<p>Hello everybody,</p>
<p>I'm looking for some advice. My dream schools are Stanford and MIT, and I would be thrilled to be accepted to either one. I'm interested in Stanford's symbolic systems program and MIT's brain and cognitive science program. Assuming that I have high gpa/sat scores and pretty good ecs, which would give me, a girl with no urm status, a better chance of acceptance if I apply early action? I've read the thread about stanford vs. mit, which says that at Stanford the EA admittance rate is higher but there are more rejections, whereas at MIT there are more deferrals but the admittance rate is lower, but I would still appreciate any input. Also, in the unfortunate case that I don't get into either, what are some schools with similar programs that I should look into?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Just a little input... although MIT has John Gabrieli (grr...) Stanford does have the #1 psychology department in the nation. Cognitive science and symbolic systems are very closely linked to psychology, and many courses are cross-listed in both departments.</p>
<p>Have you visited both schools? If so, what were your impressions? Those would be more important than trying to play the numbers/percent game, I think.</p>
<p>Yes, that's the problem... I really like both. I live in California so I've visited Stanford quite a lot and am in love with its academic programs, weather, people, etc., but the few times I've been in the Boston area and looked at MIT I've enjoyed its unique culture as well; also, I have friends at both schools and they're all happy so far. So although the two schools are different in many ways, I think both would be good fits for me :P</p>
<p>Since the two schools are very different I think you really need to think about which place is best for you. Are you 100% sure you want to study cognitive science? Are you sure there is no chance you want to study something in the humanities/social sciences? I think Stanford offers more flexibility in choice of major than MIT which is something you need to think about. Also weather is not nearly as trivial as you might think! Boston is also very different from Palo Alto. You just need to think about where you will be happiest. </p>
<p>That said... I would guess that as a girl you might have a slightly better shot at MIT EA. Being a girl at MIT makes you a little bit unique in itself. This is just a guess though.</p>