<p>So, I am a High School junior and I think I can get into MIT, but UF would be a whole lot cheaper for undergrad.</p>
<p>My stats: 4.0 unweighted GPA, 6 AP exams (all 5s but one 4), 2220 SAT in 10th grade *I will retake, Dual Credit/Associates Degree when I graduate high school, Plenty of extra curriculars, but no sports</p>
<p>Does the name/quality/prestige of MIT outweigh the time, cost, and cold winter?</p>
<p>Plus, I will have a bunch of dual enrollment credit (60 credit hours) that will transfer to UF, but probably not to MIT.</p>
<p>So, I am leaning towards UF for undergrad and MIT or something else for grad school. Am I insane, or is this the right choice?</p>
<p>Well in your case (I'm pretty much in the same situation haha), I would take the name and quality of MIT (mostly because that would be a dream school of mine) over UF. Just the idea of the mind stimulating atmosphere of MIT gets me dreaming haha. However, if money is a factor for you and your family always go the cheaper route. In your case the cheaper route wouldn't necessary be bad, UF is a good school (just not MIT good).</p>
<p>If you want something above U of Florida, why not look at schools that offer big merit awards, and maybe you wouldn't feel like the "name" gap is huge.</p>
<p>"So, I am leaning towards UF for undergrad and MIT or something else for grad school. Am I insane, or is this the right choice?"</p>
<p>It depends. If you come from a medium-low income family, schools like MIT will probably end up costing you only a little more than Florida. If you come from a high income family, the extra cost of attending MIT will not be too much of a burden on your folks. So in those scenarios, I would definitely say forget the weather and the money and go to MIT. On the other hand, if you come from an upper-middle income family, you MIT will probably end up costing you a lot more than Florida and the financial burden on your family (and yourself as you will most likely end up with a large debt) is probably not worth it. </p>
<p>But do not assume you will get into MIT. Apply and see if you can get in first. And do not forget Stanford. Stanford is equal to MIT in Engineering and the sciences and overall, plus it has decent California weather! Princeton would also be a good school to explore.</p>
<p>yes, as the post above said, as a junior, do not focus on the question which school should i go to, rather, you should have the mentality of which schools CAN i GET into..</p>
<p>then after (and hopefully you will!) you get into MIT, and a few others that seem like a good fit, along w/ UF, you can make a sound and logical decision</p>
<p>Yeah, don't count on getting into MIT. MIT had over 15,000 applicants and accepted about 10%. Great test scores are definitely not enough to get in (trust me, I know firsthand).</p>
<p>You need to get into MIT first before worrying about what school to go to. Check out the decisions thread in the MIT forum if you haven't already to see what I mean. A good plan is to have an array of schools to apply to that are similar to MIT in some regard (depends on what you're interested in), such as Stanford, Caltech, Princeton, GTech, Cornell, etc.</p>
<p>I would also wait and see finaid offers before worrying about what's cheapest, but that's even after getting into places.</p>
<p>Apply to both. Worry about costs later. Let's see if you can really get into MIT. I have the same exact stats as you, 4.0 UW, 5 APs with 5, 2200 SAT, ran a business, president of many reputable orgs... but was waitlisted at MIT. So much for Cambridge-MIT town gown relations :( TRY!</p>
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Thanks, yeah I'm stuck where I don't qualify for financial aid, but my family is not super wealthy.
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<p>Do you actually know that you wouldn't qualify? By the standards of elite schools, MIT has a very high rate of students on finaid (over 60%).</p>
<p>At any rate, yeah, you're putting the cart before the horse. Get in first, and then you'll have finaid offers to compare. Also, there's no point in not applying to both.</p>
<p>OK..I can comment with some authority on this subject because I am an MIT grad and my son is a PhD student at UF. I've also done corporate recruiting at both schools.</p>
<p>In short...unless you have a strong personal desire to attend MIT and costs are not a factor, I'd go the UF route for undergrad. If you compare students in the upper-level engineering programs...and not the schools in general...you really will not find much difference in student quality. And I have been generally impressed with material coverage in course offerings, internships and research opportunities, patent-applications and entrepreneurial mind-to-market as well as involvement in things like DARPA challenges and Formula SAE. If your objective is truly engineering, and are not looking for a hook into the world of Wall Street, UF would be a fine choice for undergrad engineering. There are many kids on this board who are prestige-obsessed, and really do not understand the world of engineering, and are happy to tell you what to do and how to spend your money. But I would suggest strong consideration of UF on a value and quality basis.</p>
<p>Agree with rogracer 100%. Engineering is not an old boys’ club.</p>
<p>I did my undergrad at Florida. There were some very smart people. Hands down the smartest person I ever met went to Florida, and I’ve met plenty of MIT kids. A lot of people (such as myself) went for the free ride over prestige.</p>
<p>I feel obligated since I currently go here, but since you mentioned it, Georgia Tech offers free rides to about 30 kids a year. You might have a shot.</p>