I understand that I probably shouldn’t be contemplating this decision due to the fact I have not applied, I am just interested in everyone’s view out there.
Now before everyone says,“You need to make that decision yourself!!”
Trust me I know, I just want to hear other peoples opinions.
On one hand, Yale’s campus is beautiful, like absolutely amazing. The freshman live in amazing dorms all together to attempt to learn about Yale and their studies while surrounded by people all doing the same thing. And while I am interested in engineering and Yale is a liberal arts school, they still have an ABET engineering program so it is almost the best of both worlds.
While on the other hand, we have MIT… Arguably the best engineering program in the entire world! It has my preferred form of engineering (Aeronautical) and has an amazing entrepreneurial program that entices me to no end. It also has a beautiful campus in a more modern sense.
My kid chose Stanford over MIT because he wanted/needed a student body that was a combo of liberal arts + STEM. Yale would give you that too but if you are truly interested in Aeronautical then it’s a no brainer where to attend.
@HPuck35 Haha that I am certainly doing… kinda, I am auto admit to UT Austin, so I am just going all out on applying to reaches. I know there is still a slim chance of getting into both of these.
And ughhh I know that’s the reason I have MIT as an equal to Yale, like I LOVEEEEE yale’s campus and feeling but I LOVEEEE engineering haha.
To state the obvious you apply to both and see if you get into one. That would make your decision for you. These colleges are very selective, admissions are nearly random.
We visited both schools. Before going, MIT was clearly on the top. It was like going on a religious pilgrimage for us. Yale not so much. After visiting, everybody liked Yale better. Maybe it was the construction around MIT, maybe it was the dorm tour, maybe the info session, something did not really click. Kid landed up not even applying. One thing was clear though, they were super organized during the tour. Blew our socks off. The Engineering and Project Management mind set came out loud and clear
Campus: Yale
City: MIT
Dorms: Yale+++
Tour guide: Yale
Info session: Yale
Tour organization: MIT++
Classes: Couldn’t tell for sure, but MIT is certainly not the “small personal engineering” school we thought we would get for a private university. Some classes can be huge. We really had no expectation for Yale, but loved the “shopping week” concept at Yale
Engineering: MIT (although Yale has these quirky “non ABET recognized” quasi engineering BA programs as well, that are good if you want an engineering degree but don’t plan on being a career engineer, so if you are aiming for professional school, but want the rigor of an engineering degree, Yale seemed to have more options)
Admissions process: MIT. I really admire how open and transparent they are. plus they have EA, which is good for students.
@CollegeAngst I felt the exact same after visiting and pre-visit. And unfortunately, the aeronautics tour did not have that clean cut organization, but the normal campus tour sure did!
@Dimnarion I really don’t believe you read anything before you posted that, I stated I knew there was a slight chance I’d get accepted to both
@ClarinetDad16 you really want to have ANOTHER chances thread? Admissions chances are not relevant to the OP’s question, except to point out that one or both schools will probably not be an option.
@MurphyBrown Again, still a toss up between schools due to the fact that neither EA actually provides an advantage, but probably Yale due to ROTC reasons.
@i012575 I am confused on why it wouldn’t to you? I would be spending four years of my life there, having toured all the colleges you detailed I can confidently say Yale would be my hands down top choice of the three.
@usualhopeful For outside reasons I can feel more confident than the usual applicant towards these schools but in no means does that mean its for sure or even close to that, and thank you for the first point
You can get a great education at both of these schools, in pretty much every program they offer. I would give the general STEM edge to MIT and the general Humanities/Social Sciences (except Econ) edge to Yale, but really both are going to be at least very good at whatever program you follow. These schools are titans of academia.
So to me, you should perhaps be focusing on academic fit in terms of what each school offers (majors/programs) that do or might interest you; location and environment; social vibe; and cost.
@prezbucky That’s basically where I am at mentally, the cost isn’t a deal due to the fact of an ROTC scholarship but the campus, life, environment, and culture is what I’m focusing on
One should interpret **nothing/b from reading the accepted/denied threads. Users on College Confidential are not a representative subset of MIT/Yale applicants, and the users posting on the accepted/denied threads are not a representative subset of CC users.
And self reported posters on anonymous message boards might or might not be actual applicants. And might or might not be accurate in the stats they post or the admissions decisions they share.
@MurphyBrown Thank you for the very detailed reply!
Currently the stats lead to that you would have a better chance to get into Yale EA than RD; however, these statistics are swayed due to all of the recruited athletes who are obviously applying EA
