MIT, Stanford, LSE, UCL, Columbia?

I have not explored the Liberal arts schools in Europe (as of yet), and I believe they are probably too late to apply to for Fall 2016 entry!

I attended a summer programme at MIT not too long ago in the summer, and I had an absolutely blast. Everything was absolutely wonderful. The passion for the subjects, community with those in the programme...

1) Boston is incredible to me, and it's quite amazing as I see so many students who return to MIT for the remaining half of their December/January breaks to explore the city with other fellow students, and their school. (especially first years)

2) There is such a sense of community and passion for the STEM fields. I.e. the students allow their creativity and passion for engineering to shine through when they build the handmade wooden roller coasters for the incoming freshers.

3) I know some people think the resulting degrees might be a bit more broad because the students have to take general classes, but for the private universities I've applied to- they tend to have much stricter "general" curriculums than i.e. public USA universities. And also the university length is four years- I love that extra bonus year, and I think it is fairly nice to do both a "major" and "minor." I know mental health tends to be a huge problem in the 'elite' schools such as UChicago so it sounds crazy to say this, but I also find myself liking how the term weeks are lengthier, and there is more chance to have more lecture time for each module

4) I also think the mentality of USA and UK university students at the "top" universities are very different. The cultures are very different, and in the UK it often seems like university is just a means to receive a job, and there is a huge job-oriented focus in places like LSE and UCL. Of course, it is emphasised like that too in the USA, but going to university carries so much more symbolism there (i.e. the students really emphasise on making life-long connections/building relationships with the faculty and students)

The list could go on and on, but I don't feel comfortable to share the specifics as it does get more personal to me!

Of course I'm not saying MIT students are more passionate than their British counterparts, just that I fit more into the USA university community more. And I would say the general requirements at Columbia are very much strict (i.e. Core Curriculum, and the modules you are supposed to take are very much limited-they have it set for you)

In large public USA universities, it's often been "we require 3 modules in a science, 1 in a maths, 2 in arts/diversity credit" etc. It's very much up to the students to decide.

The "jobs oriented" is very much directed towards UCL and LSE. Especially the culture I have seen at LSE and attending the open day!

I echo this^ Also attended a summer programme at MIT.

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Gotta love the $\frac{m}{V}$ of dunkin' donuts in Boston OP

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Fixed.

That was.. omg

Fixed.

Just reminded me of a magnet I bought a couple years ago

The point about the general requirements at Columbia is that there are a lot of them, more I think than at most other American colleges. That means you're going to have less specialist knowledge. I take your point about LSE, their students are famously obsessed with their careers but I don't think you can say that about UCL, or any other British university.

MIT omg that's the nerdiest thing every I love it

Just reminded me of a magnet I bought a couple years ago

Lol. I'm loving that magnet! Wish I bought more souvenirs whilst I was there.

What would you say were the aspects you liked most about MIT!
And yes LOL definitely the Dunkin Donuts! XD

Fixed.

I did an entrepreneurship programme there which was, safe to say, quite hardcore. Got exposure to current students, HBS/Sloan professors, a few mentors in the local Boston venture capital/startup communities etc

What I found:
- The people there are super interesting. Even just looking at the people in my program, we used to stay up until 3-4am just talking about the distribution of global wealth, poverty, affirmative action worries. It's like everyone is smart, but they also care a tonne about the wider issues in the world and aren't afraid to voice their opinions.

- Facilities are immense. I spent time in some of the research centres (Age Lab was my favourite) and the level of investment put in to maintain bleeding edge facilities is unlike anything I've seen before. You can feel it, just by stepping foot onto the campus it sort of engulfs you in its enormity. All the research staff and current students involved in research were clearly very passionate about solving problems and tackling some of the world's biggest issues

- It's not all work, work and work. Yes, you'd find yourself grinding through a problem sheet for hours into the night but the next day you could be playing soccer with your friends or going down to Chinatown for a meal, or even watching a RedSox game. There's very much a work hard, play hard mentality.

- Students were, on the whole, much more interested in pursuing startups and going into research than say, heading into i-banking or finance. There's an entrepreneurial 'buzz' around the place that you don't feel if you're at a UK uni.

- Basically, people there are smart and deserve to be there. You'll find that one Ugandan kid who created some bizarre light bulb solution to power his village and that one kid who opened up a string of restaurants. With the generous financial aid and the very specific nature of the admissions system, MIT can hand pick the best of the best students.



Looooooooooool, good one!

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I echo this so much! I've heard of so many students receiving "full ride" scholarships to MIT because their families could not afford it.

Don't understimate the cost. If your family owns it's own home and has a reasonably good household income full-ride will not apply.

Have you used MIT's Net Price Calculator to check?
https://sfs.mit.edu/access-affordability/net-price-calculator

Unfortunately I wouldn't qualify for it, but I just thought it was great how schools like MIT give out these scholarships, or how Stanford offers free education to those who make under 125k U.S. Dollars! It's incredibly nice of them to do so.

Just reminded me of a magnet I bought a couple years ago

Welp, that took me a while to get