Hey guys, I’m incredibly split between these two universities and any insight you could provide would be helpful! I plan to study computer science and economics, with the hopes of getting a high-paying job out of college either working in tech/Google type of company or in IB/consulting. However, I’m not extremely positive that I want to study computer science (and moreover, that I would survive computer science at MIT) especially given the fact that I don’t have a whole ton of experience coding. I’m extraordinarily lucky in that my parents are willing to fund my college education, but if I choose to go to Vanderbilt over MIT, they’re giving me the remainder to buy a house, etc. My dad got into MIT for graduate school, but had to decline due to financial reasons, and I feel like my parents would prefer for me to go to MIT over Vandy.
A large reason for the issue in deciding is that I feel that I could be happy/successful at both of these universities and I’m not sure what is the best fit for me/whether going to MIT over Vanderbilt would pay off. Socially, I’m not really the party/drinking type but I do like to have a balance (and talking to students at Vandy, there definitely is a work hard play hard mentality) and academically, I’m used to be the best or near best and I’m used to getting all A’s (which definitely wouldn’t happen at MIT). I’m not exactly sure how I would cope in a situation where I’m near the bottom and not the top.
MIT
Pros
Very solid econ and computer science departments
Smarter, quirkier student body
Great name recognition/prestige
Easier to get into good grad school
More access to top employers
Will be offering a Computer Science, Economics, and Data Analysis major next year
Cons
Very stressful
Doesn’t take a lot of AP credit
Costs $65,000 a year to attend
Not positive I could survive there
Vanderbilt
Pros
Takes unlimited AP credit for engineering majors (so it would be easier to double major)
Costs around $20,000 a year
Attending as Chancellor’s Scholar which would look nice on a resume
Not as stressful
Better food
Cons
Not as good name recognition and access to top employers/grad schools
Not as good computer science and econ departments
Lower median income
if I don’t go to MIT, I feel like I’d always think, “What if I went to MIT?”
Basically, my main concerns are whether I would survive MIT, whether going to MIT over Vandy would pay off, access to high-paying jobs, and which school is a better fit for me. If you need more information, please let me know, and thank you in advance for any insight/advice you may have!!
Dude, take that extra $180k you’d save by going to Vandy and use it as a nice down payment on a house in an expensive city (guessing you’d likely will end up in one for work.) Median income is a red herring since MIT is almost all STEM and Vanderbilt isn’t.
It is 100% about your graduate school. For consulting your will need an MBA, which will cost you $150K+ by the time you graduate and have a few years of work experience. The salary differences also have to do with regional pay, which is higher in the NE. If you were a consultant, would you recommend turning down a full tuition scholarship at a highly rated school like Vandy when the alternative was 300% more expensive?
@pockysticks To me it looks like the only reason you are not going to MIT is because you are afraid of the workload and of not being the smartest person in the room. I ll be honest, to me both reasons are not worth turning down an MIT education. Yes there will be more workload, and there will be students much smarter and more accomplished than you, but also the quality and academic, professional opportunities are clearly superior. In fact one of the perks of top schools is that you are no longer the smartest person in the room, and you can learn from and interact with people much smarter than you and grow yourself. I personally don’t see a reason why you wouldn’t pick MIT, unless you are planning on grad school and paying full price for undergrad means taking out loans for grad school.
Also to people saying you can just go to MIT for grad school, it is not that easy. The competition for grad school at MIT is even fiercer in most cases.
Personally i would go with MIT. See how it is, if CS proves too much, do just Econ or if it becomes totally unmanageable simply transfer out. There are many top schools willing to take MIT transfer students.
But if you turn down MIT now you will always wonder what if.
@Penn95, This is exactly my daughters logic why she wants to turn down Vandy CV schol and another full ride at a top school and some other merit schols and go to a top place like MIT. While it is not easy, we can manage finances. But, I still feel uneasy…
I’m 100% with @violaine on saving that money, plus @TooOld4School is correct that you’ll likely need grad school later, too. You’re not choosing between MIT and a community college, here. Vanderbilt is a great school.
Also, my feeling is that some people do better when they’re near the top of the pack and others are more driven/motivated by being in the middle. Sounds like you already know which one you are, and there’s no shame in realizing that you’d like to continue in an environment that suits you. That’s not shirking or being lazy, that’s being realistic about what works for you.
@Penn95, I think the OP has every right to be concerned about the MIT workload. We know kids who could not handle it and dropped out or transferred, and the MIT environment is miserable and stressful. When we visited colleges my son picked up on the misery level immediately at crossed it off of his list. Vanderbilt, on the other hand, is happy and stressful. It’s not as if the quality of education is all that much different, especially at an undergrad level. You might even argue that all of the positive reinforcement the OP would get at Vandy would be more beneficial in developing people skills, which are crucial for a consultant.
