MIT or Caltech or University of Chicago

collegealum314
Mon, 04 Apr 2011 18:58:54 +0000

what are the other things I should consider for my decision making?



Does the idea of a liberal arts education and atmosphere appeal to you? MIT has some nice humanities classes, but it’s not the same animal as U. of Chicago.

Are you a talented writer and have interest in the humanities? U. Chicago has a core requirement that requires specific humanities classes. If this isn’t a forte’ of yours, it may hurt your GPA.

Of the three, Caltech is probably the most dangerous for premed for the opposite reason. MIT is a bit more manageable, especially as an econ or bio/chem major, but it’s not easy either.
And it’s not known for economics as far as I know (especially compared to the other two) although any theoretical class at Caltech is going to be great.

MIT and (possibly to a lesser extent) Caltech are better for getting a job on Wall Street (Goldman Sachs) or consulting firms (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group).

The locales and campuses are pretty different. U. of Chicago has nice-looking campus but it’s in a dangerous neighborhood. MIT is also urban, but is not quite as dangerous. Caltech is in a sunny California town, Pasadena. Completely different architecture. U. of Chicago looks like what you would imagine an ivy would look like. MIT has buildings that look like sponges and don’t have right angles. Caltech has Spanish architecture (not sure if this is the proper term). If you have a reaction to the campus for or against, this may be an important factor.

If you are interested in econ, you should also consider majoring in applied math. You can still do econ with an applied math major.

At Caltech, not only do they have a more expansive technical core (quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics on top of the MIT general requirements), but also they force you to take the theoretical version. At MIT, you have a choice between the regular and theoretical versions. For instance, regular version would be Halliday/Resnick physics versus Purcell E&M for theoretical. Or regular calc versus theoretical calc (Apostol.)

MIT has the most entrepeneurial vibe of the three. U. of Chicago (according to an alumni friend) has the coffee-drinking intellectuals. Caltech has the people most dead-set on actually pursuing a career in research (as opposed to consulting, premed, Wall Street, tech startup, etc.)