Wellesley vs. Caltech

Colleges and Universities A-Z Wellesley College
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<p>I am trying to make a decision between these two schools. very different schools, I know. my intended major is undecided (sth. in math and science, but bounded to changes), and I kind of want to leave my options open…I have visited Wellesley, not Caltech, but the visit didn’t give me any strong feelings.</p>

<p>Two very important factors that would influence my decision:</p>

<li><p>the graduate school placements of Wellesley grads, not limited to science/math majors. Can a lot of them go to top-notch grad schools like HYPSM, etc.? do a lot of them go into med schools/ law schools?</p></li>
<li><p>the double-degree exchange program with MIT. I know you have to apply to MIT as a transfer student, but the transfer admission at MIT (and most other good schools) is extremely competitive, and I was wondering if it’s the same for this exchange program, or is it easier? how easy is it? Also, is it true that the majors you can choose from MIT is quite limited?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>these two are only sth. that has been on my mind for a long time. Any other factors/ insight, like style of social life, career prospect etc. would also be greatly appreciated…Thank you!</p>

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<p>If you want to leave your options open, definitely Wellesley. I just visited Caltech and the impression I got was that EVERYBODY had to be almost obsessed with science/math. I spent a night at one of the "least nerdy" houses and in the conversations throughout the alleys were still very infused with math/science. There seems to be very little leeway to change to a humanities major though they do force you to take a humanities course every term I believe.</p>

<p>All of the Wellesley women I've met that went to graduate school (though the sample size might be too small to consider significant) went to Stanford, Harvard and MIT. When I asked them if most of their colleagues had similar successes, they said in generally, Wellesley women are successful.They attributed their success to great recommendations from their professors.</p>

<p>But once again, this is only what I've heard...</p>

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<p>Wow, I saw this thread and said, um I doubt I'll ever hear that again. I can just imagine the Admission Office getting the reply card saying which institution you end choosing and being, ummmm ok. </p>

<p>1) Going to a good school, especially one that is has a reputation as Wellesley, can get you into grad school, provided you work for it. Grad schools are less about the name of the school, and more about the work you put into the school, similar with the public versus private high school debate. </p>

<p>2) Not sure, but I've heard it is very hard to transfer into MIT, maybe you could gain some sort of hook with the cross-registering and get a prof to get you in. </p>

<p>I, being a dude, don't know much personally about Wellesley, but I know a lot about caltech. It takes a special kind of person to go to Caltech, one who is passionate about Science and Mathematics. I feel Caltech does not do an adequate job with social sciences and humanitees, however, their pure science and engineering program is unmatched. Caltech makes you take 5 Quarters (basically a concentrated semester class) of physics, so if you think you are up for that go for it.</p>

<p>When I visited Caltech, it seemed like a place that had people who were strange. They seemed to be working all the time, I don't mean working as in school work, but their job was Science. There seemed to be a sort of violent release built up though all this tension that the workload puts upon them, they seemed to enjoy dumping ice water on other people and dropping objects off buildings. </p>

<p>Caltech has a favorable ratio for you, which means you can get away with more things than you would at a normal school. Caltech also tends to not send many people to grad school, they prefer to start their careers and yes they do get a ton of job offers. At Wellesley you will be surrounded by loads of smart people, at caltech you will be surrounded by geniuses. </p>

<p>Caltech really doesn't let you leave your options open, however, as long as you do marginally well, I think you can transfer without many problems. Caltech is also a beautiful campus with great year round weather. </p>

<p>I'll be interested to see what you select.</p>

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<p>Wellesley leaves your options open and then some! If you're interested in science, there are summer research programs in addition to year-round faculty research. (I don't know much about the math program.) The distribution requirements will ensure that you have a well-rounded education, and you never know what might spark your interest. I found my major and intellectual passion through the distribution requirements.</p>

<p>I have no numbers on grad-school placement (there's an excellent acceptance rate for pre-med students), but few people in my acquaintance wanted to go to grad school and weren't accepted somewhere. A big thing to keep in mind is that, depending on the field, the towering icons of higher education are not necessarily the be-all and end-all. Students do, sometimes, choose not to attend them.</p>

<p>I'm sure you're getting responses from the Caltech side that can offer insight into that option. Wellesley does, however, give you far more flexibility if you aren't completely certain that you want a math/science college experience. You'll leave college well prepared for graduate or professional education, if that's what you choose to do.</p>

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<p>I believe this exchange program is less difficult to get into from a good school with good ties to MIT (especially cal tech) than transferring. </p>