So it depends completely on the OP’s personality and whether they can handle the stress. Some people thrive on it, others prefer a more balanced life. If you include the $180K price difference, and the fact that the OP isn’t sure of major choice, you have a pretty large hurdle to overcome to choose MIT.
Although I think OP would earn back the money spent for MIT in a couple of years. Vanderbilt sounds like a better fit in terms of feeling relaxed and confident and for changing majors. Both will have good career prospects.
I didn’t say over and above Vandy income or even over and above living expenses, but a 90K/year income is realistic from both schools. For this student, I strongly agree with what you said in the other discussion, run the other way, MIT is not right.
You are correct about this part. MIT is very stressful.
"Median income is a red herring since MIT is almost all STEM and Vanderbilt isn’t. "
I think that this is correct. If you major in computer science then you will have job opportunities, regardless of which university you go to. If you major in economics I can’t comment since I honestly don’t know what economics majors do for a living (although I did very much enjoy the economics courses that I took in university).
I think that it is highly unlikely that the MIT name and rigor will make up for the high cost and the high stress. However, this is a personal decision and I can see why it isn’t easy.
When I was your age I had pretty much the same choice and went with MIT. I have regretted it ever since because I hated MIT largely due to the stress and workload but also perhaps partly due to the social scene there.
My D is in exact same situation. It is such a pity that the average COA for MIT is $22k, when OP and we have to pay full sticker price.
It is hard to justify a $200k investment when you have at most $20k difference in starting salary or any difference at all. Even assume 20k difference, it would take 20 years to make up the $200k. $200k is after taxes, and the most you can save on the extra $20k is $10k a year at most, assuming no rate of return on the $200k. Therefore, the $200k really gets you is prestige and the right to work on problem sets until 4 am. I try to stay out of my D’s decision and be as supportive as I can, no matter what she decides.
I think students imagine much larger differences between universities, especially elite ones, than actually exist. There’s not even that large of a salary gap between MIT and a school like Purdue or UIUC, much less MIT and Vanderbilt. A company like Google is not going to offer you more money simply because you went to MIT. A computer science major starting at Google from Vanderbilt (or Purdue, for that matter) is going to make the same starting salary as a new computer science major starting at Google from MIT. Going to top schools is more about access to recruiting than salary, and you’ll have access and opportunity at Vanderbilt, too.
Let me tell you that when you are 30 or even 25, you will most likely appreciate having $120,000 to spend on a down payment or in your savings or investments than the MIT name, especially when your other choice is an elite school like Vanderbilt.
Plus it sounds like the atmosphere is a better fit for you!
But over and above is the only measurement that matters. If OP is likely to make the same salary coming out of both schools, it makes better economic sense for them to go to Vanderbilt and take the $120K gift from their parents.
I agree that Vandy is the right choice for this student.
I don’t think over and above or price in general is the only measurement that matters in all cases. Sometimes just being able to pay your loans off and and/or your pay your parents back in a relatively short period of time is sufficient.
There are few good reasons to choose MIT over a CV scholarship at Vanderbilt. As juillet mentioned, once they hire you, companies pay the same regardless of where you went to school. For the vast majority of students and jobs, the outcomes from both schools are likely to be the same, so save the money.
But it is worth considering the corner cases where the outcomes can be different. Looking to start or join a venture funded startup, or mathematically oriented finance jobs? MIT provides a clear edge there.
Are you thinking of going to grad school? If that’s a possibility, then go to Vandy, apply to MIT (or elsewhere) for grad school and use the $$ saved for that.
As an MIT parent of the freshman I can confirm that it is common for students to stay up until 3am every night working on p-sets. And it is common and upsetting for high schools class valedictorians to find themselves not at the top of the class anymore. The opportunities that MIT presents can’t be found anywhere else though. It must be a reason why the same degree requires much more work at one school then the other.
If a MIT and Vandy grad take the same job out of college, they will be paid roughly the same amount. However, the MIT graduate will have many more opportunities available than the equivalent Vandy student. The high level HYPS/MIT grads I know didn’t take the Google/Facebook jobs, but found other opportunities they preferred better. It is doubtful that these kinds of positions would be easily available to a Vandy grad.
CS/econ is an area where MIT is extraordinarily strong, and Vanderbilt is extraordinarily weak for a top 20. Read through the Vanderbilt boards and see what they say about the difficulty finding consulting/IB jobs. If your parents are willing to pay for MIT, I would go that route.
A lot of very bad info in this thread - you don’t need an MBA for consulting and vandy places very well into the big 3 (bcg and Bain founders went to vandy for college after all). You need to take a everything you read on here with a tub of salt - better to do research on your own