<p>I'm from the UK so don't know much. I've heard Harvard, MIT and Princeton. Would you say these are the best? Is there one which has an edge over the others?</p>
<p>Also, what's the atmosphere at these schools? Are Harvard and Princeton a bit snooty?</p>
<p>And Cal Tech. (And probably others such as Harvey Mudd and some of the leading midwestern flagships such as U Wisconsin Madison.)</p>
<p>Snootiness is in the eye of the beholder.</p>
<p>Is everyone there wealthy and a bit prejudice against working class people is what I mean by snootiness.</p>
<p>^ All of these schools give financial assistance to the majority of their students. It’s the lower caliber schools with worse financial aid that may be snootier.</p>
<p>I gather that you are British. The likelihood is that the vast majority of students at any US school would not be able to perceive your class (in the British context) accurately.</p>
<p>The schools in question have students from a broad range of backgrounds, because they are not only among the best academically, but are among the best in terms of financial aid. That said, yes, you will find many very privileged types at Harvard and Princeton. In my now admittedly dated personal experience, less so at MIT.</p>
<p>Stanford, Berkeley</p>
<p>You’re probably right about not being able to distinguish the accent, they’ll probably pick up on the bad grammar though 
(I have no problem with written grammar, it’s just the expressions often involve bad grammar)</p>
<p>Edit: anyway the chances of getting in are so slim it’s not worht worrying about that sort of thing yet</p>
<p>Would you say people at MIT are brainier than Harvard/Princeton in general?</p>
<p>Students at MIT are often more exclusively Math/ Science oriented but…all 3 are great schools with wonderful research opportunities. If you are looking for a more “well rounded” group of peers try Harvard Princeton. If you are pretty exclusively interested in Math Science, you will likely prefer MIT. MIT is very collaborative. I have to say my son’s peers at MIT turned out to be the greatest bunch ever – super smart but fun with no arrogance. Just all around wonderful people. By the way you can cross register betweeen Harvard and MIT.</p>
<p>is it just me, or are others of the opinion that Harvard>Princeton/MIT in Math, and
Princeton > MIT > Harvard in Physics?</p>
<p>Boy was I off, but not so much because essentially they are so close to each other in the NRC rankings that you can call it a 3 way tie.</p>
<p>But here are the NRC rankings (excluding Cal Berkeley with is tied with them also)</p>
<p>Math: Princeton>MIT>Harvard
Physics: Harvard>Princeton>MIT</p>
<p>Just bumping the post in case anyone has anything to add</p>
<p>With respect to the snootiness, you’ll generally find students open and friendly, but if you are from a low-income background, you can feel unintentially excluded at times. Low-income is quite relative in the elite-school context, also. I go to another top-10 school, and supposedly the average family pulls in nearly 250,000/year, which I’m told is on par with other elite schools. So, while my family is by no means poor, it makes quite a bit less than the average.</p>
<p>What I mean by exclusion is that you will see other students eat out on a regular basis, talk about topics or hobbies to which it is difficult to relate–for instance, quail hunting and golfing–and perhaps take vacations to places that aren’t in your budget. Some people go to Europe for Spring break and spend summers in the Hamptons or Martha’s Vineyard. However, these statements don’t apply to everyone, and I believe most schools have reached the point where ~50% of their students are now on financial aid of some form.</p>
<p>Charlotte…</p>
<p>Are you a senior or junior?</p>
<p>You need to come up with a list of reaches, matches, and safeties because there’s no guarantee that you’ll get into reach schools. Those schools often reject top kids, and int’l students sometimes have a harder time for admittance.</p>
<p>How much can your parents pay towards your education?</p>
<p>If not much, then you’ll have to focus on schools that either give full aid to int’ls, or will give you generous merit.</p>
<p>What are your stats? GPA, SAT, ACT?</p>
<p>All three schools are excellent for mathematics and physics. If you’re interested in the more astrophysical side of things, Princeton has a decided edge, however.</p>
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<p>Certainly not: the student body is diverse ethnically and ideologically and uniformly comprises students who are outstanding.</p>
<p>Please don’t worry about your grammar. You’ll find Americans of all classes, young and old, are rather sloppy in their speech and use many expressions that butcher the language. Your accent will be charming to us, and will probably help open some social doors.
I’d be more worried about getting into the places you’re interested in, as they’re tough for international students. Good luck, though. You’ll find valuable information on this forum.</p>
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<p>This is not to say that some don’t take great care in using English grammatically and clearly.</p>
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<p>No. MIT will have a lot more math and science type people, but all three schools are full of the some of the smartest students in the US.</p>
<p>there is a difference between braininess and nerdiness.</p>
<p>Sorry to put down some of the people who seem to think that only schools in the Northeast have any smarts, but the three best schools for Mathematics are UCLA and UC Berkeley and Harvard (and probably in that order).</p>
<p>Check out who’s been winning the Fields Medals (the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in Math) lately and you’ll see this to be true:</p>
<p>[Terence</a> Tao, ?Mozart of Math,? isfirst UCLA math profto winFields Medal / UCLA Newsroom](<a href=“http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Terence-Tao-Mozart-of-Math-7252.aspx]Terence”>Terence Tao, ‘Mozart of Math,’ is first UCLA math prof to win Fields Medal | UCLA)</p>
<p>When it comes to Physics, UC Berkeley should also be considered along with MIT and Princeton. The National Research Council ranks it 3rd in physics–also note that the Berkeley faculty has won 3 Fields Medals (Math’s top award) and the NRC ranks it tied for 1st in math.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.berkeley.edu/about/rank.shtml#awards[/url]”>http://www.berkeley.edu/about/rank.shtml#awards</a></p>
<p>Thank you calcruzer, of course it’s good to consider where great mathematicians work/have studied, but if that was all I was concerned about I could just stay in England! Cambridge has produced A LOT of Field’s medallists, more than any American uni.</p>