Stanford MSME vs. MIT MEM

[Night0]

Stanford Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME) vs. MIT Master of Engineering in Manufacturing (MEM)

Hi, I was lucky enough to be accepted to these two programs, and now I am having trouble choosing between the two. Your inputs will be much appreciated. My stats are posted on Fall 2010 profiles.

Stanford MSME:

Industry oriented (no thesis)

Suburban, kind of secluded

Beautiful campus, good weather. Earthquake?

School reputation slightly lower (compared to MIT)

Not as stressful, good student life?

Length: 2 years

Tuition: 37k/year

Class size: around 200? (170 graduated last year or something)

MIT MEM:

Industry oriented (no thesis)

Urban

Campus not as nice (as Stanford)? kind of cold.

School reputation slightly higher (especially internationally?)

Stressful, lower quality student life?

Length: 1 year (12 months including a 3 month "group-project" which has a stipend of 10k)

Tuition: 36k/year (26k if u subtract the 10k stipend)

Class size: around 20? (Professor said it's about 15 or something)

I am a Chinese immigrant (bilingual) at Berkeley, and I'm not exactly sure about where do I want to go to work (Probably will stay in the U.S., unless there has been a really good opportunity in China. Most of my relatives are in China, and I know a lot of ppl in China, but I don't have any powerful connections in China.).

Basically, MIT MEM is a 1-year master under the department of ME. I applied for MEM instead of MIT's MSME because their MSME requires a thesis, thus probably more academia oriented.

I didn't have any internships, and I kind of lose faith in the economy for the moment (MIT MEM is bundled with a summer job). I prefer a 2-year master, so that I can stay in school a little longer (yes, more expensive). I assume Stanford is also less stressful. But MIT does have a much smaller class size and slightly (especially internationally?) higher reputation. I don't know how Stanford handles a class size of 200 ME masters. I wonder if it will be like back to Berkeley again.

I am trying to convince my parents, who live in LA, to let me visit MIT. So, I will gather more information when I visit the two schools.

I know I can't go wrong either way, but which way is right? (or slightly better for me?)

Currently, I am still leaning a little toward Stanford MSME.

Please help me with some insightful inputs. Thank you so much.

P.S. - I know that the U.S. Manufacturing job market is in decline, but the MIT MEM is more geared toward high end product manufacturing and operational improvements. Most of the ME jobs are probably also in some kind of manufacturing.

Edited March 16, 2010 by Night0