Do they want all undergrads to end up in those fields and to have engineering/science major (they have others)? I hadn’t realized that (but it may be the case!) I do know they have some serious core requirements which require serious STEM (could also be useful depending on your business!), but I felt he proved he could keep up with those stats, which was my logic. That said, clearly admissions has PLENTY of applicants to pick from and athletes’ “hook” plays a lot less there than at most schools.
I will also say, I now have access to my own kids SCOIR (which I didn’t have in Jan), and I may have changed my mind now seeing it. They have a fair number of MIT admits, and I probably would have picked differently now. You really need like 1590/36 scores from these sort of contexts IMO..I suspect even for athletes…1570+
They typically end up with relatively few people graduating with primary majors in Business or Econ. So I think it would be fair to say filling out those majors is not a large institutional priority (at the undergrad level).
I may have missed it… have you shared what the Dartmouth price tag would be? Is it full-pay? If so, I personally can’t see that level of value-added for Dartmouth over UNC. In my mind, I’m not even sure Dartmouth wins at cost-parity. On a resume, I feel like MC impresses well beyond attending Dartmouth. He can almost certainly be on track for an MBA from a top business school, quite likely one of the ones that outranks Tuck.
A decision like this really comes down to dueling FOMO. And to me, MC is the bigger once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pass up. Adjacency to a top business school will still be on the table either way.
Plus, if we’re really talking an almost-100K/year cost differential, it isn’t just A vs. B. It’s (A + opportunity cost) vs. B. What if you slammed that money each year into an investment account that he could manage - what could it turn into? The benefit could be huge, both outcome-wise and experience-wise. (But maybe there is some need-based aid involved here… I can’t remember and can’t find it up-thread.)
Maybe I’m not fully appreciating the merits of Dartmouth, but it just doesn’t feel like an offer-he-can’t-refuse, to me, especially when stacked against the tangible benefits and impressive distinction of Morehead-Cain+Kenan-Flagler.
Do you think hiring managers have any idea what that is? I honestly don’t unless from NC or area.
Edit, just asked my partner. Very senior at a tech company, hired hundreds of people (many from top colleges in major metro area).. went to a “top 20” (US news list - R1, etc). Had no idea what MC was, that is niche knowledge IMO - probably helps in big first time corporate recruiting situation, but after that? I doubt it. Not saying it isn’t impressive to those in-the-know, VERY much is.
OP said cost is a non-factor. The two schools are massively different in almost every way. That should make the choice easier in some aspects. Although I completely disagree as to which name “impresses more on a resume”, the choice should be more about what kind of community the student wants to be part of.
Very much take this for what it is worth, but a couple times now it has been suggested to me MIT mostly has its HASS majors because sometimes kids decide they want to do such majors after taking their HASS classes, and they don’t want them to have to transfer or such. Whether that is a complete or even accurate explanation, I don’t know, but it is observable very few of their students do such majors collectively at MIT.
I see there is some debate around the value of an ivy, the value of UNC with MC, and the value of free college - both the actual $$ and pride of knowing that free college was achieved. Whether we have saved/have $$ for college or not, all of these things matter to us.
As you well know, a student interested in a HASS major (and I know several kids who indeed did that) need to look at the course catalogue in depth. Psychology- one of the most popular majors at US colleges- at MIT it’s called Cog Sci and is MUCH more brain chemistry/ genetics than the more behaviorally based major at non-technical universities. Urban Planning, Poli Sci, Econ– the course sequence is NOT the same as it is at other institutions, and that’s not even touching the required courses that every single MIT student will take. I’ve interviewed a lot of kids from other universities who ended up in urban planning when they found the math in engineering too hard. I think the math in urban planning at MIT is pretty comparable to the engineering math!
And of course- the often remarked music/math link- so many MIT math majors who are minoring in music (or just composing or performing at a very high level).
My biggest mistake was in thinking that the type of high school would be more known by private schools, and thus would give OP’s kid an edge, and less known by the public schools, which would serve as a disadvantage. The results obviously showed an error in my thinking. I also thought that the RD apps (vs. EA) might hurt at some of the big publics as well.
And I counted Northeastern as a 1/2 each way because I thought OP’s son would get in but would get the an NU.IN option or similar.
Like others, I would have thought that the athletics would have been a good enough nudge at MIT, combined with the fact that OP’s son won was more interested in business than in traditional “tech” majors, but diversity of major interest didn’t help as much as I thought it might.
Regardless, congratulations to your son @heavyweightcollege! He’s gotten amazing results and I wish him well wherever he decides to attend.
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I think being an undergrad HASS major at MIT (instead of a STEM major) is really not the best use of your opportunity there. There are so many other schools where you can get a great Humanities and Social Science college experience, not just in the classroom but also with other HASS ‘birds of a feather’ classmates from whom you can learn and engage.
huh? A school with a distinct large undergrad business school (and other large undergrad schools) is a LAC? Ummm, no. It is a large university through and through.
There are LACs with business and engineering schools. Business is only the 6th biggest major at UNC. It’s a large university but the Arts and Sciences are dominant majors, is why I said that vs other large flagships. Dartmouth actually has a more complete engineering program, as an example.
While MC might not be known by employers, it’s the added benefits these scholars get while undergrads that is the true benefit of the MC award (in addition to the money, there are other added advantages for this student).
