My daughter is fortunate enough to get into two of the most prestigious colleges. She is visiting both of them during the campus preview weeks.
Here is what are key for her:
She wants to make sure that she has an opportunity to take hard computer science/engineering courses, with some breadth courses (not the other way around)
She wants a campus with good housing and collaborative team spirit
Based on what we have read so far, Harvard’s CSE department is still not that great (compared to MIT’s). Does it matter for undergrad?
Appreciate inputs from current students/alumni/parents.
@caliDad2017 While it doesn’t matter as much for undergrad as it does for grad, it still does matter. MIT is the clear choice for engineering/CS vs Harvard. Harvard, while great, is not on the same league as MIT for these fields. Based on your post she is ready to work very hard and take rigorous classes so she seems ready for a rigorous place like MIT.
MIT is also very collaborative, people tend to be brilliant yet down to earth and there is a surprisingly good social life going on. (Better than Harvards according to many people).
Harvard and MIT apparently do not make cross registration that much of a priority, since they do not synchronize their academic calendars. For fall 2016, Harvard is earlier than MIT (8/31-12/2 versus 9/7-12/14). The Harvard final exam period may overlap with regular MIT classes, while MIT final exams may occur after Harvard students must vacate the dorms. http://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/academic-year-2016-2017 http://web.mit.edu/registrar/calendar/