<p>So a friend of mine was admitted into MIT under Early Action, and has just recently been admitted into Stanford and Dartmouth under Regular Decision. He's asked for my opinion, because he doesn't know much about Stanford, but I can only offer him personal experiences being on the campus during a summer program, some generic information about the school, and a few facts here and there. </p>
<p>So the question is, what do you all think about these three schools? Where do you think he should attend? What are unique things about each of these places that will not only offer opportunities in the future, but also make it a great college experience? </p>
<p>A few things about him: he wants to play football (not the top priority, and knows that he's not good enough for Stanford, but can definitely play at MIT or Dartmouth), he's either considering engineering or economics, and we live in a small-time city on the coast of GA and go to a small school that doesn't so often have these kinds of acceptances. Also, originally, he was considering Dartmouth over MIT for the following reasons: they have a better football team, a better campus (to him at least), and it's an Ivy. If he attends Stanford, he'll probably go into economics. </p>
<p>Feel free to ask questions if need to for a better response. But any kind of opinion is welcomed.</p>
<p>These are all great schools, but they offer vastly different experiences. Only your friend is going to be able to decide the best fit.</p>
<p>For someone interested in engineering or economics, I’d suggest either Stanford or MIT, since they are the top two engineering programs in the country, and two of the top economics programs. Since he wants to play football, I’d go with MIT, assuming he’s good enough for Division 3 football.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if he’s been recruited to play football at Dartmouth and really wants to play at the highest possible level, he’s not going to go wrong there, assuming the school culture is a good fit.</p>
<p>Tell him to read up on what it is actually like to be a student there. Look at curriculum and graduation requirements Decide if football playing is going to be the deciding factor or not. See if he wants to experience the West Coast. He should put on his big boy pants and post for himself and read the individual forums. Once you get in colleges ranked that highly, whether one is an Ivy or not doesn’t signify.</p>
<p>For engineering and economics, Stanford or MIT would be better choices than Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Note that the ABET accredited engineering major (a single general engineering major, not the usual various engineering majors as at Stanford and MIT) at Dartmouth is nominally longer than a four academic year (12 quarter) degree program. Dartmouth is very limiting on AP credit, and restrictive on taking overload schedules (students are allowed to take more than the normal 3 courses per quarter for only 3 quarters without paying additional tuition), which reduces the possibility of getting it done in four academic years.</p>
<p>Economics at Stanford and MIT is substantially more mathematically oriented than at Dartmouth, which can make Stanford and MIT more suitable for preparing for PhD study in economics.</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s social environment is heavy with fraternities and sororities (50% to 65%, depending on the source).</p>
If he doesn’t know much about Stanford, I’d suggest attending admit weekend. When I did admit weekend several years ago, I stayed in a dorm room with current undergrad students., which I found to be a good way of experiencing the school. They try to pair you with a student who has something in common, such as student with the same planned major and a similar background. I was able to attend classes, go to campus parties, use campus facilities, etc. They also had scheduled events for other admitted students where they talked about the school and had various informal gatherings. The website mentions over 100 planned events prospective students may attend. Cost was minimal since Stanford provided plane tickets + room & board. MIT and Dartmouth probably have something similar.</p>