<p>Hi.</p>
<p>I’ve been accepted to the both of the mentioned schools. Can you write some objective differences between them? I’m mostly concerned with the free time I will have. I’m aiming to majoring in Math and/or Management Science at MIT or only Math at Cambridge. </p>
<p>Best</p>
<p>Allow me to just say that while both are exceptional schools, MIT will probably give you a much more rigorous education (although much less free time). I have friends at both schools and from what I’ve heard the UK school system is much more lax (3 x 2 month trimesters and you only study one subject). I would say that it may be worth considering where you plan to end up after graduation though as I imagine these schools both have stronger pull closer to home (just as lse is deified in europe haha).</p>
<p>How much free times is available at MIT if I decide to take two majors? How hard is to get a a math and management major?</p>
<p>The major difference is in the educational systems of each.</p>
<p>Cambridge assesses student performance at the end of the degree program. MIT, like all U.S. institutions of higher education, engages in continual assessment. Thus, it may feel as if you have alot of “free time” at Cambridge, because you’re not faced with mid-terms and finals. But unless you are self-motivated, you can struggle there. The upside is that you can also have more opportunity to study in depth at Cambridge.</p>
<p>I was there a generation ago, so this may no longer apply, but as an American, I found it very, very difficult to make friends with British students. International students stuck together like glue. I don’t think that international students coming to the U.S. had the same problem, to the same degree. </p>
<p>It’s easy at MIT to double major in math and management.</p>
<p>Cambridge and MIT also have an exchange program, so if you regret your choice, after sophomore year, you can attend the other one for a year :D</p>
<p>If you still aren’t sure whether you want to study one of two rather disparate subjects, I think you should go to MIT. A Cambridge education is fantastic and very deep, but also quite specialized. You sound like you’re still interested in a more broad approach.</p>
<p>Trinity is really awesome though. And gorgeous.</p>
<p>Congrats, i’ll choose MIT though XD</p>
<p>It also turns on how much you know about what you want to study. In three years reading maths at Cambridge, you will not take a single subject paper outside of the math department. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on you. </p>
<p>I got to MIT convinced I wanted to major in pure mathematics. I was the captain of my high school math team, and president of the math club, and I knew that I wanted to study pure mathematics. Then I took my first real pure maths course at MIT (Analysis I, 18.100). We started by spending 2 weeks and 8 pages of greek letters proving the existence of the rational numbers. Today I have a small daughter. From the time she was two years old, she was quite comfortable with the idea that she could eat, say, half of a cookie. I found myself frustrated focusing so much energy on proving the existance of fractions, when I was prepared to accept their existence quite comfortably from the age of 2. I concluded that pure mathematics was simply too much mental masturbation for me, and that I needed to change major. </p>
<p>That was a fairly straightforward process at MIT. It would not have been so at Cambridge. I also found that the training I got at MIT in defending my ideas outside of my major field of study was very useful for my life. For example, I took an undergraduate law class at MIT, that exposed me to a way of thinking that was very handy in defending my technical ideas. That again would not have been possible at Cambridge. For those reasons, MIT would be my choice, but your mileage may of course vary.</p>
<p>Cambridge will offer you a more specialized, in-depth education in math properly. If you are however unsure about your major and/or would like to take other classes outside the math department, you should go to MIT.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that, if you choose Cambridge, you will learn nothing but math for 3 or 4 years (with a little bit of theoretical physics also thrown in as part of the “applied math” papers).</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. MIT has arguably the best math department in the US and a very deep and talented pool of students. MIT actively recruit some of the top math talent in math from around the world including substantial number of IMO gold medalists. The Putnam Competition which pits the top 4,000 undergrads in math from hundreds of US colleges, MIT typically places 30 to 40 students in the top 100, about as many as the next 4 colleges combined. As an undergrad you can get into as much depth as you can handle including taking graduate level classes. So, if math is your thing, you can be infinitely challenged. On the other hand, as others have stated, you can also study many other things and many math majors double major in some field such as computer science or management.</p>
<p>Here’s a blog by an MIT math major who spent a year studying math at Cambridge. Provides good information on some of the difference between the way math is taught/learned at the two schools: [MIT</a> Admissions | Blog Entry: “A Day in the Life (2)… [Mathematics]”](<a href=“http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/experiences_abroad_study_research_employment/a_day_in_the_life_2.shtml]MIT”>http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/learning/experiences_abroad_study_research_employment/a_day_in_the_life_2.shtml)</p>
<p>The only thing I wonder, about this blog, is whether it indeed captures the difference. The blogger spent the junior year at Cambridge, and so ends up comparing his junior year there with his freshman and sophomore years at MIT. My daughter’s junior year in physics at MIT is qualitatively different from the first two years, far more in-depth, largely because of the coursework in Junior Lab. I don’t know what junior year is like for a math major at MIT, but it is very likely to be a much deeper experience than what students encounter during the first two years. It would be nice to hear from a student who’d done the exchange, finished up the B.S., and then wrote about it. Still a very interesting blog though.</p>
<p>I can probably give you a good perspective. I went to MIT but went abroad to Cambridge (Queens’ College) during my junior year. As people above have mentioned, there is a huge difference in the basic framework of the educational system:</p>
<p>Cambridge:
3 years
Study only one subject for all of your courses
All of your marks (for the most part) depend on the end of year examinations</p>
<p>MIT:
4 years
Focus on one (or multiple) area(s) with the ability to dabble elsewhere
Grades determined by combination of p-sets, tests, papers, etc. and are averaged among classes, and not just one mark for the year</p>
<p>That being said, there are also a ton of differences outside of just what has been mentioned. In terms of academics, both have the rigor and the prestige. Though the way of teaching will be quite different. Cambridge courses are lecture-based (at the university level) with college-specific supervisions which are similar to recitations. At MIT, you will have both lectures and recitations with people from all over the university. </p>
<p>Outside of academics, the schools again have many distinctions. MIT is in a city, or at least next to one. This offers a ton to do outside of the campus life. Cambridge University dominates the town, and therefore, does not offer as much to do outside of student nights, etc. That being said, there are a TON of social events going on within the town. At MIT, people tend to be of the mentality of working hard during the week and going out on the weekends (though this may start on Wednesday for some people). In Cambridge, there is no such thing - every night is a going out night. </p>
<p>I could go on and on and on at length of all the differences. In the end, I loved both. And you can’t go wrong - you can always spend one year at the other.</p>
<p>I’d pick Cambridge if you’re serious about Maths.</p>
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<p>Either of them would work if you’re serious about maths. It becomes all about the educational environment.</p>