognized ring (brass rat) vs. widely recognized sports teams
Traditions</a> and student activities at MIT vs. [Stanford[/url</a>]
techie vs. techie and fuzzy
numbers for everything vs. just names
Mens et Manus (trying ideas out!) vs. Die Luft der Freiheit (??)</p>

<p>PEOPLE
4172 undergrads vs. 6584
26% Asian Pacific Islander vs. 24%
22% URM vs 23%
30+% in FSILGs vs. 13% in Greek life</p>

<p>ACADEMICS
60.6% of classes under 20 people vs. 70.3%
19.2% of classes over 40 people vs. 15.7%<br>
6.8% go to medical school vs. 9%
7.5:1 student:faculty ratio vs. 7:1
82% graduate in four years vs. 76%
4-1-4 calendar vs. quarter system
[url=<a href="http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/general_institute_requirements/index.shtml%5DGIRs:"&gt;http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/general_institute_requirements/index.shtml]GIRs:&lt;/a> HASS, etc.](<a href="http://tinyurl.com/24lzr7%5DStanford%5B/url"&gt;http://tinyurl.com/24lzr7) vs. GERs:</a> IHUM, PWR, etc.
MIT majors I'm interested in: Biology (Course 7), Sloan (15), Brain and Cognitive Sciences major (9), Biological Engineering (20); MIT minors: Public Policy, Applied International Studies, Toxicology and Environmental Health
Stanford majors: Biology, Management Science and Engineering, Human Biology, Public Policy, International Relations
no honors degrees vs. degrees with honors
UROPs vs. Honors College, URPs
pass/fail A/B/C/no record freshman year vs. real grades
56 freshman advising seminars vs. 100+ freshman/sophomore seminars/dialogues
15-20% study abroad vs. 50% through BOSP</p>

<p>Silly, but interesting, rankings[ul]
[<em>]In Avery, Glickman, Hoxby, and Metrick's Revealed Preferences model, MIT barely beats Stanford at 51-49 in a head-to-head tournament.
[</em>]Princeton Review ranks Stanford in their lists for top diversity, race/class interaction, quality of life, student happiness, library, running like butter, financial aid, and selectivity. MIT is in the lists for most studying, selectivity, and bad campus.
[<em>]Wall Street Journal's ranking for top graduate (or professional) school feeders puts Stanford at #4 and MIT at #8.
[</em>]U.S.News and World Report's 2008 ranking of National Universities puts Stanford at #4 and MIT at #7.
[li]College Pr0wler: I turned the letter grades for selected categories into a 12-point scale in a spreadsheet, with 12=A+. Stanford gets an average 9.12, while MIT gets an average 8.82.[/li]


-     Academics   Computers   Safety & Security   Campus Housing
MIT     12      12      8           9
Stanford    12      11      11          9
-       Weather     Facilities  Off campus Dining   Campus Dining
MIT     4       9       11          7
Stanford    10      8       11          8
-       Diversity   Girls       Athletics       Nightlife
MIT     11      4       6           10
Stanford    11      7       11          8
-       Greek Life  Local Atmsphre. Campus Strictness   Transportation
MIT     10      11      7           10
Stanford    7       7       10          4

[/ul]</p>

<p>About me: At the moment, I probably want to study primarily something related to biology, and MAYBE secondarily something related to management or policy. I probably want to prepare for a career in medicine, biomedical research, or public health. I like the idea of discussion-based classes (I am a debater; I applied to UChicago), but they're not necessary for my happiness. My high school is very MIT-style nerdy. I don't know if I want to stay in a similar environment or try something new (thoughts/advice please!). Regarding weather, pollen season is more irritating than how much cold winter air dries out my skin, but sun is preferable to the absence of sun. My friends can't see me, an introvert, in a fraternity, but I am open-minded about joining a frat because I like tight-knit communities. I have not been involved in much athletics in high school but would perhaps like to do intramurals in college. School spirit for athletics is not that important to me. I'm interested in studying abroad, but that depends on what kind of course schedule I plan and how much I can persuade my parents to let me. My typical Asian parents care about reputation and name-brand image even if that image is inaccurate (e.g. MIT = quantitative, techy; Stanford = more liberal arts balanced). I have not yet received financial aid letters.</p>

2

<p>I would pick Stanford. MUCH better social life. People there work hard, but they're also happy & have fun. Better climate (moderate weather year round with low humidity). Plus, you have great access to both San Jose (which is really close) and San Francisco.</p>

