<p>I would really appreciate objective advise. </p>
<p>I have grown up in Princeton my entire life; my dad is on the faculty, and my parents have long raised me to go to Princeton (I go to a local Princeton feeder school). I had always imagined myself in the Princeton P-rades growing up. They say that Princeton has some of the best reunions/alumni network in the world. </p>
<p>I applied to Yale early just to keep my options open, but I was deferred, and put that idea away. </p>
<p>Now I have been accepted into Yale. I have visited both preview weekends, and there are so many great things to take away. I am considering doing premed and maybe chemical engineering. The programs are both great, and I think we would just be splitting hairs. </p>
<p>My loyalty lies to the Princeton (almost all of my friends are/have committed there). But I feel that if there was one place to leave Princeton for, it would be Yale, where the undergrad focus is no weaker, and I would have the chance to face new challenges and discover myself. If I turn down Princeton, I feel that I would throw away all of my childhood dreams, but if I turn down Yale, I feel that I would give up that one chance to go out and discover myself. </p>
<p>What advice do you have?</p>
<p>Go out and discover yourself. Since you live in Princeton, you won’t completely lose your friendships or ties to Princeton.</p>
<p>… You realize that you’d be paying ~$80k more for Yale, right?</p>
<p>Yale vs Princeton + Audi S4 + down payment on a house</p>
<p>We just visited New Haven for the first time in Feb. We liked it there, but Princeton is much, much nicer.</p>
<p>Here’s what I’m thinking:</p>
<p>For undergrad, go to Princeton. For grad school, go to Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford.</p>
<p>the money is the same. so thats a non-issue</p>
<p>Johny, this would be a close call were it not for your stated interest in chemical engineering. In that area, Princeton’s lead is clear. The two schools have similar placement records for medical school applications (both in the low 90% range) so there’s not much difference there.</p>
<p>Here are the range rankings done by the National Research Council converted to ordinal rankings for the top chemical engineering programs in the country. More of the NRC rankings can be found here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=national+research+council[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/princeton-university/1006939-princeton-2010-national-research-council-nrc-rankings-news-item.html?highlight=national+research+council</a></p>
<p>NRC RANKINGS
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING</p>
<p>1—Cal Tech
2—MIT
3—Berkeley
4—UC Santa Barbara
5—UT Austin
6—Princeton
7—U. of Minnesota
8—Stanford
9—U. of Michigan
10—U. of Wisconsin</p>
<p>U.S. News offers its own rankings here and you can see that they tend to agree with the NRC rankings with only minor variations:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Chemical Engineering Programs | Top Engineering Schools | US News Best Graduate Schools](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/chemical-engineering-rankings]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering-schools/chemical-engineering-rankings)</p>
<p>US NEWS RANKINGS
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING</p>
<p>1—MIT
2—Berkeley
3—Cal Tech, U. of Minnesota
5—Stanford
6—Princeton, UT Austin, U. of Wisconsin
9—UC Santa Barbara
10–U. of Delaware</p>
<p>I’m a little surprised that your total costs at Yale could be the same as at Princeton. I believe there’s quite a tuition discount for children of faculty members. Regardless, I certainly understand how you might want to venture farther away from home for college and Yale, though weaker than Princeton in many of the science fields, is still top-notch. Even with that disadvantage, the new scenery might be exciting for you! </p>
<p>Congratulations on having two fine choices.</p>
<p>I would always recommend going away from home, except in the case where the department is markedly better close to home, or the money is really different. So. Hmmm. Go with your gut.</p>