Hi CC,
First time on this and not sure if I’m posting this in the right place. I’ve recently been accepted to both MIT and Yale as a chemistry major. Any advice on how to choose?
MIT’s STEM programs are stronger, the location affords more opportunities, and i like the social atmosphere better.
Yale is less intense (I won’t fail out probably), has residential colleges which is a cool part of culture, and is offering more opportunities to expand their STEM program (they’ve already reached out, enthusiastic for me to do research with them)
Have you visited? the only way to know is step on campus, talk to students walking by, etc.
Frankly, it’s a silly question - you’re a superstar either way with those schools. You have to spend four years there.
From your write up, it seems MIT is the better fit - as you let with with the geography - but I’d suggest you visit, on back to back days, and see if one gives you a spark.
Congratulations! You have a lot to be proud about.
May I ask what your career goal is? Are you thinking you want to go on for a PhD in some area of Chemistry? Are you absolutely for sure, set in stone that you want a STEM program?
The reason that I ask this, is that if you have any thought that you might change your mind about your major, while MIT is trying to broaden itself into a U that includes more majors, more non-STEM majors, there is no question that if you change your mind, and wind up switching to a non-STEM major, Yale will have more options for you.
If you are absolutely a thousand percent sure that its STEM major of some sort for you, I’d probably go with MIT. As you said, better STEM opportunities. It’s hard to beat Cambridge and Boston. New Haven, other than Yale, doesn’t offer nearly as much. And NYC is still a two hour train ride away.
Thank you for typing all that out – I want to do pre-med… the GPA deflation at MIT worries me for med school too… I’m trying to find stats now on the places MIT undergrads go for med school to ease my worries
Reach out to MIT’s (and Yale’s too) pre-health advising department to ask your questions. Ask if they give committee letters to all students who want to apply to med school…some schools limit committee letters and achieve higher acceptance rates by gatekeeping this way (only give committee letters to the strongest candidates). Ask what proportion of students are accepted to med school…MD and DO, and if that includes students who did SMP or post-BAC programs. AFAIK MIT does not send many students to med school.
If you had been interested in doing any STEM or engineering aspect of medicine (think of MD-PhD programs, or bioengineering), maybe MIT. But if what you want is to become a clinician, I’d go with Yale. The reason is that for medicine, you want a more “humane” college education, in every sense of the word. More humanities. More that prepares you to deal with people. Maybe take Spanish language all through, since many med schools and residencies are in poor inner city areas with Spanish speaking residents. Maybe a sociology class. Maybe volunteering in a clinic in New Haven (although there’s plenty of that available in Cambridge and Boston and Chelsea). Also, the fact is, many people start out wanting medicine, but a lot of them wind up changing their focus, while in college. Yale will have more diverse offerings, should that happen for you.
Yeah I definitely noticed that pre-meds are a minority at MIT unlike most other schools that house more pre-meds… urgh mit is tempting with their research and intense stem community but perhaps you’re right… yale is the smarter decision in the long run. thank you!
@thumper1 said greater Boston. Cambridge is not Boston and the reality is unless you are living in a frat on the Boston side of the Charles, your forays into Boston will be less frequent than you know think.
Anyway, 2 great choices. Personally, I would choose MIT, but it’s personal preference and your cannot go wrong with either.