<p>And the campus is gorgeous - it does have Spanish influence, but it certainly doesn't look like a Taco Bell.</p>

3

<p>both are obviously great schools, it seems you were able to break down the schools pretty well, so now you should just ask yourself, what seems more exciting to you? if i had to choose, id choose standford, i have a couple friends there and they love it, its near san francisco which is an awesome city, and you get to see some great sporting events (stanford going to upset usc againt this year??? and maybe brooke lopez will stay for one more year...)</p>

<p>really the choice is up to you, you cant go wrong with either one, maybe FA will be the tie breaker...</p>

4

<p>MIT duh</p>

5

<p>I highly recommend that you visit both schools and see which campus feel or social atmosphere you like better. Personally, I would choose Stanford over MIT bc Stanford's academics is as good as MIT's, yet, Stanford has a stunning campus, gorgeous weather, and really good social life with D1 sports. MIT, on the other hand, doesn't have a beautiful campus or a quality social life like Stanford. It is known for very intense academics and rather unimpressive social scene. The bottom line is that the two schools are vastly different and you should consider which one you fit in better at.</p>

6

<p>It always puzzles me when people say that the social life at MIT is bad -- visit MIT on a weekend night and then talk to me about the social life. And at least at MIT, you can get off-campus on the weekend and be in Boston in under 10 minutes.</p>

<p>I hope you're planning to come to CPW and to go to Stanford's admitted student weekend. When you're picking between two great schools that you like a lot, it's totally acceptable to just go with your gut.</p>

<p>(I'd be happy to talk about MIT's biology and brain & cog sci programs, about graduate and professional school admissions, or about student life in general.)</p>

7

<p>Oh wow, I'm in the exact same predicament (Stanford vs. MIT, interested in biology) </p>

<p>I've always thought that I wanted to go to MIT (got into MIT EA so I had more time to research it and talk to other MITers in a chatroom :) ) and the social life (at least in the chatroom) is quite good lol. Anyways, then I got into Stanford unexpectedly and so I don't know very much about Stanford and I've never visited either, so we'll see during CPW and freshman admit weekend.</p>

<p>Also, cost isn't a factor for me because MIT's finaid was very generous and I'm guessing Stanford's will be about the same amount. Ahhh even harder to decide.</p>

8

<p>i would chose MIT cos there are a lot of nerds. I am a laid back dude so i would rule!!!!!!!!!!!! lol.</p>

9

<p>theyre very different, i guess it has to do with what you want to do / what setting u prefer. i would do MIT if u wanna do science tho</p>

10

<p>Good luck to all of you making this decision.</p>

11

<p>I had to make this decision last year. I decided to go to Stanford and now almost a year later. I have no regrets and know I made the right decision. </p>

<p>When it comes to academics don't listen to people saying MIT is better or Stanford is better for this and that. When you are at that level no one will ever fault you for choosing one over the other. Go to the school you feel more comfortable at. </p>

<p>Good luck and Congrats on getting into both. Don't take your acceptances lightly.</p>

12

<p>I think you're going about this all the wrong way. Both options are good options. So just go with your gut. You can analyze and over-analyze forever but the fact is, analysis won't determine an answer for you. You have to say to yourself, where do I want to go? And go there. (Assuming cost is not a consideration, if one is substantially cheaper than the other, and you are not wealthy, go to the cheaper one.)</p>

13

<p>Stanfizzle fo shizzle.</p>

14

<p>Stanford is boring...Boston/Cambridge/MIT have much more excitement.</p>

15

<p>Visit both and decide.</p>

16

<p>Lol Girls For Mit Got A 4</p>

17

<p>id pick stanford...</p>

<p>and i go to mit.</p>

18

<p>^ tell us why!</p>

<p>Also, I also have the choice of Harvard now. >.<</p>

<p>Harvard vs. Stanford vs. MIT</p>

19

<p>lol that made it a lot harder.</p>

20

<p>I have some questions, as I am accepted to both (S AND M) and desire to study engineering:

  1. Will the harder problem sets at MIT make me think more creatively (i.e. make me a better “innovative” engineer)?
  2. Squash is my passion. Stanford only has a club for men, while MIT has it as a varsity. Is a division iii varsity > Stanford’s club?
  3. Which school is it easier to double major in (I want bioengineering, with a double major in EE/biolgoy/ comupter science / or pilitical science)?
  4. Which school requires MORE humanities? (i.e. higher percentage of curriculum)?
    thx in advance.</p>