<p>S and close friend went the MIT/Caltech route, and their other close friend is finishing engineering at Princeton, and will attend a terrific grad school. All have had good experiences. The young man at Princeton enjoyed his eating club, while my S liked living in the same House throughout. Only one will be going to grad school in the field he began in.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if your dtr ultimately heads to Stanford or another CA school for grad school, after 4 years of cold and snow.</p>
<p>POIH,
MIT’s math dept. also lets one test out of classes for accelerated placement. The best time to do this is before she starts in the fall (I believe it can be done during Orientation). </p>
<p>S got into MIT EA last year, so when he went back to visit in April, he spent most of his time there talking to profs in his specific areas of interest. What S1 was told is that the first CS course is heavily geared towards robotics; therefore, they don’t let folks place out. S would have been a 6/18 double major had he decided to attend MIT, had significant math/CS experience and research, and would still have had to take the course. However, once you get past the intro course, S was told pre-reqs and placement is more lenient. (He knows current freshmen who are taking some advanced CS work.)</p>
<p>There are advantages to taking the GIR courses rather than trying to place out – your D would learn what MIT wants them to have for more advanced work and have a good basis going forward. Most folks I know who enter college with lots of APs still stay four years and go deep or add a second major/study abroad.</p>
<p>S1 felt Princeton’s CS was too engineering-oriented for his tastes, but that may be just what your D wants. S is a theory guy.</p>
<p>And yes, stand back and let your D make the decision. She’s earned that much!</p>
<p>I think the Advanced standing at Princeton is a consideration. It can cut 1 full year (or 1/2 year-depending on the level of standing) out of the cost for a full pay student. </p>
<p>My understanding, however, is that many people at Princeton who are eligible for advanced standing do not actually take it. The student would need to be extremely certain of their major and minor for it to be effective. The student goes from freshman to junior year- they must have all the pre-req’s for a major done in their freshman year and be willing to choose courses very selectively to ensure they fulfill all distribution requirements for graduation. Junior year is hard, hard, hard. Especially for someone who is actually a year younger than the others and with one year less experience with the school. Taking advanced standing does mean that the student does not get much opportunity to take courses outside of their major pre-req’s and then major coursework. Little chance to experiment with courses outside their major.</p>
MIT doesn’t necessarily give automatic credit for APs, but AP-level knowledge of some of the introductory subjects could be enough to get a student through the advanced standing exams (ASEs) in several of the freshman subjects. If a student comes in with enough AP credit and/or passes several ASEs, he or she can be awarded sophomore standing during second semester (see the MIT academic guide [url=<a href=“Advising resources | MIT Registrar”>Advising resources | MIT Registrar]here[/url</a>] for more info).</p>