CMU or MIT? please, help!

[lost in translation]

Hi all!

I got admitted in CMU (Engineering and Technology Innovation Management) and to MIT (Technology and Policy Program).

I don't know what to do...I know MIT is known all over the world but some people have told me it is full of nerds and that people are weird. On the other hand , Pittsburgh is not Boston.

What would you recommend?

Has anyone participated in those programs?

Thanks!

[tepidtenacity]

Hi all!

I got admitted in CMU (Engineering and Technology Innovation Management) and to MIT (Technology and Policy Program).

I don't know what to do...I know MIT is known all over the world but some people have told me it is full of nerds and that people are weird. On the other hand , Pittsburgh is not Boston.

What would you recommend?

Has anyone participated in those programs?

Thanks!

I talked to a prof that did her PhD at MIT (ChemE), she said that it's actually very difficult to get back into academia since MIT is so industry oriented, ie MIT has a ton of industry connections, not so much academic connections. Not sure if that's good or bad for you.

[origin415]

Visit and talk to grad students. I find it hard to believe that no one normal goes to MIT.

[fuzzylogician]

I don't know anything about your specific program but I always find it hard to believe generalizations such as that MIT "is full of nerds and that people are weird." I'm sure that there are weird people at MIT, as there must be at other places, but I find it hard to believe that they are the only people there. Talk to the people and visit, and see for yourself. Also, based on the comments above, your decision will likely depend quite a bit on your post-graduation goals, so that's another thing to look out for and ask about when you visit.

[LadyL]

I would visit both. At one of my recent interviews there was an applicant who works in a bio lab at MIT, he said that people can be pretty intense there. But I am sure that like everywhere, this varies by program and by lab.