<p>@Silly Puddy: What do you mean by saying that MIT has difficult engr environment? Are you implying a cut-throat environment?</p>
<p>You should check out this thread: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/489064-help-princeton-mit-possible-math-physics-major.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/489064-help-princeton-mit-possible-math-physics-major.html</a></p>
<p>
[quote]
@Silly Puddy: What do you mean by saying that MIT has difficult engr environment? Are you implying a cut-throat environment?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No, and I didn't mean to be unclear on this point. From what I've seen at Princeton and from what friends at MIT tell me, I'd say that there's a lot of collaboration at both colleges. Both are friendly academic environments; neither is "cut-throat".</p>
<p>What I was trying to say is that a math/science/engineering degree from any tough college will almost inevitably be very difficult - harder workload, tougher curves. I've known a number of people who would be cream of the crop math/science students in high school who decided that while they could pull off an math/science/engineering degree at Princeton, that the added difficulty wasn't worth it (and often, this went hand in hand with discovering some new discipline that they found really cool). I personally believe that if you do end up switching majors, Princeton might be the better place for this, both because of the breadth of strong departments as well as the markedly larger non-technical community.</p>
<p>I had the same choice to make, and I ultimately chose Princeton. I compared the classes, and I liked the physics at Princeton more. Also, I was offered research already, so I knew I wouldn't be losing anything to that matter by going to MIT.</p>
<p>...and Princeton was cheaper. =)</p>
<p>I'm still undecided with only 9 days left. AH!</p>
<p>I went and visited both, realized that </p>
<p>1) I definitely want to do engineering.
2) I dislike parties. </p>
<p>Oh, and I am getting more money from Princeton. </p>
<p>Which college is has the smaller partying scene and has more things to do aside from that?</p>
<p>sunshine_breeze - Sound like you should go to MIT for the following reasons:
1) Coming out MIT, people will think you are good at engineering even you can major in music. Just think about how much time you can save during the rest of you life, assume you will have a long one, by just saying "MIT" instead of "Princeton, engineering major and Princeton's engineering is as good as MIT's........................".
2) MIT students have more places to go for parties off campus so there will be less parties on campus.
3) Since you don't really need the money from Princeton, the money can be given to some Princeton students who really need it and you can feel good by helping others.
4) After all these researches and posts, you are still undecided and that means you are going to regret your decision either way. There is no hope for you.</p>
<p>Sunshine_breeze: Here's a question. What made you realize after your visits that you wanted to do engineering? Was it a conversation with a professor or student? Where did this take place?</p>
<p>"4) After all these researches and posts, you are still undecided and that means you are going to regret your decision either way. There is no hope for you."</p>
<p>^That sentiment is a tad discouraging...
(BTW, I'm feeling <em>exactly</em> the same as miss sunshine - I want to do science hardcore, and I don't like parties - but I want to do biology...sigh)</p>
<p>"^That sentiment is a tad discouraging..."
