humanities options at "stem" schools

[Anonymous]

I just googled PPE and the Internet gave me personal protective equipment. That can’t be right. What major is PPE?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys do know that schools like JHU and MIT have top humanities programs, right?

Obviously they do not know

Pretty sure a PP pointed out a not-top student couldn't get admitted to these?

That’s not what I read. And a 3.8 from a NY feeder has every option except HYP. We’ve had 3.8 go to MIT from our school. They don’t care about your c in 9th grade French

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just googled PPE and the Internet gave me personal protective equipment. That can’t be right. What major is PPE?

Philosophy, Politics and Economics

[Anonymous]

PPE seems to be taking off at moment, I’m a fan of interdisciplinary studies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really do not understand the jockeying for the highest ranked school even if it’s meh for your kids interests and needs.

This. I find OP’s strategy ridiculous. If JHU has a program your kid would love, by all means apply. But don’t apply to the highest ranked brand name just to sit in an underresourced major that would be better elsewhere, even if they accept a higher percentage of students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just googled PPE and the Internet gave me personal protective equipment. That can’t be right. What major is PPE?

It's a cross-disciplinary major that blends Political Science x Philosophy x Economics. It offers a lot of flexibility in the exact classes taken. It's popular with UK politicians who attend Oxford and Cambridge.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy,_politics_and_economics

There are older DCUM threads on this.

If looking at CMU, also look at Pitt. They are next door to each other. CMU may be more famous for Economics but Pitt is more famous for Philosophy. I'm a Pittsburgher with a liberal arts degree from Pitt. I would choose Pitt again. CMU is great for leveraging quant types into high-paying STEM jobs. Haven't noticed amazing results with non-STEM jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really do not understand the jockeying for the highest ranked school even if it’s meh for your kids interests and needs.

This. I find OP’s strategy ridiculous. If JHU has a program your kid would love, by all means apply. But don’t apply to the highest ranked brand name just to sit in an underresourced major that would be better elsewhere, even if they accept a higher percentage of students.

Ugh. She literally said the smaller schools may not be a fit. So they’re obviously looking at larger schools. Traditionally stem schools w good Econ should be on the list

[Anonymous]

I dont know why people think looking at JHU is chasing prestige tbh. Williams etc are better thought of in many circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really do not understand the jockeying for the highest ranked school even if it’s meh for your kids interests and needs.

This. I find OP’s strategy ridiculous. If JHU has a program your kid would love, by all means apply. But don’t apply to the highest ranked brand name just to sit in an underresourced major that would be better elsewhere, even if they accept a higher percentage of students.

okay, but JHU does have such a program. and surely they'll be looking at full paying kids who have no interest in NIH research.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to piggy back on the previous poster. My DS was just accepted into CMU where he'll be in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Their humanities programs are interdisciplinary in nature and often have an applied component. Worth checking out.

[Anonymous]

I was a hum grad student at JHU. The professors and programs are strong and yet it does feel like it's not the focus of the institution and not 'where the action is.' Maybe a little lonely in terms of peers with the same interests?

[Anonymous]

There are lots of schools that are strong in both STEM and econ/philosophy/political science - Stanford, MIT, Rice, Princeton, CMU, Penn, Northwestern, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Emory. There's also the Claremont colleges, which is basically five schools in one, with Harvey Mudd being the STEM school and the others more focused on social sciences and humanities. But to the larger point, yes, not being an athlete as a male at a SLAC can be limiting and it's not unusual to consider alternatives until SLACs change their admissions priorities. 30-40 percent athlete at tiny schools is a concern for many.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIT is probably the top economics departments in the world right now.

True, but this is based on the grad program, right? The undergrad econ program there is TINY. 15 current undergrads in econ or mathematical econ.
https://registrar.mit.edu/stats-reports/majors-count

My kid seriously considered applying but decided against it for this and other reasons. (Landed in a different top econ program.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIT is probably the top economics departments in the world right now.

True, but this is based on the grad program, right? The undergrad econ program there is TINY. 15 current undergrads in econ or mathematical econ.
https://registrar.mit.edu/stats-reports/majors-count

My kid seriously considered applying but decided against it for this and other reasons. (Landed in a different top econ program.)

I got my PhD in economics from MIT. The undergrad program is terrific too. Very rigorous. The kids graduating from it do very well on the job market and getting accepted to top PhD programs elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

PP again. If you look at the same link with the major distribution at MIT, you will see that there are about 160 majors at the Sloan business school. They take many of the same Econ classes as economics majors.