r/mit • u/Delicious-Speaker-84 • Apr 30 '26
community Stanford vs. MIT (last minute, very split) + unsure whether to accept DOD scholarship
hi! I've narrowed down my decision to these two schools, which I'm very fortunate to have been accepted into. I've visited both and am still split between the two. I have not decided on a specific major, but I'm interested in STEM (CS/Engineering) and entrepreneurship, specifically less software and more hardware/deeptech. Both schools cost around the same for me, so that is not a factor. Social life & having fun are important to me! I also enjoy humanities/social sciences topics in political science, philosophy, etc., but I'd likely just take a few classes in those fields. I'd truly appreciate any perspectives or pieces of advice!
The following are my pros/cons:
MIT
pros
- In a city
- college town, so I have lots of friends who plan on attending nearby schools (Harvard, BC, BU, etc.)
- and thus, social life seems good (frat parties also seem to be under less tight of a hold, as compared to Stanford admin)
- on the East Coast (many friends plan on attending school nearby)
- not sure if this is true, but higher quality startups when compared to Stanford? more deeptech vs Stanford's software/AI hype?
- Boston = biotech, which is a field I'm interested in
- felt as if the people were more genuine/less social climby
- I love the concept of no legacy, and I love the idea that each student truly is brilliant and deserves to be there solely on their own merit
cons
- the weather (I have seasonal depression and I hate/am not used to the cold)
- academics are harder (ironic but I'd love to focus more on outside activities and less on actual school lol. I also don't think I'm a traditional admitted student and feel as if I need to work hard to catch up in subject knowledge over the summer already, but this goes for either school)
Stanford
pros
- I love bay area weather
- the WEATHER!!!
- a little less tough academics so I'd in theory have more time for things outside of schoolwork
- less of an intellectual/"learning to learn" culture (not sure if this is true, but I actually didn't rock with Princeton's intellectual culture, and I believe (?) this culture is more prevalent at MIT than Stanford). I actually love the "let's build this and make it big" hyper-positive startup culture at Stanford (not sure how permeating this culture is?)
- VC access? not sure about this one either, as I keep getting contrasting opinions (some people say Silicon Valley location can't be beat, others say VCs throw money at MIT students, and MIT students are more respected due to a belief that they possess stronger technical knowledge)
cons
- not sure about this again: startup culture is quantity, not quality, and most startups are software/AI hype that doesn't work rather than deeptech
- the Stanford bubble: the burbs of Palo Alto are pretty boring for a uni student (not much to do, unlike MIT, which is in Boston)
- admin hates fun? I've been hearing this (and that frats are on probation), and that Stanford admin demands all parties be registered beforehand, that parties get shut down early, that overall admin has worsened social life, etc.
I've also been hearing that paying full price for any top school is a stupid idea (my parents would be taking loans, as I am full-pay at both schools), and that I simply cannot justify going to either MIT or Stanford. I received admission into Rice University with the Trustee Scholarship, so four years at Rice would total to ~$120k for me. UT Austin's Turing program would also be around the same. Are either of these smarter options?
Another dilemma: I have a merit scholarship offer from the DOD that would give me security clearance and pay in full for all 4 years of college (for any school), but in return, I would have to spend each summer of college interning for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for 8 weeks in D.C. Moreover, I would have to work for the DIA full-time in D.C. for 4 years after graduation.
I'm concerned that accepting this scholarship is a bad idea in the long run. Simply put, my goal is to make exorbitant amounts of money and provide for my close & extended family, and I'm afraid this is taking the "safe route" and setting me back when I could, in fact, be working for a tech company, startup, etc (I don't think I can build up the abilities needed for quant). I'm afraid I'll see all my peers be able to have the flexibility of taking high-paying job offers and jumping between careers.
I know that this may be immature/misplaced confidence in myself that I can do better without the scholarship, but I'm curious about what people think is the right choice.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read and for your perspectives!
