Which one do you think is better? Both interest me.
Have you been accepted to both, or is this a question for applying in the future?
@CollegeCraze72 I have been accepted to both. Social Development and Social Entrepreneurship in YYGS and MIT Launch.
Congratulations, that is a huge accomplishment to be proud of! Last year I was fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to attend MIT Launch. Overall my experience was absolutely fantastic and I’ll speak to two parts - how I made my decision and what was so amazing about the program.
When I was making my decision I was torn between doing a summer program at my dream school and the MIT Launch summer program. However, when I joined that MIT Launch Session 2 group chat and saw the remarkable accomplishments of my soon to be peers I knew that a) I wanted to be around them and b) Launch would be a challenge that would truly push my limits. Due to the intense screening process of Launch that is difficult to stand out in the people are not only all qualified, but diverse in background bringing a unique aspect of them self to the program! My session had 70 students and of those students over 15 countries and 20 states were represented! It truly can not get much more diverse. Thus it was the people that made me attend the program over other programs - I personally believe MIT summer programs only attract the best of the best and that is what I wanted to be around.
As for the summer program itself I will tell you it more than exceeded my expectations. When I first showed up I was truly blown away by the diversity among the students - Perfect test scorers, Intel Science Fair Award Winners, International DECA winners, and kids who had made tens of thousands of dollars running their own businesses. However the culture that culminated in Launch was not one of boasting ones own accomplishments, but rather one of collaboration. The dorms had whiteboards in the middle of the halls we could collaborate and brainstorm in, MIT classrooms were available for us to work in - anything we wanted we had it at our fingertips (MIT Maker Labs, MIT Classrooms, The Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship). The resources are truly unparalleled! Also, our dorm was right along the Charles River and my own room had a view overlooking the River! There is so much more I could say about the professors, interns, and campus but this is already turning to be a really long post haha!
I will end on this. If you want a challenge this summer that will push you to new heights Launch is truly unparalleled. I will not lie, you are going to get knocked down - your idea might have a flaw or your market research might not be sufficient. To pile on top of that sometimes you may fix the error only to be knocked down again by something else! It happened to everyone trust me, and not just once but plenty of times, but guess what we picked ourselves up and finished strong and I can speak for myself personally and say that I was made better because of it. Launch truly boosted my confidence in my abilities to pull through regardless of difficulties! This may seem daunting but trust me, if you were accepted you can do it and that means you are pretty awesome - but I promise you will be better next year for doing Launch. I am a senior this year and will either be attending Yale or MIT next year and I am not lying when I say if it wasn’t for Launch I would not have the options I have! At the end of the day it isn’t about college, it is about learning, but I wanted to throw that at the end! If you have more specific questions I am more than happy to answer them! I truly loved this program hence my long post hahaha!
@CollegeCraze72 I am still amazed I got accepted to both. It has already boosted my confidence lol. Thank you so much for such an amazing response. Looks like I will be attending MIT Launch Session 1 this summer! I am always up for a challenge, and there is no fun staying in the comfort zone, is there?
Again, thanks for the response! Best of luck for your future!