OK. I'll say the same thing in a positive way - After all these researches and posts, you are still undecided and that means you are going to be just as happy either way. There is aways graduate school at the other school after all.</p>
<p>Happy now?</p>
<p>You guys who are undecided, go to the parent's forum and look for an old post on jmmom on how to decide. It's really helpful.</p>
<p>"I went and visited both, realized that</p>
<p>2) I dislike parties.</p>
<p>Oh, and I am getting more money from Princeton.</p>
<p>Which college is has the smaller partying scene and has more things to do aside from that?"</p>
<p>^^
I am making the same decision and this is a conundrum for me as well</p>
<p>@ the pton preview, i met a lot of kids who had also visited mit...and no joke, they said MIT had crazy parties cuase everyone in the boston area--like BU, BC, H kids all go to MIT for their parties...idk why or if thats even true. but i think eveyrone told me that htey have surprisingly good parties...</p>
<p>I had the same problem with parties. I don't like them, and I was worried that Princeton would surround me with way more partiers than my alternative school, the University of Chicago. When I visited, I was placed in "substance-free housing," which pretty much showed me that if that's what I select for next year, I really have nothing to worry about. What'd we do Friday night? Went out to eat, watched some a cappella groups, and played the game Taboo till almost 4:00 AM. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.</p>
<p>I talked to more kids from Princeton about that, and they told me that many kids in substance-free housing sound just like what I'm looking for: people who would rather play a board game / see a concert / play some tennis on a Friday night rather than go to some party. One of the girls I hung out with (freshman) told me she had the same concern before you went to Princeton, but was very pleased with the people she met. She lives in substance-free housing.</p>
<p>Princeton is just large enough that, from what I hear, you will definitely be able to find your niche. Though a majority of the students party (like at any college), you can easily find people who don't.</p>
<p>At least, I hope so, unless everyone is lying to me! :) I've already accepted my offer of admission to Princeton, so at least you know of one person who doesn't party.</p>
<p>Edit: Oh, and about regretting your decision, don't worry about it. Just keep trying to organize your thoughts, and I promise you, no matter how unbelievably difficult it will be to say no to your other school (University of Chicago was my top choice for several months), you'll be very excited about your decision. No matter what you choose, you'll know you couldn't go wrong: you'll love either school. I felt sad the night I accepted Princeton, but right now I'm just very, very excited!</p>
<p>After we left Princeton Preview days, I asked my dd (who has already commited to Princeton) what she didn't like.</p>
<p>She said that there was too much drinking at the Arch Sings on Thursday night, but she realized that she'd run into that at any school. Friday she participated in the Geography Bee and had a blast. Too bad she didn't find the Taboo group- she would have loved that.</p>
<p>As for Substance-Free housing, she was concerned that there would be a stigma attached if you chose that - as if you're super up-tight. She found out that not only is there no issue about it, but that the room assignments are often/usually nicer! Our feeling is that you sign up for Substance-free the first year. If you don't like it, change your mind for future years. Easier to do that than to be in a dorm that parties too much.</p>
<p>We left with the distinct impression that you can find your niche there and there are always activities going on that are not drinking-related.</p>
<p>for me if i had to make this choice: handsdown, mit wins.</p>
<p>from my experience at the previews, princetonians seem to be much bigger drinkers & partyers than mit kids. they also seemed much more elitist than mit ppl.
i went in to pton preview expecting to like princeton, but it just left me extremely biased against princeton. sry</p>
<p>Princeton kids are on average bigger drinkers and partyers than MIT kids. That is true. However, they are not more elitist.</p>
<p>Can someone PLEASE define for me what they mean by elitist? Do you mean they wear fancy clothes? They are Republicans? They think they are better than you and try to exclude you? </p>
<p>Elitist on this board seems like a code word for something to me, and I am not sure what it's a code for.</p>
<p>go to Cornell :P. It has the best engineering out of the Ivies (no it is not Princeton as much as you guys want to think it is) and also has the best physics program in the states.</p>
<p>In case anyone's wondering, I picked Princeton.</p>
<p>kartrider360:</p>
<p>I glad someone set the record straight regarding the best engineering dept. in the Ivy League. Princeton's is very good, probaly in the top 10-15 departments nationwide, but Cornell's is consistantly top 10 and occasionally top five.</p>
<p>"Top 3" Engineering Programs:</p>
<p>MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Berkeley</p>
<p>"Top 5" Engineering Programs</p>
<p>Above plus Cornell, Harvey Mudd, CMU</p>
<p>"Top 10" Engineering Programs</p>
<p>Above plus GeorgiaTech, U Mich, UIUC, maybe Purdue, maybe Princeton</p>
<p>Sorry to be a jack@ss, but us Cornellians get enough flack for being a "safety school". At least give us credit for the one thing we do really well =)</p>
<p>And yes, I was admitted to both C and P circa 1997.</p>