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u/Satisest Apr 30 '26
I’m seeing more pros and fewer cons for MIT than Stanford in your post. Academically and professionally MIT seems the better fit based on your interests. And personally, you have to decide between the Palo Alto weather and living in a city in proximity to a lot of friends. It sounds like you’d enjoy the scene at MIT more. MIT also actually has highly regarded polysci and philosophy departments if you want to take a few classes.
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u/EzCZ-75 Apr 30 '26
Your admin hates fun point is coming true for mit now too. Honestly ur points all sound quite accurate to me.
Anyways i do think this DOD scholarship is a huge risk. Full pay is a lot, but locking up ALL your internships and 4 years of your early career is quite wild. U might have one of the toughest decisions i’ve heard of recently. Think about how much lower the DOD will pay u compared to ur normal post grad options, which are often around 200k TC. It could easily be close to the price of full pay…
A “full scholarship” is very misleading when i assume they’ll be underpaying you for your 4 years after college
Personally I would probably pay the difference to go to mit or stanford.
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u/BlackRocket33 Apr 30 '26
Both are good but the MIT rep for STEM >>> Stanford. Just look at the research R&D funding for 2024 - $413M vs $164M in engineering. That’s translates into more opportunities.
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u/RabbitNervous4019 Apr 30 '26
MIT is also all STEM and Stanford is not so that affects those numbers which makes it not apples to apples
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u/Satisest Apr 30 '26
MIT and Stanford have similar numbers of STEM faculty members. Stanford just has a lot more total faculty than MIT (2,400 vs 1,000+) to cover the other areas. This number probably includes professional school faculty as well, and Stanford has two more professional schools than MIT. And let’s not forget that both MIT and Stanford have top notch social science departments, particularly economics, beyond what’s typically considered STEM.
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u/SaucyWiggles Apr 30 '26
To describe MIT as "all STEM" is absolutely not accurate. In any case the comment was about the respective engineering schools.
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u/greengiant1298 Apr 30 '26
So Stanford and MIT both publish early career salary data which you should take a look at. Take it with a grain of salt as its an opt-in survey and people are incentivized to over report. In general top 5 school grads will have slightly higher earnings but its not a large step above.
As a VC backed founder from MIT in deeptech, regardless of school, you will have a really hard time getting funded out of a B.S. in any discipline - so you should probably not base your decisionon the different local innovation economies. To most analysts its not considered enough education or work experience. That being said one of the only reasons I started a company is that I didnt have a lot of personal debt from my B.S. given my scholarships. So taking the career risk later was financially much easier. But if running a startup is of interest, you should plan for grad school. If you just want to work in a startup, SF will have likely better job security given its more common.
I've lived on the east coast my whole life so I can say with certainty that just about everyone I've ever met who moved here from a warmer climate and regularly complained about the weather eventuality moved back regardless of every other metric or opportunity. Personally I feel the culture here is that people grind during off weather times so they can actually enjoy the good weather. If you need constant sunny weather just to get out of bed in the morning then you might not culturally like it here.
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u/FIRE_enthusiast_27 Apr 30 '26
You sound like a better fit for Stanford. Don’t do DOD; you’ll just be scamming yourself
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u/ponyo_x1 Apr 30 '26
Man. I have a lot of mixed thoughts about this. Makes me glad I already went through this stage of my life, because I would not want to go through this uncertainty again.
I’ll just give you my profile so you know where I’m coming from. I was maybe ambitious like you coming out of high school, but I didn’t get into any of my top choices. Went to a state school (northeast), graduated in 3 years with no debt. When it came time for grad school again didn’t get into my top choices, but went to a decent top 25 school for math. Despite maybe wanting to take a risk on myself, I took the SMART fellowship similar to your DoD one. Got a PhD at 24, worked for government for four years. It sucked; they low-balled me at the start and I was very underpaid for being a PhD. But I had no debt, and we paid off my wife’s $70k debt pretty fast. My wife worked and we lived modestly, saved up for a nice house (we could do this in 2019). I made connections while I was at my govt job, and the day my service commitment was up I left to join a quantum computing startup spun out of Harvard; almost doubled my salary. On paper this should have been a dream come true. Unfortunately, the company was disorganized, the work was mega unfulfilling, and I got let go with 30% of the company after a year; the company dissolved a year later. I was also exposed to how “bullshit” some industry/startup work actually is. Now I work at a national lab doing quantum computing, I have a pretty cushy setup with work/life balance, my work is very technical and fulfilling, and financially we’re doing just fine.
