Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP back again. Here is a list of places suggested by others throughout the thread, organized by type of university, in case other STEM kid parents find it helpful. I may have missed some but feel free to add.

State Universities
UC Berkeley
UCSD (University of California, San Diego)
University of Michigan
SUNY Stony Brook
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)
Colorado School of Mines
UVA

Strongly STEM-Focused Private Colleges
Harvey Mudd College
Olin College of Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Cooper Union

Liberal Arts Colleges
Williams
Hamilton
Swarthmore
Reed
Macalester
Amherst
Middlebury
Bowdoin
Wesleyan
Mount Holyoke
Davidson
Haverford
Colby
Wellesley

Private R1 Research Universities
Caltech (Equally impossible, but why not dream)
Carnegie Mellon
Johns Hopkins
Cornell
Washington University in St. Louis
Tufts
Case Western Reserve University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Stevens Institute of Technology

WPI is R1.

[Anonymous]

Re Princeton Review, they also have academic ratings. This post from DCUM in Sep ‘23 includes schools with 95 or higher in academics:

Only a handful of schools earn top scores on this measure according to the methodology below:

Academics

How hard students work and how much they get back for their efforts, on a scale of 60–99. This rating is calculated from student survey results and statistical information reported by administrators. Factors weighed include how many hours students study outside of the classroom and the quality of students the school attracts. We also considered students' assessments of their professors, class size, student–teacher ratio, use of teaching assistants, amount of class discussion, registration, and resources. Please note that if a school has an Academic Rating of 60* (sixty with an asterisk), it means that the school did not report to us a sufficient number of the statistics that go into the rating by our deadline.

Williams- 99
Olin College of Engineering- 99
US Military Academy- 99
Deep Springs- 99
Middlebury- 99
Carleton- 98
Reed- 98
Kenyon- 98
Haverford- 98
UChicago- 98
Pomona- 97
Harvey Mudd- 97
St. Johns College- 96
Wellesley- 96
Brown- 96
MIT- 95
University of Richmond- 95

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re Princeton Review, they also have academic ratings. This post from DCUM in Sep ‘23 includes schools with 95 or higher in academics:

Only a handful of schools earn top scores on this measure according to the methodology below:

Academics

How hard students work and how much they get back for their efforts, on a scale of 60–99. This rating is calculated from student survey results and statistical information reported by administrators. Factors weighed include how many hours students study outside of the classroom and the quality of students the school attracts. We also considered students' assessments of their professors, class size, student–teacher ratio, use of teaching assistants, amount of class discussion, registration, and resources. Please note that if a school has an Academic Rating of 60* (sixty with an asterisk), it means that the school did not report to us a sufficient number of the statistics that go into the rating by our deadline.

Williams- 99
Olin College of Engineering- 99
US Military Academy- 99
Deep Springs- 99
Middlebury- 99
Carleton- 98
Reed- 98
Kenyon- 98
Haverford- 98
UChicago- 98
Pomona- 97
Harvey Mudd- 97
St. Johns College- 96
Wellesley- 96
Brown- 96
MIT- 95
University of Richmond- 95

Even Niche is better than this.

[Anonymous]

A DCUM poster told me about Iowa State. Smaller school but co-located with Ames Lab (DoE). Smaller school, hands on faculty, and undergrad research opportunities. I'm just starting to look at it but it is an interesting option and certainly less competitive.

https://www.ameslab.gov/education-programs/iowa-state-ames-lab-sciences-research-or-operations-experience

[Anonymous]

A lot of people are just listing their favorite schools and not thinking about similarity to MIT at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are just listing their favorite schools and not thinking about similarity to MIT at all.

- R1 private research university.
- Strong in STEM
- BPSTON area

=> Northeastern

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wellesley. Excellent all-around education and, if your daughter is accepted at MIT in her junior year, she can complete a double degree at the latter (this program takes five years to complete between the Wellesley A.B. and the MIT S.B.). But Wellesley has a cross exchange program with MIT and Olin anyway, so even if she doesn't apply or get accepted to the double degree program, she can still take advantage of MIT courses and research opportunities.

