<p>Just as the title said. I really have NO idea. I like MIT because it's science oriented and it has this sense of humor that you really can't find anywhere else. But Yale, I feel, is more liberal arts inclined which I like. My main concern about MIT is the amount of work (and the lack of sleep). SO which should I choose?? And I don't have too much time to decide so please respond quickly!</p>
<p>for those reasons, go with Yale. you’ll make it out without ptsd from the boatloads of mit work, you’ll have a well rounded education. besides the school is large you’ll find your niche + unless you are a hardcore STEM person the mit atmosphere will die out pretty quickly.</p>
<p>Are you planning for 2012 or are you deciding for 2011?</p>
<p>oh yeah and I am a STEM person so maybe I’m not the best guy to give advice on this. anyways…</p>
<p>You need to pick a school based on the best social fit. This has to be personal and can really be either one.</p>
<p>Don’t pick Yale ** just ** because they are “stronger” in humanities. MIT has some very strong humanities program, including political science, economics, and linguistics. If languages are your passion, MISTI provides a way to go abroad that is actually expense-paid (you get paid for your research!). I love HASS, and I am overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of offerings. I am torn between How to Stage a Revolution (History); American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, Future; Classics of Western Philosophy; and German for my first semester. I’m pretty sure there are HASS classes that I will want to take and won’t be able to, simply because there are so many good ones.</p>
<p>If you have a passion for both science and humanities, MIT can work very well. Don’t choose somewhere else because you fear MIT lacking humanities resources, because it doesn’t.</p>
<p>Also, everyone and their mom has told me that if you are admitted to MIT you can handle the work. Whether you want to or not, is up to you.</p>
<p>Same question here. I don’t know if the OP’s trying to decide for this year or 2012, but I will be applying to college next year. My problem is that I want to decide between applying to MIT or Yale early. MIT is clearly the better science school, but what I want to know about is the people. The people at Yale has the impression of being more “relaxed.” How is the competition at MIT? I really don’t want to be competing over grades after high school.</p>
<p>You won’t be competing over grades here, but you’ll likely still be struggling for them (if you want a 5.0).</p>
<p>MIT is more about collaboration than competition. You’ll find very strong community here, and people with very diverse backgrounds and interests, all very intelligent, very interesting, and very passionate about whatever it is they do.</p>
<p>Of course, I don’t know anything about people at Yale.</p>
<p>@yoyo</p>
<p>My knowledge is limited, as I am a prefrosh; however, here is what I know. MIT really breeds a collaborative atmosphere. MIT is hard for nearly everyone, and people are very willing to form teams to tackle psets and study for tests. There are no latin honors nor class rank. MIT really tries to take the competitive nature of high school and eliminate it, and, from what I’ve heard, it works.</p>
<p>However, MIT is graded on a curve (this is not uncommon for colleges) and you should not expect to get amazing grades. This is especially bad if you are considering premed or prelaw, as med and law schools are very GPA heavy in admissions. However, if you are pondering engineering or science (or the rare humanities major), then I don’t think GPA is that important. Grad schools consider teacher recommendations and research before GPA. Also, grad schools, which admit students by individual departments, are probably more likely to recognize the rigor of med school. Employers are also cognizant of MIT’s rigor, so there are no worries there.</p>
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<p>This is false - MIT is not graded on a curve, and I’ve never heard of a class being actually curved. You still shouldn’t, however, expect to get amazing grades.</p>
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<p>In most of my classes there are some maximum breakpoint percentages posted at the start of the semester. At the end of the semester, instructors meet and pull the breakpoints down some amount depending on the performance of the class and the difficulty of the material that semester. In other classes, breakpoints aren’t set at all until after finals, but I’m pretty sure that even those classes are not graded on a curve.</p>
<p>Sorry, I was misinformed. People did tell me about getting D’s on tests in 8.012 and ending up with B’s in the class, so I thought that was a curve.</p>
<p>Maybe the breakpoints for 8.012 are low (I took 8.01, so I don’t actually know.). Midterms are each usually 15%-25% of your grade, so it’s quite possible to get a B overall after one bad exam. I got a 40-something percent on my first 5.111 exam first semester, and still managed a B in the class.</p>
<p>The main difference between applying early to MIT vs Yale is that Yale restrictive early and MIT is open, allowing you to apply to other open EA schools.</p>
<p>The atmosphere is extremely collaborative at MIT from what I’ve heard so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.</p>
<p>deciding between the two is a good problem to have, but not a problem you have yet; see where you get admitted. </p>
<p>no sense stressing or worrying or filling the vacuum with speculation until you actually have a choice to make.</p>