<p>I've been admitted to both HMU and MIT. As a finalist for HMU's PSP scholarship, in order to be considered I have to interview on campus on the 13th, which is right in the middle of MIT's CPW.</p>
<p>Should I choose a (supposedly) 'super fun' weekend at a school I'm more likely to attend or a scholarship interview for a school I'm not that excited about?</p>
<p>Input from applicants, admits, alums, and especially current students is greatly appreciated</p>
<p>MIT hands down. No offense to Harvey Mudd, but the education you get here, the experience of being next to Boston, the prestige of going to the best engineering school in the world, the network of alums you will meet, etc. is unparalleled. You can get a glimpse of that during CPW. So if you’re going to choose MIT over Harvey Mudd, why go to their interview?</p>
<p>I don’t think you’ll be able to get very helpful responses with the amount of information you’ve provided. If you think you’d prefer MIT to HMU with the scholarship then it seems like CPW is probably the wise choice. Going to CPW for only the 11th and 12th may be another good alternative but it really depends on how likely you think you are to get the scholarship if you go and how much the scholarship means to you.</p>
<p>Orientation is basically like CPW all over again. (And you’ll have 4 years of CPW’s from the other end - trust me, it’s just as fun.)</p>
<p>I’d say go to the interview and keep your options open.</p>
<p>One thing to consider is that you need to put in your dorm preferences during the summer before orientation. Yes there is a chance of switching dorms after REX but there isn’t very much movement from popular dorms during the adjustment lottery and some dorms have binding RBA so you can’t enter the adjustment lottery.</p>
<p>From an adult perspective, it’s crazy to give up a chance at a significant, prestigious scholarship at a great college to attend a recruitment weekend at a college you already know you like. I’m sure you would have fun at the MIT weekend, and you may learn a few things a few weeks before you would have learned them anyway, but it’s really not a command performance.</p>
<p>I get that you prefer MIT to Mudd. It may be that there isn’t a lot of financial difference for you between MIT with need-based aid and Mudd with a full-tuition scholarship. If that’s really the case, then you can ignore what I just wrote – there’s nothing wrong with choosing one great college over another great college at roughly the same cost for whatever reason you choose, including completely stupid reasons. </p>
<p>But if there IS a meaningful financial difference between the schools (assuming that you got the scholarship at Mudd), the educational opportunities at Mudd are clearly high-enough quality that you owe it to yourself (and your parents, maybe) to give it a fair shot. I don’t think many people graduate from Harvey Mudd thinking “Dang, I wish I had gone to MIT.” It may be that you will still choose MIT, or that you won’t get the scholarship and that MIT will be a clear better choice, but you should do what you can to make certain you are making a responsible, informed, intelligent decision.</p>
<p>JHS has provided excellent advice. There are life style differences between MIT and Mudd-opposite coasts and very different vibes. For Easterners, college may provide an opportunity to live somewhere you would not consider otherwise or again. Likewise for MIT and Westerners. I advise high school students to make the most of high school. It is not simply a way to establish credentials for college. It is 4 years of your life and these are important years. Likewise, college is more than a way to establish credential for graduate school or a job. You will be spending 4 years there. Make the most of it by finding the right match for you using criteria that has nothing whatsoever to do with college ratings.</p>
<p>I’m in the exact situation. I emailed the guy in the email and scheduled a phone interview.</p>
<p>Sent from my SGH-T989 using CC</p>
<p>OP and jsmath,</p>
<p>I would go to Mudd’s PSP interview, particularly if they’re paying your way.</p>
<p>Mudd came in a very close second to MIT for my son. He did win the PSP scholarship and he loved his visit to Mudd. (So did I) It was very hard to turn it down. Mudd is a fantastic school. In some ways, it’s better than MIT in terms of the personalized attention you will receive from the professors there. </p>
<p>My son didn’t go to CPW, but he’d been to MIT before.</p>
<p>Financially, MIT worked out better because of a complication due to our receiving a Cal Grant A but also having outside scholarship, but the PSP for most people would probably be a better deal than MIT’s financial aid.</p>
<p>I think a phone interview won’t show you all that Mudd has to offer.</p>