That said, while a 13% acceptance rate is statistically greater than a 4% acceptance rate, it's still not a slam dunk for anyone.

Wellesley is an absolute mess right now. Look at Smith! Smith is a really great place for female STEM majors. They even have engineering (rare for an LAC).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are just listing their favorite schools and not thinking about similarity to MIT at all.

However, the OP has expanded the search criteria since the topic was opened. At this stage, MIT itself, at which engineering and computer science tend to predominate as majors, may not even represent an ideal choice for the OP's daughter, who seems broadly interested in foundational sciences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for a school for a student who particularly excels at STEM but also wants a strong academic experience all around. Loves learning, loves a challenge, and possibly wants to go to grad school for academic research so undergrad research opportunities are important. She would love to be around other students who are enthusiastic and passionate about science. So far she has all A's, 1520 PSAT, will be maxed out on math/science courses at her school. Very involved in music oriented extracurriculars and would want to continue these in college for fun. If she could pick the school of her dreams, it would be MIT for sure, but she not have national/international level recognition or research experience. I am hoping to steer her towards schools with a similar "spirit" but which are less selective and more achievable. Any suggestions for schools to focus our search? We will likely be full pay. I think the school community and academic strength would be top priority for her rather than the setting of the school.

There are a LOT of very good schools like MIT.

UIUC
Perdue
CMU
Harvey Mudd
... ...
Stevenson institute of Tech
Colorado school of mines
Rose Hulman

[Anonymous]

This is really random, but Tulsa is actually a really good school. It is a sea of blue/purple in a very red state. Small private school that invests a lot in teaching. Lots of aid available. Division 1 sports.

I would put a number of the others suggested above it but it is worth considering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are just listing their favorite schools and not thinking about similarity to MIT at all.

However, the OP has expanded the search criteria since the topic was opened. At this stage, MIT itself, at which engineering and computer science tend to predominate as majors, may not even represent an ideal choice for the OP's daughter, who seems broadly interested in foundational sciences.

Interesting. I think of MIT as being strongest in foundational sciences and a place for academic research. This overshadows the engineering reputation for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wellesley. Excellent all-around education and, if your daughter is accepted at MIT in her junior year, she can complete a double degree at the latter (this program takes five years to complete between the Wellesley A.B. and the MIT S.B.). But Wellesley has a cross exchange program with MIT and Olin anyway, so even if she doesn't apply or get accepted to the double degree program, she can still take advantage of MIT courses and research opportunities.

That said, while a 13% acceptance rate is statistically greater than a 4% acceptance rate, it's still not a slam dunk for anyone.

Wellesley is an absolute mess right now. Look at Smith! Smith is a really great place for female STEM majors. They even have engineering (rare for an LAC).

Can you please clarify? What is the issue with Wellesley right now?

[Anonymous]

Per Fiske 2023, these received the highest academic rating (5 pens):

Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Bryn Mawr
CalTech
Carleton College
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Georgia Tech
Harvard
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Univ. of Michigan
Northwestern
Olin College of Engineering
Pomona College
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
UC Berkeley
UCLA
UC San Diego
UChicago
UIUC
UPenn
Univ. of Virginia
Wellesley
Wesleyan
William & Mary
Williams
Yale

[Anonymous]

Maybe look at Claremont McKenna's new integrated science program. (Although, I guess an acceptance rate double MIT still doesn't make it easy to get into.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of people are just listing their favorite schools and not thinking about similarity to MIT at all.

However, the OP has expanded the search criteria since the topic was opened. At this stage, MIT itself, at which engineering and computer science tend to predominate as majors, may not even represent an ideal choice for the OP's daughter, who seems broadly interested in foundational sciences.

Interesting. I think of MIT as being strongest in foundational sciences and a place for academic research. This overshadows the engineering reputation for me.

Even though I wrote the earlier comment, I could go either way on this. On the one hand, 65% of MIT undergraduates major in either engineering or computer science. On the other hand, to use one prominent example, theoretician and cosmologist Alan Guth is there.