<p>Guys, I need your collective advice. Recently, I was rejected from Harvard and MIT, but luckily accepted to Yale, Columbia, JHU, Caltech, Stanford, Harvey Mudd, Pomona many UCs, etc, etc. (Don’t mean to brag, but them’s the brakes) Recently, I widdled down my choices to JHU, Caltech, and Stanford (I want to go into bio/bioengineering). The only thing is, I come from a low income family, so financial aid is important, and I’m straying from loans. Stanford expects me to pay 4700 (2500 work-study, 2200 using other means), Caltech is literally a full ride, and JHU wants me to pay 5500, with 3500 being a Perkins loan. I have some scholarships so hopefully this shouldn’t be an issue. Now, though, I’m stuck between deciding on three different choices; and now I am starting to like Yale for the general style of it (although I still have to wait for my financial aid statement). What route should I go?</p>
<p>I would go Stanford or Caltech. It depends on how certain you are that you want engineering/science to be your life for the next four years. Caltech has an extremely high employment rate out of undergrad and can offer fantastic research opportunities. Drawbacks, though, include the limited diversity of study/student interest and the exceptionally small student body size (well, this is really good AND bad). If you have any interest in perhaps pursuing something in the liberal arts alongside your science education, Stanford wins hands down. I would stay Caltech is superior in the level of education in the sciences (though only slightly) and inferior in pretty much everything else. Though all the pranking sounds fun! Yale isn’t the greatest school for engineering specifically, though it’s undoubtedly a fantastic school.
I went with Stanford (over merit undergrad research at USC, Harvard, U Penn and Dartmouth and a few others). The environment on campus is very conducive to entrepreneurship and ingenuity, and I LOVE the students. They also have an absolutely fantastic engineering department and very strong liberal arts offerings, and a sort of revolutionary way of addressing the creativity crisis among scientists that is really interesting to me.
Try and visit, if you can. Stanford, Caltech and Yale have nearly incomparable atmospheres.</p>
<p>That $4700 is not going to Stanford. Rather, that is what covers your books, travel, and personal expenses. If you don’t want to do work-study, you can replace it with outside scholarships or with a Perkins loan (interest-free until graduation, grace period for 9 months after you graduate, very small payments).</p>
<p>What are your interests outside bioengineering? What about extracurricular interests? Do you like athletics? Do you want to be around other low-income or first-generation students? Do you want a diverse student body? What kind of climate are you looking for?</p>
<p>Stanford is amazing for engineering, and it is strong in other areas in case you want to explore other interests or might change your mind later. The student body is amazing, diverse, and cool as well. And it doesn’t hurt that the campus is BEAUTIFUL</p>
<p>If you want to stay in engineering after undergrad, go to Stanford or Caltech.</p>
<p>Thanks for clarifying phatasmagoric. And thanks guys for giving your opinions. I’m not really into athletics; I probably would like to be involved in something, although I am not quite sure yet; I’d have to see what is offered. Diversity is nice, but isn’t essential for what I am looking for in a college. As far as interests outside bioengineering, they are pretty diverse, diverging a bit into chemistry, physics and into philosophy. And my mother is from Wisconsin and she says the weather is better in Cali then in somewhere in the east, and somehow I’ll take her word for it. I am in Southern Cali, so I assume Stanford is more at home. