Hi everyone,
I’m blessed to have been admitted to these universities. As of right now, I’m incredibly torn between the two. I think I want to double major in Comp Sci and Economics. Here is some background so that you can hopefully help me make a decision:
I'd prefer a Wall Street job to one in the Silicon Valley
I don't really love engineering, I like less mathematical sciences like bio and programming in addition to business and psychology.
I want to have free time to explore and delve into extracurricular interests. Basically (please don't take this the wrong way) I DO NOT want to work too hard - to the point where I am drained at all times.
I want name recognition to open doors for me with a strong alumni base
I want to work in industry right after undergrad and perhaps get an MBA down the road
In addition to having fun, making money is a huge factor for me. I really want to have high income asap (ik this is more on me than my college. But it factors based on recruiters that come to each school with internships/job opprutunities).
Yale:
I like that they encourage double majoring and interdisciplinary work
I’ve heard this school is a LOT of fun
Very prestigious: IVY League alumni network
Lacking in Comp Sci recognition (commonly trashed for this)
Very diverse campus
Less competition in STEM, smaller more intimate classes
May not stand out if I try tech industry/Silicon Valley route for a job
Once again, their whole STEM department is either unknown or heavily criticized based on what I have seen on the internet.
MIT:
Best in STEM
Kind of best in everything academics tbh
Higher median salary
I didn’t like the vibe on campus, everyone seemed to be drained and almost over worked
Not really into nerd culture, either. I’m more preppy.
Hard to get a great GPA, however, I feel like I would be missing out on a whole lot of opportunities by not attending MIT, even if my goal isn’t to necessarily work solely in the tech field.
So basically, it comes down to whether or not MIT has such better academics than Yale that it weighs out all the other factors (money not a factor for me). How important are departmental rankings for undergrads trying to go in the STEM fields?
MIT economics is absolutely world class and Yale cannot compare. If your serious about your long term goal of Wall Street IB/MA then you have a relatively easy choice.
You also get the added plus of Cambridge/Boston over New Haven.
Thanks for the advice. At Yale, the Economics program is practically set up for you to double major and so is CS. It can definitely manage. At MIT, there is going to be a combined CS and Econ major next year. At both schools, Comp Sci and Econ are tightly related and not as bad as Physics and English double majoring,
@3tonythetiger3 Just a quick point based on your pros and cons list, there is no difference in prestige, in fact MIT is slightly more known and well-regarded internationally.
MIT is definitely quite stronger in CS and Economics but based on your description of what kind of college experience you want Yale seems like a better fit.
Also just to dispel some misconceptions: MIT has a surprisingly fun social life/party scene and being in Cambridge/Boston helps a lot with that. (I was surprised too when i first heard that but the nerds apparently know how to party lol). I have never heard anyone describe Yale as a LOT of fun. It is a great place and the atmosphere is nice, definitely less rigorous than MIT, but really fun is not a word that would first come to mind when thinking about Yale. Also New Haven is nowhere near as nice/fun as Boston.
If you want to break into tech/engineering or wall street in a more quant role or ibanking with a focus on the tech industry, MIT could make a difference (ranging from slight to big depending on the job, firm etc).
If it is for any other wall street, business job that is not closely related to engineering/tech then it won’t really make much of a difference.
“I’d prefer a Wall Street job to one in the Silicon Valley”
Since this is the fist criterion you list, I assume this is probably the most important factor for you in determining a school. If so, the following is my 2 cents.
Yale economics is going to help you more on this regard. Economics and finance majors in MIT at the undergraduate level are actually not popular. According to the following: http://web.mit.edu/registrar/stats/yrpts/index.html, the % of the two majors is probably only 1-2% of the entire MIT undergraduate population (I hope that I did not read it wrong). Given this small number of students, one would expect far fewer wall street firms recruit on campus at MIT than at Yale where economics and economics & math major accounts for around 15% of student population.
My S is at Yale. He has already had plenty opportunities to network with major banks as a freshman on the campus. The ranking of economics department is really not relevant here. This type of ranking is mostly driven by the strength and the size of doctoral program. Yes, MIT and Harvard are power houses in this regard. But this does not translate to the undergraduate level. They are different animals.
For wall street jobs, HYP and Wharton are core schools. Although Columbia is traditionally not regarded as a core school (it tends to be viewed as a target school), its placement into wall street is actually on par or even better than some of HYP and Wharton. Beneath the core tier, we are talking about target schools. MIT is more of a target school, not because of its quality (very, very high quality), but because of that the depth of undergraduate candidate pool is not as deep as the core schools.
In reading your post it sounds like you feel Yale is the better fit for you so I’d go there. Both schools are more than sufficiently prestigious and both are sufficiently strong academically – if you excel at either school you should be able to get anywhere you want to go in life.
It seems like Yale is the natural choice for you. Both schools are target schools for Wall Street recruiters and big tech firms, and the culture at Yale is more artsy and less geeky. At both places, the level of academic rigor is more dependent on the courses you take than the actual department rankings itself. A freshman at Yale who chooses to start freshman year with grad level math courses will obviously go deeper into math/CS than a freshman at MIT who simply follows the standard sequence, for instance.
Lastly, I wouldn’t really dismiss Yale STEM. It’s certainly highly reputed and in the top-10 for Math, Psychology, Biology, Medicine, Physics (especially space science), and top-15 for chemistry. The engineering departments tend to be lower ranked due to the their smaller size. If department rankings actually signaled the rigor of undergraduate offerings, schools like Dartmouth, Harvey Mudd or Amherst wouldn’t be so popular.
It sounds like you prefer Yale, and it seems to be a better overall fit for what you want. And for what it’s worth, I know people that would say Yale is a LOT of fun. Yes, MIT is known for parties but I can’t speak to them personally. My son at Yale is having the best years of his life. If your concern is the curriculum, you can read those details on each school’s website. But you will be well prepared for your future goals from either school, so I’d recommend going where you feel comfortable. Good luck on a tough decision.
“I want to have free time to explore and delve into extracurricular interests. Basically (please don’t take this the wrong way) I DO NOT want to work too hard”
Do you have a third choice? MIT is probably not the right choice for folks who don’t want to work too hard.
“How important are departmental rankings for undergrads trying to go in the STEM fields?”
For computer science and Silicon Valley, not much. For Wall Street, I don’t really know (I went with Silicon Valley) but probably much more so. However, my guess is that Wall Street would be very happy with Yale regardless of whether any specific department is ranked below MIT’s equivalent department.