MIT vs Cal Tech

[College Guy]

I have an important decision coming up and I have been offered a spot at MIT and Cal Tech.  What do you guys think of these 2 places--any insight.

Any info would be great to help me make a decision.

College Guy

[BTs_GhostSniper]

MIT all the way man!

[Supernatural Pie]

To work or to learn?

Either way... MIT! Hooah!

(I'm planning on going to some school in Boston...

um... no... not just cause I wanna go to Fenway all the time... honestly...   )



?

On the other hand, since you're trying to figure out which is best, here's some information on CalTech:

3:1 student to faculty ratio (wow!), 27 nobel prize winners among its staff/alumni, average SAT scores are greater than 1500, suburban environment. Its strongest programs include: Engineering, Physics, Applied Science.

And an interesting quote: "Bragging about being first in your high-school class will impress no-one at Caltech; you're just joining the club."

NERDS!!!!  

Fiske, Edward B. Fiske Guide to Colleges 2004. Sourcebooks Inc. Naperville, IL. ?2004.

[iblisajinn]

Congratulations on your acceptance at both places.

A few questions to think about:
1) What is your objective in going to college, and especially a school focused on technology? Engineer in a corporation?  Research?  Something else?

2) What activities, both academic and extracurricular, do you enjoy?  Which school provides more of those activities?

3a) What sorts of environments do you like?  CalTech is in a Los Angeles suburb and has a suburban Cal feel, while MIT is located in the heart of Cambridge which is basically Boston.  Boston also has solid winters.

3b) What does the surrounding community provide?  How interested are you in professional sports teams?  Live musical entertainment? Club scene?

4) Have you visited both?  I strongly recommend you do so - take a tour, walk around the campus and the surrounding environment, sit in on a lecture if possible.  

Really, it boils down to this: which school do you, for reasons rational, emotional, and subconscious, do you prefer?  Both schools are excellent and will provide you with a solid educational foundation.

(As a personal preference, I've always liked Boston/Cambridge - it's got a nice college community with MIT, Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, Tufts, etc. - it's close to NYC, which I also like.  I went to a large public university in the midwest, by the way.


In a past life I worked as a recruiter for a major technology company in Silicon Valley so I've seen a lot of students from schools around the US.  Fundamentally, the graduates from the good schools aren't that different.  The really good ones are good not because they went to good schools, but because they understood the fundamentals, worked hard, and performed beyond just what was required.  The schools simply reinforced that.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Both are great schools, but it all depends on what your planning to major in as to which would be better.  

["Sixhits"]

I gotta give a shout out for CalTech. I know an economics prof who teaches there. Smart guy. Fucking windows user, but smart guy.

[BFG]

Smart guy... windows user....


Is that possible?

[c| Splinter]

I don't know a whole lot about either school, other than the obvious.  But I went to school in Boston, and I now live in So. California, and having a good dose of both places, I would take Boston in a second.  It has over 80 schools within the city of Boston, and Cambridge, so the population is very young, and very active.  It's the most beautiful city I've been to, very easy to get around, where as getting around So. Cal, if you don't have a car, you're screwed.  You're actually better off NOT having a car in Boston.  The T will get you everywhere.  Lots of nightlife, plenty of clubs, bars, etc to hang out at.

Now of course you should pick the school that has the better program for what you want to do, but having lived in both places for a decent amount of time, Boston/Cambridge is a whole lot more fun.

[Ssickboy]

MIT.  and don't fuck up.... too much.

[BTs_GhostSniper]

Smart guy... windows user....

Is that possible?

NO, that is NOT possible

[Cutter]

shit if you can get into either of those schools you neither need nor want our opinions. but sick's right, M.I.T. and don't fuck up. you graduate from there and your life should be golden.

[The Golden Shark]

Cal Tech fool. although inland, its only 45 min plus or minus a few to the beach, and that is were it's at....
ladies...
surf...
UCLA (chill ass parties...)

im telling you if you wann go to cow town U and piss away 4 of the best years in your life so you can work hard and retire early with ostioparosis... go for it... but i would rather not.

[iblisajinn]

shit if you can get into either of those schools you neither need nor want our opinions. but sick's right, M.I.T. and don't fuck up. you graduate from there and your life should be golden.

Cutter, I disagree with you on that - just graduating isn't enough, and going in with that mindset is going to come back around four years later.

I've seen thousands of students from MIT, CalTech, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, Berkeley, UCLA, and a dozen different Podunk State Universities - and we didn't hire just the ones from MIT and CalTech.  Those schools will give you a good foundation, but the people I really liked were the ones who (mind you, this is the computer engineering disciplines) not only did their course requirements but did their own independent projects, learned the Apple developer tools or produced *NIX hacks or whatever.  In other words, those who were interested enough in what they were doing to go the extra step.

