MIT vs. Stanford

[Yan Wang]

I'll be at CPW too (and an orientation leader in the Fall). Contact me on aim (monsieurcoffee) if you have questions or call me/email me (yan_wang@mit.edu).

I narrowed my college choices down to MIT and Stanford last April. I visited both and asked many students and friends for their opinions. In the end, I found Stanford had better weather but MIT was 1) In a great location that is the best college town in the world - Palo Alto is not nearly as fun or accessible. 2) Has the most reputable MechE and Economics departments (and EECS). 3) Was in the Northeast where I like it.

My friend Chenli, who is graduating from Stanford with a double major in CS and Economics (both departments are #1 at MIT) next month said this when I asked him if he would've gone to MIT had he got in: "Yes." But that's him, and not you.

I liked MIT because I liked it. And you'll like whatever school you choose for your own reasons, however stupid they may be (mine aren't great, but they're my reasons and no one can say otherwise). It's your choice. If financial aid is the same, then just go with what you want. Other people's opinions don't matter on this subject. Your parents must be very proud already and it's your education!

[Adam Y.]

Boston is the place you want to go if you like a lot of things to do. We have:
Museum of Fine Arts
Boston Museum of Science
A zoo
An aquarium
An aboretum
Shopping
Lots of historical landmarks with the most notable being Bunker Hill.
Lots of other museums other than the ones I have listed.
The Boston Public Library
MIT also has CalTech's cannon. Muahahhhahahahah.... Muahahahhaha....

[Vu2000]

Unfortunately, the cannon is no longer at MIT... It was so cool though, but yes, Boston is a great place, but the consensus with many for many of my friends to not choose MIT over Stanford is because of the weather.

[Salik Syed]

the cannon was semi-cool, the most amusing hack to me was the "MIT invisibility club" booth at the club fair, i was cracking up when i saw the blank papers next to the "please take a broschure" sign ... and of course it was an empty booth

[Wetzel]

You should look into Harvey Mudd too. They borrowed the cannon first , back in 1986.

Wetzel

[Vu2000]

Funny you said that Wetzel. It was rumored that HMC was supposed to "borrow" the cannon (for the 20th anniversary), only to find that MIT had beat them to the punch (I guess they pranked both schools).

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by Vu2000

Funny you said that Wetzel. It was rumored that HMC was supposed to "borrow" the cannon (for the 20th anniversary), only to find that MIT had beat them to the punch (I guess they pranked both schools).

The really interesting thing is that one of the original Mudders that was involved in 86 is now faculty at MIT. He swears that he wasn't involved.

As an aside, my uncle was one of the guys involved and is sitting on the cannon in the picture. He has a few other prank stories that are really good, some are better then most of the MIT-Stanford series.

Goes to show you that you don't have to goto a " national name brand" school to do cool stuff and get a great education.

Wetzel

[Katy]

WPI as a school has a large segment that is not so fond of the MIT undergrad program so I'm fairly happy to admit this is a rather biased view.

MIT undergrads have a rather bad reputation of being horribly vicious to their fellow students. One of my friends visited classes as an accepted prefrosh and forgot to bring a pen. Several students (with full boxes of writing tools) refused to lend him one. Apparently this was because they mistook him for a fellow student and acted this way in the hope that there would be a pop quiz which a student without a pen would be unable to take. This would readjust the curve of the class in the student's favor.

Don't get me wrong, there are many very excellent people at MIT (I met several at the Boston regional) but that sort of thing apparently does go on. It may go on at other schools as well I do not know.

MIT's FRC team (97) is great. They were our alliance partners at the Boston regional and are a really wonderful bunch of people. They are friendly, helpful, professional and very kind. They build solid robots. I'd be thrilled to work with those guys any day.

[Salik Syed]

Well... I decided to go to Stanford
they are both pretty cool it's just stanford edged out due to weather and location

[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

MIT also has CalTech's cannon. Muahahhhahahahah.... Muahahahhaha....

Yes, the cannon is back at Caltech. MIT "borrowed" the cannon in retaliation for a prank played on the MIT pre-frosh a year ago by Caltech. The unsuspecting MIT students received a T-shirt with "MIT" on the front, and "...because not everyone can go to Caltech" on the back. The Caltech bookstore is selling these shirts, with the claim that the proceeds are going to the "Retaliate Against MIT Fund":

http://www.bookstore.caltech.edu/CALTECH/DEFAULT.ASP

Note: the Caltech bookstore page will probably be updated soon, so you might have to search for the "T SHIRT MIT PRANK" to find it. $15 well spent (according to this Caltech grad) .

OK, I know, it's supposed to be MIT vs Stanford - I just couldn't resist...