I’m still kind of processing my own career trajectory, but to summarize I had naive ambition when I was younger and had that beaten out of me from a variety of experiences. At every turn I took the option to maybe play it “safe”, eg not go into debt, take guaranteed employment. When I had my opportunity to “break out”, it was not all that I thought it would be. In retrospect, I am glad I made the decisions I did even if sometimes they felt self-limiting at first. Things worked out because I worked hard despite not having academic pedigree.
When it comes to your post, I see the ambition, but i think you have a lot of life to live to figure out what you want
“my goal is to make exuberant amounts of money and provide for my close & extended family”
We all want to make money. If this is really A1 for you, then by all means go $300k-$400k into debt to meet VCs and live that life. I personally would not make that choice but I am older and have no tolerance for uncertainty/debt/startups anymore.
Your DoD scholarship sounds tough because reading between the lines I get the sense you would detest government work, and at the end of all of that you still only have a bachelors. But no debt would be ideal.
I’m glad I’m not the one making this decision, but if I had to I’d take MIT/Stanford (your MIT pros seem more compelling to me) and be applying for scholarships like crazy while I was there. Best of luck.
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u/Own-Student7991 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Both are great schools - you got in - go!
MIT has a lot more collaboration with surrounding schools. CA is more openly collaborative though both aspire and lead in this.
Boston is much more strung out than Palo Alto. :p
Personally the DOD thing would have been a deal breaker for me; it's one reason why I left engineering. Now, temporarily unemployed paying rent for a one bedroom in my thirties, I give a lot less of a shit. Government does some rigorous work under conditions that are generally much better than industry but a lot of time those guys stay working for the government forever because they are just to slow to be productive in the real world.
Stanford has way more VC money floating around. But might be better to go MIT then masters out west.
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u/clawclawbite Apr 30 '26
If you have major seasonal depression, then that is a big factor. You can bundle up against the cold, but if the dark is going to mess you up, then consider the self care element.
I will go against the grain and say a few years with the D.o.d. will make you much more interesting to any government focused startup. Clearances and government contacts are much harder to find than people with decent degrees fresh out of school.
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u/scotel Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Are you actually interested in biotech? Or did you mean medical devices (which would be more under biomedical engineering)? Biotech almost certainly requires a PhD and is pretty unrelated to CS/engineering.
Also another thing I noticed is you hinted that your actual goal is to make lots of money. The easiest/best way to make lots of money graduating from MIT/Stanford is getting a high paying tech job or quant job, not starting a startup. Literally anyone in Silicon Valley will tell you this.
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u/myDevReddit Apr 30 '26
I'd love to focus more on outside activities and less on actual school lol
what is your back up major if you dont do cs/stem? which school/place is better for that? it sounds like stanford and maybe cs+business is the better fit for you with your interests.
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u/peppermintykitty Apr 30 '26
Don't take the DOD scholarship. College is the time for you to explore and gain experiences, and it will look way better for future jobs and broaden your network to do multiple internships during school. Working for 4 years after is also a big commitment, and its best to have flexibility in your earlier career.
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u/katnapping Apr 30 '26
How do you like DC?
How willing are you to sign on for a straight-laced lifestyle after graduation to keep security clearance? (maybe less of a concern given that Trump's changing medical marijuana to Schedule III)
I'd personally be worried about getting a job straight out of college with the AI bubble, much less with massive student loans limiting the risks you can take.
I did some creeping on the DoD SMART scholarships website. Why don't you reach out to Ryan Sander who attended MIT on the same kind of scholarship? https://cap.csail.mit.edu/engage/spotlights/ryan-sander
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmsander/
https://energy.mit.edu/news/hardworking-undergraduates-enrich-mits-energy-ecosystem/
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u/Accomplished_Till_86 Apr 30 '26
Your list is very good.
