Which College Should I Choose: Caltech, Stanford, Princeton, or Yale?

[woodfich]

Hi everyone.

My plan has always been to major in engineering (electrical, mechanical or civil-structural, or even robotics, or nuclear, I'll decide which one specifically once I get a better grasp of each specialty IN college). However, while less probable, I have not discarded pure physics, and pure mathematics.

I applied to four colleges, Caltech, Stanford, Princeton and Yale. I have gotten admitted already to Caltech and think I have a decent shot at Stanford and Princeton (now that I have Caltech I don't really care about the Yale, or should I?). I receive their decisions starting at March 31.

Anyways, if I got admitted to Stanford and Princeton, I would be facing a tough decision.

What do you guys think about these?

Thanks for your input. Pro's and Con's of said colleges is very appreciated.

Edit: It is worth mentioning that I am already sick of the humanities. If it were up to me, I would just take scientific courses, and that one of the most attractive things about Caltech. The only thing that is holding me back from it is that, even though I enjoy intellectual conversations, I'm afraid it might be WAY too nerdy. I mean I'm going to be there from 18-22, I also want to have fun (and hot chicks). Any thoughts on this?

 

[lisab]

Very impressive, woodfich. No small feat getting into any of those schools - well done!

Do you have resources to go visit each campus? It would be helpful in making your decision. School web sites can give you only a limited amount of data on which to base your decision.

 

[Office_Shredder]

My (admittedly limited) experience with Princeton's engineering department didn't leave a good impression with me. However, from what I understand not many people consider it a top department like stanford and caltech

 

[woodfich]

Thanks for the responses

Very impressive, woodfich. No small feat getting into any of those schools - well done!

Do you have resources to go visit each campus?

In response to your question, luckily I have. I plan on going to each campus once I get the two other decisions. However, I am trying to get as much information from as many different sources before I decide (campus visit is a VERY important one, but I also want to listen to people's opinion's). It's kind of different for me in the sense that I am not from the US, and there are a very limited number of people here who actually know something about these universities. In fact, to be honest, I had never even heard about Caltech until like 6 months ago when I started to seriously think of applying to the US.

 

[j93]

Edit: It is worth mentioning that I am already sick of the humanities. If it were up to me, I would just take scientific courses, and that one of the most attractive things about Caltech. The only thing that is holding me back from it is that, even though I enjoy intellectual conversations, I'm afraid it might be WAY too nerdy. I mean I'm going to be there from 18-22, I also want to have fun (and hot chicks). Any thoughts on this?

Have you looked at Caltech's requirements.
http://www.admissions.caltech.edu/learning/core
12 terms of humanities
2 terms of writing
MIT also has a big humanities requirements.

The tech schools are more aggressive at forcing the humanities on you than non-tech schools.



I would chose Stanford because
a) They have more grade inflation than any of the other schools on your list. That doesn't hurt if youre planning to go to grad school or even for a job search.
b) They appear to have an equal or better engineering program than Princeton
c) Less humanities courses
d) The location is not that bad.
e) Caltech's male/female ratio is dismal and relationships are close
to being subject to the pigeonhole principle.