I don't mean to be all doom and gloom, but consider this - the University of Michigan graduates a few hundred computer engineers every year.  Multiply to figure out how many other universities are graduating CompE's every year.  This is the competition, and you better have something that separates you from the pack.

Basically, the bottom line to me is this - find something you really enjoy doing, and use the resources of your school and your community to explore that to the fullest extent possible.  With the foundation your school can provide, things will go much smoother.

Best of luck.

[PsYcO aSsAsSiN]

UCLA (chill ass parties...)

You are 15, you couldn't get into any chill parties if your life depended on it.

Anywho, choosing between CalTech and MIT depends on what you want to major in and what you want to get out of your life. Most of the recruiters that swing by aren't really concerned with GPA as they are with personability.

CalTech is located in Pasadena, which isn't a bad city - but to get to the better parts of LA (beaches, the West side, etc.), you will need transportation.

Also a major factor is weather. In Southern California, you could get away wearing shorts and a T-shirt 95% of the time while in Boston, during the winter, you will be under 4 layers of clothing.

[cookie]

CAL TECH OMFG  

[College Guy]

Hey guys,
Thanks for all the responses.   I see it boils down to what I want to major in so here is what I want to do in life, it is pretty simple.  Go to college, major in chemical engineering.  Then I would like to go to medical school-4 years(god i dont know the order), go to residency, and eventually specialize in neonatology.

bye

[The Golden Shark]

You are 15, you couldn't get into any chill parties if your life depended on it.

i don't know how you know my ag, nor do i mind, but your vague, misguided assumptions prove your ignorance of my life ( as is should be). I have been to some pretty fucking sweet parties, with hot chicks. Don't tell me what the fuck i have, and havn't done so far in my life....
you don't know what school i go to....
you don't know what kind of people i know...
you don't know what i have done...
you don't know where i live...
and
you have no right to make any of the assumptions, in the flame-war manner, that you have made.
so please, ill say it again, don't tell me or anybody else, what they have, and have not done so far in their life.

-Shark

[|MP|Buccaneer]

College Guy, I'm not sure if I'd do the ChemEng, Chem, BioChem, etc to prep you for med school.  The specialized education in nanotechnology is more likely post-grad work, and I'm not sure how chemeng fits in to help it (but maybe you do).

I don't mean to be all doom and gloom, but consider this - the University of Michigan graduates a few hundred computer engineers every year.  

Iblisajinn, everyone knows that you don't go to UofM for undergrad work (except for MechEng).  It's strictly a grad school =D.

[Ssickboy]

I went to school in Pasadena.  I hardly ever saw the beach, traveling around everywhere by car got to me after awhile.  The people are for the most part socially isolated (compared to urban east coast).  And the weather is bland.  But I did have a good time.  Met some incredible people, and accomplished some of the biggest things ever in my life.  The latter part is up to you in which ever college or city you study in.  I'll never regret going to school in southern california.  With the right motivation, you can't go wrong at either school.  If you have the chance, visit both cities and campuses.  Meet the people, staff, instructors, students.  Ask shitloads of questions.  Decide by which one feels most right to you.  That answer will truly be the right one.  

I personally prefer the more dense city life of New York.  I am inspired and attracted by the mass focus of culture here.  The extreme changes in seasons.  The jumping night life.  The youth. The stubborn old folks.  The Deli's.  The neighborhoods.  The ease of travel.  And surprisingly, the moments and places of solitude (it exists here).  It's been a long time since I've been to Boston, but I'd imagine it's much more like NY than LA.  As fun as Hollywood could occasionally be I'm much more fascinated by the life on the east coast.  

If you do go to Cal Tech.  Find a nice bungolow apt., or a house if you can afford it.  Try maybe Silverlake, or Echo Park.  Live it to it's fullest, see "Swingers" and "The Big Lebowski." Those movies made me feel good about living there.  

The best advice I got before school was, "It's doesn't matter so much  which school you go to, but more with what you do with your time there."  Take full advantage of what they offer and what you can take for yourself.  Live balls out, but take care of business too.  Make this time of your life matter more than anything before.  Instead of saying "don't fuck up," I should have been more specific; Fuck it all up... as much as you can and then take it to the next level.  This is about the only time in your life when you can.  (Don't be passive, Don't fuck up.)  Besides, it's way too damn expensive to be going through the motions.  Goodluck College Guy.

ssickboy

[College Guy]

Bucc,

Yea I understand what you are saying and basically in college in order to prep for med school you must take many different courses(physics, chemistry, biology) and shit like that.  I love science and have always enjoyed chemistry and  I will be a chemical engineer.  The MCAT's require that you know a great deal of chemistry, as well as math, biology, and others....but what I'm tring to say is most of the people going to med school do major in chemistry or biology.  Rarely is there a physics major, and because chem is much more interesting than biology i will major in that.

bye