The vast majority of majors at Columbia are NOT like this. Students applying to med school are in their own category- but i promise you, a kid majoring in Classics, anthropology, art history, etc. at Columbia only feel that the school is a pressure cooker if that’s the way they are wired. Some kids are always going to put pressure on themselves no matter where they are.
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One friend of a daughter went to Chicago. He was a very strong student. He used this phrase when he came over for a visit over Christmas/New Year’s break.
MIT and Caltech are at the same level of demanding as Chicago. If you are going to attend a university on the “Caltech, Chicago, MIT” level then you need to be ready to work very hard without a break, and the desire to do this needs to come from inside the student. If you are not driven to do this, then it becomes a very long and very tough four years.
I do not know if “more relaxed” would describe my experience at Stanford (for my master’s degree). There is a lot of homework and the classes go fast. I did find it more relaxed compared to MIT. However, I do not know how much of this was because it was a shorter program, and how much of this was because I was driven to do it. By the time that I got to my master’s degree I wanted to do it, I was ready to do it, and the desire to do it did come from inside me.
I think that if a student is considering attending a highly ranked pressure cooker type of university, they need to ask themself how strongly they feel that they want to do it. It is certainly possible to attend a slightly lower ranked university for a bachelor’s degree and then go on to a highly ranked graduate program (whether for a PhD or for some other graduate degree). It also is not quite just ranking. For example I used to know a couple of people who got their bachelor’s at MIT and a graduate degree at Harvard. They both have said that Harvard was easier (of course “easier than MIT” is sort of like “shorter than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar”).
It is important for a student to look for a university that is a good fit for them. It can be hard to know what a good fit will be. To me at least this seems quite a bit more difficult to figure out compared to just looking at university rankings.
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I agree with all of that. The rankings have become so skewed, I don’t put much faith in them. I do think the culture at Stanford is different from that at schools in the East. My husband went undergrad to Stanford and one of the reasons he chose it was because it was not MIT (he actually walked out of this MIT interview after telling the interviewer, “thanks for your time but I’m pretty sure MIT isn’t the place for me.” That being said, my daughter (who is at Wellesley) has several friends at MIT and tells me that they work hard but have a great sense of humor (the Banana study lab is hilarious.) But MIT is unendingly nerdy (not a bad thing!), and so it appeals to a very specific type of kid. Finding your place within a culture is important.
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I am lost at contradiction here. It was no technical school, broad liberal art curriculum. And then MIT and GATECH…
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What about University of Delaware?
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This is really great to hear! As an NYC kid, he was really excited about Chicago. One of the things that turned him off at NU was the guide mentioning how great it was to be close to the city but not actually in it. My kid would much prefer to be in the city. Having like-minded kids around would be a big plus.
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We’re not considering either. Not that he’d have any chance at MIT.
Actually curious about it as a potential likely admit. Is there a decent size town? It’s not far, so we’ll probably visit.
I have not been there. However, I have heard it is beautiful and it is choice of many DMV kids who are not rural. We have friends with kids there.
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I believe @Mjkacmom had a student at U Del. She may be able to provide insight.
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Yes, there is. With a nice Main Street that has plenty of restaurants, cafes, a couple of sports bars, etc.
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It’s a pretty walkable campus attached to a cute Main Street with shops, bars and restaurants. My daughter graduated from their honors college in 2022 (a year early, they are generous with AP credits) and is now at BU for graduate school. They offer good merit, my daughter received $17,000 a year but they offer more to 100 high stat students (lots of gals/sals). Location is good, right off 95, 2 hours from NYC (Amtrak station on campus), 2 hours from DC, 1 1/2 from Philadelphia. My daughter was accepted into their well ranked DPT program but wanted to live in a city.
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My two cents is all those train options are a potentially big attraction. All doable as weekend or indeed day trips, and train time is way better than car time (whether you are productive, relaxing, napping, or whatever).
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My D24 is a freshman at Rice.
Outside of Texas, it seems they get the most OOS from NY (based on the student handbook we received)
There are several from Spence and Brearly? and public schools like Rye, etc.
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U of Rochester has some exceptional opportunities for students like your son.
The first is Rochester Early Medical Scholars (REMS), which is a direct admit to an 8-year BA or BS/MD program out of high school. One of the best aspects of it is that REMS students work closely with the adjacent hospital, med school, and clinics as undergrads. You can check it out on their website:
The second is UR’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), a joint MD/PhD doctoral program. My wife’s oncologist at Dana Farber went through this program and she is truly extraordinary, working today as both a researcher and a practicing physician. She said that when she went through the program it was free because of the PhD component. Of course this is graduate study, but I think that UR students would have an advantage gaining admission, especially if they are already in the REMS program. Check out the details on their website:
https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/education/md-phd/prospective-students/program-overview.aspx
I’m kind of curious why you are not considering Harvard or Yale? My GD went to Harvard where she was able to do research as an undergrad. She is currently applying to med school. Both Harvard & Yale have close ties to their nearby med schools.
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Thank you! The location actually sounds great, considering how close it is to Philly and not that far from home. We’ve added it to the list of places to visit.
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Interesting. My son’s school only sends 1-2 per year to Rice (out of 4-5 accepted). It’s just too far for many kids, but certainly a great option if distance is not a concern.
Yes, we reallly do need to go see U of R. A friend of mine attended many years ago and did not like the location at all, finding it too suburban, so I suspect it’ll be a no for my kid, but it does sound like it has some great opportunities.
Yale and Harvard are just not realistic for him. He just doesn’t have the impressive accomplishments or even the GPA that the T5 or so schools expect. His school typically sends about ten kids to each one of those, but they’re usually from the top 5% of the class or so. My kid is definitely not.
They’re in the same range. Chicago accepted less than 5% of their applicants this past year.
I wish him the best wherever he goes. 
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UChicago sounds like a slam dunk. You’re really fortunate your kid likes the school so much. They will love S26’s ED app.
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