help deciding between Yale and Georgia Tech!!!

College Search & Selection
1

I just found out a few days ago that I was accepted into Yale which was a major surprise and I did not expect it at all! I was really excited and already started thinking about the possibilities of attending. They gave a pretty good financial aid package so my family would be able to afford it! Then today I received a call from a Georgia Tech Scholarship that I applied saying that I won the scholarship, which would bring give me free tuition plus $5,000 towards room and board.
I think that I want to major in biomedical engineering or environmental engineering but that might change.

Right now I am torn between the two options and I need to decide in a few days! I am from Florida so Georgia Tech is obviously closer so it would be easier to get to and from home. I have not visited Yale yet and I planned on going to the bulldog days at the end of April but now I have to decide in a few days to let the GT scholarship know! AHHH!!!

Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated

2

Cost at Yale?

3

Net cost at Yale after financial aid?

What are the details of the Georgia Tech scholarship? Is it a 1, 2, or 4 year shcholarship? Is it guaranteed free tuition all 4 years? Are their GPA requirements to maintain the scholarship?

4

Net cost for yale is around 20,000. GT scholarship is for all four years. Minimun gpa to keep scholarship is 3.00. I have about 5000 dollars of outside scholarships that could be applied to either school.

5

Using the CoA figures from GT, you would spend about 13K for GT or 15K for Yale after your 5K scholarship. Maintaining a 3.0 is not all that easy at GT, grade deflation is definitely part of the school vibe. But GT is definitely the superior engineering school. Even so, the resources available at Yale are truly amazing and access to research is a lot easier because of the lower faculty/student ratio. Your cost at Yale is going to be far more certain since you won’t need to worry about the GPA for scholarships. Even your outside scholarship will be easier to maintain because your GPA at Yale will likely be higher.

Yale has fewer accredited programs:
http://catalog.yale.edu/ycps/subjects-of-instruction/engineering/

compared to GT:
https://www.accreditation.gatech.edu/sacs/georgia-techs-accreditation/

Note that BME and EE are not ABET accredited at Yale.

Ultimately, it is going to come down with what you want to do with your degree. If you are 100% certain that you want to be a BME or an EE and the terminus of your education is an undergraduate degree, then go to GT. If you are planning to continue on to grad school, it matters a lot less because your graduate degree supersedes your undergrad one. Yale is still mostly a LAC and you will go through the Yale core classes, which may open your mind to something beyond engineering, or some customized field of study. In addition, your GPA will probably be higher at Yale, which will help your for medical, law, and most graduate schools.

Alumni networks are very good at both schools. GT grads slot very well into corporate America, Yale grads into government, academia, Wall Street, consulting etc… Again, it depends what you want.

Next I would consider the experience - compare a private, ultra-resource rich LAC (M/F ratio=50/50) with a tech focused, urban, intense public nerd school (M/F ratio = 65/35). Things like study abroad programs are included in your tuition at Yale, and research grants are a lot easier to get if you want to study something over the summer.

So give the similar costs for you, I’d probably lean toward Yale because of factors other than engineering academics.

6

Nearly all Georgia students with decent grades in high school who get admitted to Ga Tech get a full tuition scholarship that comes from the State of Georgia for residents. To keep the scholarship, students have to keep a 3.0 GPA typically. There have been many articles about the number of students who are unable to maintain a 3.0 GPA at Ga Tech and lose their scholarships.

I personally think you are better off going to Yale. It is an Ivy, so more prestigious than Ga Tech. It has a full array of majors besides engineering in case you change your mind, and that also adds more diversity to the student body to have people with a broader array of majors and interests. And your financial aid would not be dependent on your GPA and the whims of professors who give out low grades to a class full of incredibly bright, high achieving, hard-working students.

7

Another vote for Yale.

I have a co-worker who went to GTech OOS. He noted how in his engineering major, the percentage of in-state kids steadily decreased as they switched to easier majors in order to keep their GPA above 3.0

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8

Thanks for the advice. I am out of state for Georgia Tech and have two scholarships there, one for $20,000 per year and then another for $15,000 per year which combine to equal $35,000 per year.

9

That scholarship for Georgia students is called the Hope Scholarship. Tech students flirting with that 3.0 are said to be Losing Hope.

10

@climb2thetop Did you get the Stamps scholarship? What were your stats? Since you got the full scholarship to tech, take it and run with it. Georgia Tech is an amazing school for engineering. Not that Yale is bad, but Tech is generally better in engineering than most ivy leagues.

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11

@Mahindra, yes but Yale opens opportunities in so many other aspects and while prestige isn’t a big deal in the engineering world, it is in other industries where Yale has a big edge.

12

Figure out how to visit Yale ASAP. Making such a huge decision without having walked on Yale Campus will be tough.

13

Yale.

14

Once you actually see Yale in person your decision will be easier. The campus looks like something out of a movie.

15

I am visiting Yale tomorrow through Wednesday and then plan on making a decision based on that.

16

Too bad you couldn’t wait until the formal admitted student program. I have an obvious Yale bias and agree that GT has a stronger engineering focus but getting a broader liberal arts education at Yale may be the better choice. Hopefully you got a chance to spend a few days on the GT campus and you will strongly feel there is a right decision in a few days whichever way you choose to go.

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17

@Mahindra I did not get stamps scholarship. I got the provost Scholarship and a GT Alumni Network Scholarship

18

@climb2thetop Do you know anyway to check if their is an alumni scholarship in my area? I checked the alumni network website but it did not specify which area they offer scholarships in.

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19

You obviously are an accomplished student or you would not have been accepted to Yale nor would you have received an outstanding scholarship to Ga Tech as an OOS student. Don’t let a fear of falling below a 3.0 drive your decision. I can’t tell you which is right given you are engineering but don’t be afraid of a challenge.

From Eric Grietens book, Resilience: Hard Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life

  • Eric Hoffer said this: " There are many who find a good alibi far more attractive than an achievement. For an achievement does not settle anything permanently. We still have to prove our worth anew each day: we have to prove that we are as good today as we were yesterday. But when we have a valid alibi for not achieving anything we are fixed, so to speak, for life."
    . . . Excellence is difficult. An excuse is seductive. It promises to end hardship, failure, and embarrassment. Excellence requires pain. An excuse promises that you’ll be pain-free. *

The right answer may be Yale but don’t skip GaTech for fear of failure.

20

Yale. Incredible place.