Anonymous
05/04/2025 23:16
Subject: Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote: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.)
This is the worst major choice for OP's daughter. Stay away from these experimental, predatory programs. Even a chemistry major at Pomona will launch her much further than this foolishness.
Anonymous
05/04/2025 22:39
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
lol nice source "College Transitions" They left some pretty big players out. I'd stick with this.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
The OP's daughter has not expressed an interest in engineering.
I thought OP stated STEM was the interest of study?
Subsequently the OP said that her daughter has not mentioned engineering as an area of potential interest.
Sorry for the confusion. Yes, "STEM" is probably too broad. Her top 3 interests right now are chemistry (theoretical), physics, and math. But I would love it if this kid settled on something practical like cs or engineering.
Even if your daughter maintains an interest in, say, theoretical chemistry, an interdisciplinary approach to her education could introduce her to more practical fields. For example, data science (available as a major at many schools) combines statistics and computing with a chosen applied domain, such as theoretical chemistry.
Anonymous
05/04/2025 21:40
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
lol nice source "College Transitions" They left some pretty big players out. I'd stick with this.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
The OP's daughter has not expressed an interest in engineering.
I thought OP stated STEM was the interest of study?
Subsequently the OP said that her daughter has not mentioned engineering as an area of potential interest.
Sorry for the confusion. Yes, "STEM" is probably too broad. Her top 3 interests right now are chemistry (theoretical), physics, and math. But I would love it if this kid settled on something practical like cs or engineering.
Anonymous
05/04/2025 20:58
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
lol nice source "College Transitions" They left some pretty big players out. I'd stick with this.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
From what I've found, it seems Rowman & Littlefield published the College Transitions book. Overall, the book appears to have offered a form of opinion that the authors were reasonably qualified to express. In any case, I credit the DCUM contributor with explicitly citing a source, including the year of the edition used for the content of the post.
Anonymous
05/04/2025 19:34
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
lol nice source "College Transitions" They left some pretty big players out. I'd stick with this.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
The OP's daughter has not expressed an interest in engineering.
I thought OP stated STEM was the interest of study?
Subsequently the OP said that her daughter has not mentioned engineering as an area of potential interest.
Anonymous
05/04/2025 19:33
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
lol nice source "College Transitions" They left some pretty big players out. I'd stick with this.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
The OP's daughter has not expressed an interest in engineering.
I thought OP stated STEM was the interest of study?
STEM is very broad. There were follow-up questions already. From 4/28:
Anonymous wrote:
Not ruling it out, but DD has never mentioned wanting to be an engineer, so most likely end up in a basic science department instead of an engineering department.
Anonymous
05/04/2025 19:15
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
lol nice source "College Transitions" They left some pretty big players out. I'd stick with this.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
The OP's daughter has not expressed an interest in engineering.
I thought OP stated STEM was the interest of study?
Anonymous
05/04/2025 19:02
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
lol nice source "College Transitions" They left some pretty big players out. I'd stick with this.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
The OP's daughter has not expressed an interest in engineering.
Anonymous
05/04/2025 18:35
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
Anonymous wrote:These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
lol nice source "College Transitions" They left some pretty big players out. I'd stick with this.
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-doctorate?_sort=rank&_sortDirection=asc
Anonymous
05/04/2025 18:13
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
These are the 40 schools with 5 star academics per College Transitions (from their book, Colleges Worth Your Money, 2023 ed):
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
Amherst
Barnard
Bowdoin
Brown
Caltech
Carleton
Carnegie Mellon
Claremont McKenna
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Davidson
Duke
Emory
Olin
Hamilton
Harvard
Harvey Mudd
Haverford
Johns Hopkins
MIT
Middlebury
Northwestern
Pomona
Princeton
Rice
Stanford
Swarthmore
US Naval Academy
Vanderbilt
UCLA
UChicago
U of Notre Dame
UPenn
U of Virginia
Washington & Lee
WashU
Wellesley
Williams
Yale
Anonymous
05/04/2025 17:00
Subject: Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
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.
Anonymous
05/04/2025 16:44
Subject: Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
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
05/04/2025 16:44
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
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
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
05/04/2025 16:36
Subject: Re:Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
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
05/04/2025 16:34
Subject: Schools similar to MIT (but less impossible)
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.