<p>Maybe this anecdote will be helpful (though it's with different schools, their relationship is comparable): My roommate (at Colby) was recently accepted into a fairly selective Dartmouth engineering exchange program (3-2 program) with a 3.3-3.5 GPA along with a good friend of his, also at Colby, who had a 3.0 GPA. An adviser told my roommate that Colby students are virtually guaranteed admission (actually guaranteed, I believe, with a 3.3 GPA) to this program because of Colby's ties to Dartmouth and the reputation Colby has with the Dartmouth exchange program. 9/10 Colby students who applied this year were accepted.</p>

<p>Also, Wellesley has a great reputation with Harvard and MIT (nearby schools from which you can take classes not offered at Wellesley) along with every other top-notch school in the U.S.</p>

<p>Take from that what you will, and best of luck! =)</p>

<p>werD</p>

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<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Pardon my dumbness but, mikenthemaddog66, I don't quite get what you're trying to say:
"Wow, I saw this thread and said, um I doubt I'll ever hear that again. I can just imagine the Admission Office getting the reply card saying which institution you end choosing and being, ummmm ok."</p>

<p>By asking for the grad school placements at top notch schools, I was not trying to say they are the be-all and end-all...I just think of grad shcool placements as an indicator of excellence of undergraduate education; sending no graduates to top notch schools doesn't necessarily means Wellesley is weak, but sending many graduates to top notch schools definitely means Wellesley is strong.</p>

<p>Thank you all...that Colby-Dartmouth anecdote helped quite a lot. has anybody had direct experience with Wellesley-MIT double degree program? and the majors? and any further insight on any other aspect is welcomed.</p>

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<p>sending no graduates to top notch schools doesn't necessarily means Wellesley is weak, but sending many graduates to top notch schools definitely means Wellesley is strong.</p>

<p>Wellesley definitely sends graduates to top-notch schools. Some former classmates continued on to Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UChicago, Johns Hopkins ... friends in fields not covered by the bigger-name institutions also went on to well-respected programs.</p>

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<p>I don't know anyone who's done the Double Degree program, and I've heard pretty much no one does. First years are marginally interested and change their minds. Plan to pursue this if you want to (and bring questions to SOC, or email depts or admissions (now is the time)). Lots of people cross register at MIT though.</p>

<p>What I think mikenthemaddog66 meant was that while a good school can garner the respect from Graduate adcoms, that it is only an advantage. A less "prestigious" school is not necessarily a disadvantage. </p>

<p>You can take any class you want at MIT and get credit. Whether a department approves it for a major is another story. You can't take classes at Harvard. Sorry.</p>

<p>I don't know much about Caltech, but I'm going to assume that it is like MIT and say these things.
1. If everyone is somewhat nerdy, most people seem normal in the end
2. Adcoms, being wary of their reputation try to make up classes that are "well rounded". (However, I have heard that enough people with 800s on SAT math apply that Caltech will just admit from that pool. I don't know if that is actually true).
3. Tech schools, feeling bad about being tech schools, require you to take token humanities. While students don't always treat the class seriously, an effort is made to make the departments acceptable, especially at a larger school.
4. If you are remotely nerdy, the social climate won't disturb you to the degree it would students who don't look at these type of schools.</p>

<p>Wellesley does put a lot of its graduates into grad, med or law school. If you know you want that sort of thing, you will get advice on what to take. Grad school is only coming into my radar now as a junior. If some people get into zero grad schools, they don't exactly advertise it. My friend who was told she had little chance of getting in, got into MIT (her best shot, no doubt because she cross registered into a grad class in the department she applied to) and UCLA. You will have distribution requirements and will have to take classes in humanities. An advantage to this is that the other half of the student body wants a major in these subjects, so full treatment and advanced courses are available.</p>

<p>Wellesley doesn't have much by the way of Engineering, but they are working on it through Olin College.</p>

<p>I've only been a student at Wellesley (okay okay, I took one class at MIT), and I doubt environment is as stressful as Caltech, I can assure you that some people work pretty much all the time here too.</p>

<p>You will find people who can't/won't do science here and it's a little disconcerting, but at the same time you are going to go to school with a wider variety of interests and options.</p>

<p>People go into Wellesley expecting to do one thing and come out doing quite another one. People change their minds about jobs and careers, and especially med school.</p>

<p>I chose Wellesley over a full tuition scholarship at a good tech school because I didn't want to shut out subjects that had interested me in High school (like French), even though I am science inclined. Well, I pretty much take all science courses at Wellesley, but I did get to take some cool humanities courses. I'm glad I kept my options open, because I didn't know what I wanted to do, and didn't actually discover it until I went to Wellesley.</p>

<p>In short, I matriculate at Wellesley if you find yourself not unwilling to pursue the full degree here.</p>

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<p>Another random note, Caltech tries to turn humanity courses into math and science related courses. </p>

<p>Another note on token humanities, most the students stop reading aka doing their hw for their humanity classes because science/math take precedence. (Though many say they want to actually do the hw when they first arrive)</p>