I know that is not the reason anyone should pick a college, it is one of many factors. Between Yale and MIT, which one has more respect in the world? I thought it is MIT but a gentleman from UK said that Yale has more reputation and he never heard of MIT until he came to USA.
Is Yale degree lot more respectable than MIT? I have tough choice to make.
It depends on context. If you’re talking about a Physics symposium, its participants might vote MIT. If you’re talking about theatre or English or History, Yale might get the nod. Maybe Econ would be equal for both.
There is no real answer.
@IxnayBob … roflmao!
DD is a freshman at Yale and we are from the UK. The reality is that if I speak of Yale to friends or other English people here then they will have heard of it, as they would have heard of Harvard. With MIT it’s a bit different - some Brits know of it but generally only those in the academic world or engineering/tech.
I guess it’s the same for those in the States when we talk about British universities. ‘The man in the street’ may have heard of Oxford and Cambridge but may not know of Imperial, which has as strong (or perhaps stronger) reputation for engineering and science than Oxford, for example.
I’m not sure whether that helps in any decision making though!
Thank you fro123. Yes, that is what I asked.
My son is torn between the two. He is leaning towards MIT for most part. But I keep hearing Yale reputation is going to open lot of doors for him being part of Ivy league and part of trinity.
T26E4, I meant just name recognition.
@SarasotaParent I have had a completely different experience than you or @fro123. I am from europe (not UK) but have lived in many different places around the world, and my experience has been that the schools that everyone knows are Harvard, MIT and over the last coupe of decades, Stanford too. Yale and Princeton come slightly behind. The reason is that Yale tends to get a bit overshadowed by Harvard while MIT, Stanford are strong in the areas where Harvard is relatively lacking. Also it might be because as a whole Yale does not have as strong grad schools, research output as these three schools. Grad school prominence, prestige and research output is a big determinant of global recognition.
I think the UK is rather an anomaly in the sense that Yale is the US university most closely resembling the traditional oxbridge style of universit, so I am not surprised that it is very prominent there.
Thank you Penn95. That is also my experience until I spoke to this UK friend. For most part outside USA everyone knows Harvard and MIT.
I wore my Yale shirt when I was in China, and it was quite the topic of conversation – all had heard of the “two US universities: Harvard and Yale.” I am finishing my first year at Yale, solid STEM major, and am thrilled to have been awarded a Yale grant to conduct research this summer. Both good choices OP, if your son is able to attend Bulldog Days, he would enjoy it.
Must be nice choosing between Yale and MIT for greater name recognition. Good luck!
I’m not sure which one is more prestigious overall but it seems like splitting hairs between these two schools on that dimension.
Where there really is a big difference is student life at the two, and some people will prefer one and some the other. As much as I’m personally a huge fan of Yale, if your son’s gut says MIT that may be the answer right there.
There is absolutely no choice he could make that would be worse than making it for him (and that includes nudging him on the basis of your concerns about prestige). The differences are negligible, and even there it will vary by the very specific audience.
There is absolutely no choice he could make that would be worse than making it for him (and that includes nudging him on the basis of your concerns about prestige). The differences are negligible, and even there it will vary by the very specific audience.
Tell your son to go to MIT. He can take classes at Harvard and fight with Harvard students. It’s not fun to go to Yale.
Whatever the difference in prestige or name recognition may be in one context or another, there is no meaningful difference that will matter to a student or alumnus in terms of looking for career jobs, fellowships, graduate school admissions, here or anywhere. For the people who control those things, insofar as they interest Yale or MIT students, calibrating the prestige difference would be like arguing about the number of angels that can fit on the head of a pin.
@SarasotaParent Also a very important factor, prob greater than general name recognition (since both schools have excellent name recognition, prestige), is strength in the intended area of study. For example, if you are looking to major in STEM, MIT would be of obvious choice. Also for Economics, business MIT has the clear edge but it wouldnt be unheard of to choose Yale for undergrad, if the fit is better. On the other hand for humanities and most social sciences other than economics, Yale has the edge.
I agree that name recognition is not a reason for choosing between Yale and MIT. Specific programs of interest would be much, much more important.
I will say that it’s refreshing to have a discussion about this that doesn’t include Berkeley.