Your comment has me scratching my head because some of the HASS departments at MIT are truly legendary. Also, interdisciplinary work that spans a HASS subject and a STEM subject can be amazing. And MIT is an incredibly stimulating environment for anyone. MIT is very much a fit school, but HASS majors can fit and will find their people, too.
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The comments about MIT are enlightening…but this student did not get accepted at MIT.
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I was strictly talking about the undergraduate HASS experience at MIT. Grad school, I agree with you.
I also wasn’t talking about doing a double major (e.g., CS and economics, or mechanical engineering and History).
Which do you consider a LAC with a separately applied / housed undergrad business/engineering school?
Don’t disagree, it does have a real engineering undergrad with ABET and you can even now (if you try hard) do it in 4 years, I think. I think I would call it a university with a very strong liberal arts at its core, like Brown and Yale or Harvard College (from which you get your AB), for that matter.. (It remains smaller and even more undergrad-focused, though. Dartmouth still has grad students and a medical school etc.
There are a few VERY weird hybrids, Swarthmore, Union, I guess or Trinity College that I would consider real LACs with engineering (but don’t think Swarthmore has business, and none have “schools” of engineering or business like Thayer or Tucker/ Flagler or whatever).
Anyway, this is a spectrum I guess.
I’m assuming nobody here feels the need to get in the last word on any topic that is irrelevant to the OP and that we can move on.
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The Morehead-Cain is known in my (OOS) circles, but I think really any named scholarship on your resume sort of immediately answers the hypothetical question why you chose your undergrad. If someone wants more information, they can ask or google it.
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Who googles that sort of thing when looking at resumes - they may once they get to an interview and ask about it, sure, but that is after you land an interview. Resumes get skimmed fast, and often by automated systems first. My partner would almost certainly have qualified for an MC had they applied to schools that big (they didn’t) and had multi grands and greats and great-greats that were profs at state flagships)… I really do not think it is nearly so well known as you think… I could be wrong, I don’t there is survey data on it 
You would be better off arguing that more people know of UNC than Dartmouth - in terms of general name recognition in the US general population, there is no comparison (though in terms of hiring managers in business, obviously, they all will know both).
Anyway, this is dumb argument, really.
These schools ARE SO SO different in almost every way the prestige is one small factor. I am almost surprised the same kid applied to both they are so different!
yes, Boston.
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I don’t know your partner, so I will just note in my circles there are plenty of people admitted to HYPSM-type colleges who apply to UNC and who are not offered the Morehead-Cain.
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There are only about 75 Morehead-Cain Scholars at UNC. They are the cream of the crop at a top university in the country. I think it’s a little presumptious to assume anyone would have received this honor.
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Okay, while the OP did mention MC, really the only correct response was “Congratulations to your son on MC.”
Arguing whether you’ve ever heard of MC isn’t appropriate. Move on.
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So…correct me if I’m wrong.
This student is now choosing between:
Dartmouth
And
UNCCH (as a MC Scholar).
Is that correct?
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There will be plenty of Ivy admit students at UNC - forgetting the scholarship. A student choosing a UNC over an Ivy isn’t an anomaly.
And there will be plenty of Ivy admits who get turned down at UNC.
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delete
That is also true! And there are even more who probably could have competed for Ivy admissions, but never applied because they preferred other institutions anyway, including institutions like UNC.
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There major pros and cons to both choices. But if I am throwing in a wager, I am guessing Dart gets the final nod.
Yes, that is where he is right now. No other schools are being further considered.
There was some discussion about Morehead-Cain, and whether very smart people could just get it. It is probably worth a quick explanation of how it really works. There are a few ways to get nominated. My son was nominated by his guidance counselor, but first she confirmed that if he got the nomination, he would take it seriously. About a month later, he received an application with eight essays of varied lengths, and once submitted, there was a video interview (similar to the hirerights if anyone knows those). Then you become a semi-finalist and it requires a zoom interview with a panel and maybe a longer video interview. Finally, you get selected for finalist weekend that consists of four nights without parents. Scheduled from start-to finish (including scheduled free time), you are interviewed by two separate panels, observed in group leadership activities, and you complete two timed writing assessments. They have people observing you the whole time, including meals. What they are watching for is hard to say.
Overall, the experience is great for a certain type of student, whether they become a MC scholar or not.
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I’m glad you took the time to explain this to folks who don’t understand/know about the process. MC is a very very big deal! My understanding is the acceptance rate is less than 3%, which makes it more competitive than MIT!
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