<p>I was admitted to Princeton through QuestBridge on a full scholarship, and I might be offered admission to MIT. However, MIT won't be on a full ride (maybe 90% or so covered through financial aid). I'm planning to major in aerospace engineering and minor in business management. The area of work that I'm planning to get into is also really mechanical engineering based. Princeton has a Mechanical Aerospace Engineering program that would cover exactly what I need, but MIT is well...MIT. I'm also planning to go to grad school for AE, and I'd like to go to MIT or Georgia Tech for that. I love Princeton's campus and everything about it, so is it worth it to take out loans to pay to go to MIT instead? Is it that much of a better education, and will it significantly affect my chances of getting into grad school? I know that MIT really likes to accept its AE undergrads into its grad school.</p>
<p>1) What makes you so seemingly sure you’ll get admitted to MIT?</p>
<p>2) Why did you apply to aerospace programs if you wanted to really be doing mechanical engineering? If your ultimate goal is mechanical engineering, despite the two being similar degrees, then this doesn’t really seem like much of a question.</p>
<p>3) There’s no way you could know you want to go to either MIT or Georgia Tech for graduate school. You don’t know if you will be interested still by then and you don’t know what specific topic you’d like to research. Choosing a graduate school is not the same as what you’re doing now in choosing an undergraduate program. You need to match your research interests with the at strength of the school’s program, rather than simple name recognition.</p>
<p>Isn’t QuestBridge admission binding?</p>
<p>Anyway, Princeton is perfectly fine for engineering, so if it is at no cost, it does not seem to make sense to take loans to go elsewhere, since being in QuestBridge implies that you come from a low income/wealth background.</p>
<p>Absolutely go to Princeton. And, Princeton is still Princeton…being a super prestigious ivy and all.</p>
<p>Princeton is in NJ, just sayin’ :D</p>
<p>If you secure admission to both, and financials are similar, then worry about the differences, which will likely be based on the cultures of the two schools, and the geography. I’ve visited both and Princeton feels like a very nice and prestigious college which it is of course, but MIT feels way different… I went to visit a friend who worked there and heck, even the cartoons professors post on their doors were beyond comprehension by common mortals. Cambridge wins hands down in the livability department (I lived 3 months there on short term assignment, mighty awesome feeling).</p>
<p>Based on my personal interactions with graduates from both programs, you really can’t go wrong wih either. I say milk the full ride.</p>
<p>1) Not sure at all. I’m just asking this in case I do get admitted so I have more time to think it over.</p>
<p>2) ME is important, but AE is way more important. Overall, I’d much rather do AE than ME, but since both are needed, it makes sense to partake in the program that has both.</p>
<p>3) Understandable</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about it being advantageous to be in an AE/ME program. If you are trying to get into an aerospace career, any aerospace program is going to teach you all the ME stuff you need to know. The two degrees are not all that dissimilar.</p>