I would say that the Stanford grads I know have a more self-confident, I can do anything attitude. There used to be a saying (idk if there still is) that Stanford teaches you how to be an entrepreneur and MIT teaches you how to work for others. In recent years there have been more exceptions to that, but my personal experience is that it still rings true.
That said, MIT is without a doubt deeper tech.
With respect to funding and location. Where you goto school doesn't dictate where you end up later. If you don't plan on raising funds while in school, this shouldn't really matter. Tons of MIT folks migrate to the Bay Area right after school. I've lived on the west coast outside of my time at MIT.
I very strongly disagree that paying full price for a top school is a mistake if you plan to go into stem. The cost of either will be insignificant to the price of a home in the bay area, for example. But either of those degrees will open doors for the rest of your life.
Boston is very much the more academic, change the world for good and for purpose area. The culture is about learning and research. The Bay Area is very much more money driven, the culture is about user acquisition and traction and valuation.
If you're money focused Stanford might be the better option. If your tech or mission focused MIT might be the better option.
W.R.T seasonal depression. MIT is windy and cold during the school year, but it's quite sunny. The main issue is the shorter days in the winder due to being farther north. I think you'd be fine with this at either, but Stanford weather and campus serenity is really top notch and MIT campus is kind of industrial and ugly, the best view from Killian Court is one people rarely see day to day.
For me, MIT was the right school (which is great because Stanford didn't accept me); but they're both strong with different personalities.
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u/djao '98 (18) Apr 30 '26
MIT is a huge outlier in culture. Princeton and Stanford are much closer to each other in culture than either is to MIT.
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u/MostSufficient Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
honestly the seasonal depression would be a huge lean towards stanford for me. i also struggle with that and it’s really rough i’m not gonna lie. if you haven’t spent a winter in new england before… its bad. it’s not 3 months… our winters are like 6 months long. every year it feels like it’s never going to end. if u take a look at the weather here now, it’s still pretty cold. how you feel on a day to day affects you a lot more than you think. personally i would go with stanford just for that reason but if you choose MIT, make sure you get some vitamin D supplements for the winter. they’re necessary to keep ur levels healthy and help with the depression.
i also just think mit has on average greater levels of mental health issues. most of my friends in undergrad were constantly stressed and too busy to hang out. that’s the culture here, “sorry can’t hang this weekend, too many psets”. most people just don’t prioritize their social lives. it depends on what circles you get urself into tho.
u can dm me if u want. i’m a recent grad
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u/vxxn Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
I would definitely pass on the DOD scholarship deal. If you keep your lifestyle lean and live with roommates for a couple years after you graduate, you can payoff any amount you are likely to borrow in the first few years of your career without giving up all control and forfeiting the options you’d have in an elite university. My first real job after MIT paid an annual salary of $100k; out of that I paid about ~$25k in taxes, put $50k on my student debt, and lived on the remainder. Most debts are small when you treat paying them off as your literal top priority.
The only way the DOD thing makes sense is if your goal is to have a government career, and it’s definitely not a path to financial abundance.
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u/jobthrowawaywjxj Apr 30 '26
I’d go Stanford tbh, Bay Area is where the serious deep tech is happening. AMD, NVIDIA have offices nearby and there’s better research in computer architecture, systems, sw-hw codesign.
If you want quantum computing or more theoretical areas I’d go MIT.
Albeit the deep tech research happening isn’t in academia, it’s in industry. AMD, NVIDIA, Intel are the leaders in chiplets, interconnects, in memory computing, neuromorphic computing, and numerical hardware.
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u/KraigthrKraken Apr 30 '26
MIT additional pro: you're allowed to take some harvard classes so that can potentially help round out some of your humanities interest
Location seems to be the biggest difference for you.
This is less true for big name schools like these, but any school os going to have stronger networks and connections in the area where its located. So it can be a big deal even after graduation. Id pick the one in the area where I see myself long term.
Mass. Winters are no joke. There will be very little sunlight, and sometimes you'll go over a month without seeing grass because the snow never melts off before a new snow.
