MIT or Yale?

I applied EA to MIT, expecting to not get in, but was overjoyed when I saw that I was accepted. After that acceptance letter I knew that MIT was where I wanted to spend the next four years of my life. Until recently. A few weeks ago I found out that I received a likely letter to Yale and ever since then, I’ve been thinking that Yale is the right place for me, but I keep going back to MIT. I love both schools so much, and I am so thankful and lucky to have this decision to make, but I wish I knew what side to choose.

I plan on being pre-med and am considering a major in Course 9: Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, and Cognitive Science at Yale.

Any advice would be appreciated!

I would choose Yale for pre-med because it’s a much more well-worn path there, as opposed to MIT where most of the grads are aiming for industry jobs and PhD programs.

But a different path isn’t always a bad thing in terms of med school. Especially when that different path is MIT.

It could be a bad thing, if MIT offers less pre-med advising, resources, and peer support, and you get a lower GPA from grade deflation.

Go with your gut feeling and never look back.

@m4xw3ll Have you had a chance to visit the campuses, sit in on classes, possibly overnight visit? It might give you more of a real feeling about the place you’re going to spend four years. If you have, disregard.

Go to the Student pre-view weekend at MIT. It is a blast.

It is really about where you think you would fit in best and excel the most :).

These are two very different environments. You should spend as much time as possible at each, and see where you are most comfortable. I believe you already spent time at MIT over the summer, so you should have a good feel for that environment.

In a thread from last summer you said that Stanford and Brown were by far your top 2 choices. Has that changed? If not, don’t rush to make a decision until all the results are in.

You’ve probably been invited to Yale’s YES-W event, right? Go and have a blast with other STEM Likely Letter applicants. These are the best of the best STEM applicants who have applied to Yale this year.

Plus you can go to both schools’ admitted students days. Yale’s “Bulldog Days” has won over many students.

You have options and a good amount of time. You won’t make a wrong decision. Sit back and let them woo you over. Congrats!

Both my kids had equally difficult choices and ended up making their final decisions on April 30. You don’t have to decide today. I’d give Yale the edge because I think the residential college system has benefits that go far beyond what happens in the classroom. If you can go to accepted students weekends at both places. Spending more time with students and on campus and attending a few classes and actually talking to people in the departments were what ultimately tipped the scales for my kids.

Good luck. It doesn’t sound like you can make a wrong decision here.

@renaissancedad i didnt end up applying to either. Plus ive been on some visits since then