Which schools are considered peers of MIT & Caltech?
Harvey Mudd - stole Caltech’s cannon once as a prank (like what MIT did), strong engineering
RPI
all i can think of rn
I agree with RPI and Harvey Mudd. Though perhaps less discernible in this context, I might add Rice.
In what context? For STEM focus and research output, outside the US: EPFL, ETH Zurich, Imperial College London.
Just ones here in States, not globally.
Would you recommend CMU or JHU for this list?
Stanford, GA Tech, UMich, Berkeley
GT, WPI, Yale, RPI, Duke, Caltech, Harvey Mudd, Olin, Dartmouth, Case Western
“Similar Universities (mathematically similar student body, size, academics, stem, salary… etc)”
http://universitybenchmarks.com/schools/massachusetts_institute_of_technology.html
Dartmouth??
If the yardstick is program curriculum and intensity, only CMU SCS and Harvey Mudd come close.
Stanford, Berkeley, maybe Michigan, that’s it. I know a lot of people at RPI, CMU, WPI that are there because they didn’t get into MIT.
GaTech, U of Penn, Caltech, Stanford, UIUC, Berkeley, Cornell, CMU have the closest programs to MIT’s in terms of difficulty and depth in the sciences and engineering, and federal research dollars brought to campus with grants.
(MIT, Berkeley, Stanford and UIUC have the same type of EECS top programs for instance. )
Are you asking peer institutions for financial aid? MIT may have a list, so ask them. Or are you interested in schools that have similar research and options? Harvey Mudd College is only undergrads, so substantially different focus than MIT or Caltech, which have grad schools the same size as undergrad, substantial federal $$ and substantial lab facilities compared to Harvey Mudd College.
RPI and CWRU are easier to get into, but similar in rigor as well and offer some labs, but not to the MIT/Caltech
level of labs.
Labs really do matter for research work, but depends a little on your major.
With that I don’t think MIT negotiates on financial aid packages, if thats what you are after, but ask them.
I have seen applicants get substantially more money from Penn and Yale than MIT and there was no negotiating.
Penn has some new special engineering scholarship programs and Yale is just very very generous but
not up to MIT’s standards for science or engineering, its more liberal arts focused.
Makes sense. Stanford, Berkeley, Rice, CMU,GT, Cornell, Harvey Mudd,U Penn can provide somewhat similar STEM experience but with a better overall balance than MIT and Caltech.
What do you mean by similar stem experience? The caliber of kids and professors at MIT and Cal Tech are not the same as the other schools, with the exception of Stanford and Berkeley, and Harvard for non-engineering majors.
MIT/Caltech really have no peer in STEM overall. Yes, other top colleges have STEM students who are as good, but they are not as numerous (in terms of percentages) and with much wider distributions at the lower end than at these two schools. If you’re a STEM major, you’ll be more likely challenged and pushed harder at Caltech/MIT (including harder and more higher level courses) than at any other places.
Rigor at MIT is enhanced by general institutional requirements including 2 courses in calculus (not simply math), 2 physics, bio, chem and 8 courses in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS). Most other schools provide some leeway or wiggle room to allow those who want to avoid a particular STEM to take some sort of pseudo course like
for math it might be “math for mountain climbers” or for science it might be “our bodies are interesting”. I don’t know how CalTech handles requirements but bet they are as rigorous.
Caltech is perhaps even more rigorous. According to its latest catalog, every freshman starts with 3 courses of proof-based calculus/linear algebra, 3 courses of physics, 2 courses of chem and 1 course of bio, unless placed out of any of them by exams. 12 courses of humanities/social sciences with strict distribution requirement among them, including at least 3 writing-intensive courses (and with no pass/fail option on most of the humanities/social sciences courses except for the freshman/intro classes). No AP/IB credit for any course (and for any AP score).
http://catalog.caltech.edu/documents/3199/caltech_catalog-1819.pdf
UIUC EECS is very close in curriculum and content, and research options, to MIT EECS. However the student body
at UIUC is a wider range of abilities than MIT’s students.
Cornell Engineering is known to be truly difficult, as is Penn Engineering, and Princeton Engineering. Some students find Princeton to be so difficult there is a significant drop out of their engineering over to sciences.
Caltech is the top for rigor in math requirements for all majors, including analysis imbedded in the calculus class in the very first semester. The Quarter calendar is also very intense, but its not really more material than MIT’s or Cornell’s tough semester sequences in Physics. MIT gives a few more choices in math and physics, for rigor as well.