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i've been accepted into both caltech and mit and the mere process of trying to decide is driving me crazy...

caltech has better weather than mit, yet i've also been told by an mit student that people are so much more "normal" there, which might not be a bad thing. and then again, there are the rankings... from us news & world report, it seems that mit is the best, but are those rankings really indicative of which one is better?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

By Imabovegod (Imabovegod) on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 11:05 am: Edit

caltech is better...

By Thedad (Thedad) on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 11:15 am: Edit

Toss out the USNWR rankings...they're artificial crap. I know people who believe in astrology "because it has numbers and everything."

The local sense of Caltech is that it is, as someone posted elsewhere here, math & science, math & science, math & science. I think MIT tends to have a bit of a broader outlook. That might induce you to go one direction or the other.

By Texas137 (Texas137) on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 11:35 am: Edit

Try to visit both for at least an overnight if you can. The "feel" of both places may make the decision clear.

By Spicedrice (Spicedrice) on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 06:09 pm: Edit

Both schools are amazing. Go to Caltech if you feel that you are definately going to do science...the 3:1 faculty student ratio is amazing and caltech is after all the "school of 22 nobel laureates". Go to MIT if you think you might be interested in business or the humanities.

By Burgmuller (Burgmuller) on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 08:01 pm: Edit

I have to agree with spice. Caltech is much better. student faculty ratio is a big thing. number of nobel prize winners is also a big thing. climate is also important.

where do you want to live? California or cold rainy mass? your choice !! lol

By Mal (Mal) on Wednesday, April 09, 2003 - 09:38 pm: Edit

It all depends on atmosphere. Caltech is a smaller, tighter-knit community. Hard academics, hard parties.

MIT is more cosmopolitan, since its in Boston. I heard its easy to get lost among the crowd there, and the competition is cut-throat, but then again, I'm going to Caltech and I'm biased.

Visit both campuses, see which one "feels" better for you.

By Breeze (Breeze) on Thursday, April 10, 2003 - 10:29 am: Edit

Caltech is so small and so prestigious that for the rest of your life, the world will look at you in awe and wonder that you even got into Caltech, no matter what you do from this point on.

M.I.T. is *plenty* prestigious, but it seems like it'd be pretty damn hard to get into Caltech and not take your place among the "chosen few".

I have absolutely no relationship with M.I.T. or Caltech, and love both schools. I guess it all comes down to whether you'd like to hit on Harvard and Boston College gals or if you'd like to take your chances with L.A. women. ;)