<p>A student can attend any college, major in any subject, and eventually matriculate at a top-tier med school. A high school student really shouldn’t be worried about getting into med school when selecting a college. College is the time to get a broad-based liberal arts education, learn how to learn, make lots of friends, and stack up life experiences so that one can make an informed decision about a future career.</p>
<p>Although both schools are located just a mile or two down Mass. Ave. from one another, each school has a very different feel. When I applied to college (way back when), I was fortunate enough to receive acceptances from both Harvard and MIT, among other schools. After visiting the campuses and staying a weekend with host students, the choice was clear for me…Harvard. The Harvard Pre-Frosh weekend, renamed “Visitas” recently, is a lot of fun. You should check it out if you get the chance.</p>
<p>If you have a good plan for the gap year, I would encourage you to consider matriculating at Harvard in the Fall of 2013. When I was a Harvard Prefect (sort of like a Big Brother/Sister program for frosh), I had a couple of first-year students who had opted for the delayed-acceptance/gap-year package. Both ended up traveling, working, and doing community service for the gap year. On the whole, I would characterize them as more mature than the other first-year Harvard students – more serious about their studies, more organized, better attitude about life, etc. They didn’t struggle at all with the transition to college life.</p>
<p>If you’re itching to start college in the Fall 2012, then enroll at MIT or another school at which you were accepted. MIT has a lot going for it: strong science curricula, plentiful undergrad research opportunities, freshman year is pass/fail, etc.</p>
<p>I’m clearly biased, but I think you’ll have better access to excellent courses in bio, comp sci, and poli sci at Harvard.</p>
<p>On a side note, I cringe every time someone pronounces that his/her college major is/was “pre-med.” Major in a discipline that excites you, whatever it may be, and then take other courses to fulfill the med school prerequisites. If your interest happens to be dead foreign languages, then, by all means, major in Classics. If metabolic pathways float your boat, then major in Biochemistry. The only advantage of majoring in a science is that courses within one’s field of concentration might count as med school prerequisites. Humanities majors have to be a little more organized in terms of course-planning in order to fit in the necessary science courses, but it’s not a big deal either way. Alternatively, one could major in the humanities and take pre-med science courses after college graduation as extension courses or as part of a postbaccalaureate program. There’s no rush. In fact, med schools typically like more mature applicants who have some life experience after college. Those kinds of people often make the best physicians or physician-scientists. How do I know? I’m in an MD/PhD program right now. I have administered lots of student interviews for the med school, MD/PhD program, and grad program at my school. I have also served on the MD/PhD admissions committee as a student representative.</p>
<p>Choose the school that is the better match for you. MIT has some incredible project-based engineering courses. As you mentioned in your original post, Harvard students can cross-register at MIT for most courses. One of my roommates, who was concentrating in engineering, did just that. The only thing to watch out for is the increased travel time to/from class…and dealing with any discrepancies in the academic schedules. When I attended Harvard, we didn’t take our Fall semester finals until mid-to-late January (after winter break and a 2-week reading period starting Jan. 3/4). In recent years, the Harvard academic schedule has been revised to be aligned with those of other colleges.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
Wait why were you accepted to the class of 2017 and not 2016? Or did you choose to delay?</p>