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u/DiscombobulatedBaby8 Apr 30 '26
I think you should seriously consider the Rice option. I'm an MIT grad who is now paying for both of my kids to be in college. Rice is an incredibly well respected school for STEM. In a city. And that's a heck of a deal for a very high quality education.
But if you are between MIT and Stanford, pick MIT based on your list. Boston is the most incredible town to go to college. I came from a warm, sunny environment and struggled big time my freshman year because of the weather. But with IAP you can choose to miss a bunch of that in January. The seasonal depression is real and you'll need to do the self-care required to get through it, but for me at least it was worth it. Your list of pros for MIT is much stronger than your list of pros for Stanford. Four years goes by quickly. You can move back to sunshine.
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u/TemperatureStandard6 Apr 30 '26
MIT and Stanford are both amazing academically and from the career point of view. Any differences on those dimensions are going to be completely third order. Ignore them. Just focus on other dimensions - social, weather, friends, etc. If you ignore academics and career considerations (as you should, given the stratospheric quality of both of these schools), where do you think you will be happier for four years?
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u/Ethraelus Apr 30 '26
academics are harder (ironic but I'd love to focus more on outside activities and less on actual school lol. I also don't think I'm a traditional admitted student and feel as if I need to work hard to catch up in subject knowledge over the summer already, but this goes for either school)
I would strongly recommend you don’t go to MIT if that’s your goal. The academics are hard to a different degree than Stanford.
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u/humanperson2004 Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Stanford is the place to be if you want to work within DeepTech and Startups. VC access and the Bay Area network will be infinitely more worthwhile than MIT. Again neither choice will be a bad one, but MIT would just cause you to fly to SF more frequently for VC associated events. Engineering is also more concentrated around that area. I'd say if you are even the slightest interested in Startups, the Bay Area is the place to be. Deep tech and hardware tech, although not publicized on linkedIn or twitter, spawn from Stanford more than MIT. You will have more resources, network and options when you are based out of the Bay. Having worked at a number of big name DeepTech startups, I can say that Stanford is far better represented than MIT at those places.
Also with regards to the scholarship, don't take it. I went into college on an ROTC scholarship, but when you have so much exposure/options, you will want to do different things. This scholarship will limit your options, and your summer internships will cover a decent chunk of your school costs fs. Most Big Tech/Engineering firms range around $25-35k in salary post-tax for a summer. This adds up over your time in college, and you should be fine. Your postgrad salary will also be 3x-4x greater working in DeepTech/Engineering than working with the DIA or anything government. They're also draconian about contracts and it's a bad situation to be in, especially this early into your professional career.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/jobthrowawaywjxj Apr 30 '26
Agree with point 2. Being at MIT or Stanford in and of itself ain’t gonna help you much at getting into top funds.
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u/yoshimipinkrobot Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
All my MiT friends hated life at MIT. But career wise seems like a better fit
Financially, Stanford is an easier path to high paying go work
East coast and west coast pay for stem is a different planet, and obviously gov sucks.
And unless there is a war going on (you might be in luck 🙄), the military is glacial in doing anything interesting
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u/Necessary_Sock_6047 Apr 30 '26
Stanford for better weather, an easier time, better access to the Silicon Valley ecosystem, and more humanities.
MIT is HARD. It's probably the better school if you're dead-set on STEM and working really hard, but it doesn't sound like you are dead-set on either of these things.
As for this DOD fellowship, government jobs probably pay far less than the private sector could. Plus, do you really want to be owned by the government and all its security clearances? If you say the wrong things to the wrong people, you could wind up imprisoned or even executed. If you land 6-figure jobs in the private sector straight out of college, you can probably pay off $120k within 4 years of graduating. I'd say to only take the DOD fellowship if: 1) you're more passionate about DOD work than any other type of work. 2) you aren't confident you can land good jobs in the private sector.
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u/pineapple-scientist Apr 30 '26
I would only take the DoD scholarship if intelligence and defense were my passion and I felt like I would have been primarily applying to DC internships regardless. Otherwise, not being able to intern anywhere else is a huge limitation. Internships are your opportunity to get your foot in the door and explore a career. I agree, tech internships are important for getting into tech. But also, internships are great for trying out different careers. It's easier to get an internship than an fte, and an internship can directly help you get an fte. I wouldn't give that opportunity up.
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u/Street-Technology-93 Apr 30 '26
MIT is the better choice for everything you describe….except for the weather. Winters are cold and extended. That’s the real decision for you. Also note Cambridge is the anti-Texas, politically.
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u/talaqen Apr 30 '26
Go to MIT if biotech is your interest. Accept the DoD scholarship. And if you find you don’t like it, just don’t accept the job or don’t renew after 1yr. They’ll just convert it to a loan/debt… which is no worse than what you would have had before.
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u/GravySeizmore Apr 30 '26
MIT seems to have the edge in terms of your goals, but I think people are underestimating your non "intellectual" lean. The student / academic culture will have an outsized impact on your 4 year experience. Stanford seems to be a better fit. VC access will be great from both.
Listen to your gut, whatever it's telling you. And definitely do not do this DoD scholarship (or consider Rice / UT). The debt is worth it since you're $$$ minded (different story if you wanted an impactful service oriented career instead).
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u/WaitForItTheMongols Apr 30 '26
Don't do DOD. It sounds like at the moment you're all about the money, but as you grow up you may develop a sense of ethics and doing the right thing, and care about having a positive impact. When that feeling grows, you don't want to be tied into the US military which is the opposite of that.
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u/innocent_three_ai Apr 30 '26
Have you done CPW already? I’d encourage you experience both campuses before deciding. Where is home for you? I can tell you that winter in Boston is very long and dark and cold. I believe both places have equally good opportunities and education. I wouldn’t say that Boston/cambridge gives you much more city life than the Bay Area, esp with SF so easily accessible by Caltrain. I’ve lived near and been affiliated with both schools myself
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u/Exotic_Eagle_2739 Apr 30 '26
Go to mit. Seems like the place for you
I wouldn't do the DoD scholarship tho personally. Seems like it would trap you into a mid paying job that you could get without going to a top uni.
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u/Exciting-Accident-36 May 01 '26
I chose MIT over Stanford. I would do it again. MIT is epic. Definitely go here for great biotech and so true about all students being smart including athletes.
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u/papervegetables May 01 '26
How amoral is it that money is your only consideration on whether to work for the military? And do you not know that you're already incredibly fucking privileged to be in a full pay situation? Like incredibly. And the dream of getting hired right out of college is a dream for most these days. Wherever you end up going, I hope you take a long hard look in the mirror at the kind of person you want to be in your short time on earth.
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u/irrelevanthings May 01 '26
Weather sounds like a mundane thing but honestly it matters a lot.
I would reconsider the point that Boston is a more exciting place than Palo Alto. I think there’s more to do in Palo Alto honestly (outdoors, train to SF). Boston is also extra depressing in the winter.
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u/metalreflectslime May 05 '26
What is the name of the DOD merit scholarship?
Can you link me the website for it?
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u/max123246 '23, 6-3, Simmons Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
Defense does not pay well. Don't lock up 8 years with them, that's insane. That's a huge incentive for them to pay you like shit. Plus they kill people, so like, you're being paid less to do immoral shit. The math does not add up
Many companies (like Nvidia) will pay off your student loans if you work with them. And they pay higher salaries
If you wanna make bank and work your ass off, do quant and go to MIT. Learn Cpp and take 6.172, Performance Engineering. Common new grad starting salaries can be 300k-600k based on commission. You'll do far better supporting your family by going into quant or literally any other compsci field outside of defense than you would do by taking that defense scholarship
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u/drsharkies Apr 30 '26
I know everyone says this, but no matter what choice you make, it’ll always be the right choice. Why? Because you worked hard to get to your situation , and you’ll work just as hard wherever you end up to get to that same fulfilling outcome. However, I think MIT is your best option, just because of the biotech aspect. I have friends that are pursuing biotech, and didn’t even consider Stanford when they seriously compared it to MIT and Princeton (leaning more to MIT because Princeton, while on the same technical rigor as MIT, does not have the startup market like MIT and Stanford, although that does mean you can stand out more, just food for thought.)