GaTech vs Princeton for ECE/CS

College Search & Lists
1

I’d like to emphasize that my primary career goals are to found a start-up, be excellent with the technical aspects, but also be equally as skilled in leadership/management roles.

I’m fortunate enough to have been admitted to these three. Unfortunately, I was not admitted to my top choices: MIT and Stanford. I’d like to put myself in the best position for being accepted to an MIT/Stanford level grad school for ECE/CS and business.

I understand that GaTech boasts a strong engineering program; however, I’m worried about not getting as significant 1-1 relationships with professors. As well, I’d like to perform significant research in college; but I’m afraid of having to compete with thousands of students for every single opportunity.

On the other hand, Princeton has a lot more of an intimate feel; and it emphasizes research among its undergrads. However, it does not have as strong of an engineering department, and it does not have as much variety in courses. Also, I’m not sure about the variety of technical/research opportunities compared to GaTech, though I feel like that could be a product of Princeton having significantly less students, especially with regards to grad school population.

Will Princeton’s leading undergraduate education, fostering of 1-1 connections with professors, and emphasis on research prove advantageous when applying to MIT/Stanford’s grad school, despite GaTech’s strength in engineering overall?

Again, I’d like to note that in addition to a technical education, I also intend to found a start-up and run a business.

2

What’s the third? You mention Princeton and GT…what’s the third one.

3

First off, congratulations on getting these admits!

I can’t speak for which school would give you a better shot at grad school so I’ll leave that to others. However, regarding:

In my view GT will teach you the hard technical skills and align you with the industry much better than Princeton. They have strong industry partnerships and co-habitation spaces with many companies. Check out Coda.

Beyond that: becoming a strong leader depends more on personal attributes and the experience you gain by taking on leadership opportunities than what you learn in the classroom or in a research lab.

4

My apologies… the third is Duke… when I finished writing this I realized that I wasn’t really wanting to consider it. It’s definitely not as strong in ECE and not as advantageous in other rankings compared to Princeton

5

Under many/most states of the world, the correct choice of the three is Princeton.
Here you can look at the kind of work kids do in their senior thesis, by department:
https://dataspace.princeton.edu/handle/88435/dsp019c67wm88m
You can do one-on-one research with world renowned faculty from Freshman year, if you are capable. Research inclined kids start early – easily by early sophomore year. Some earlier.

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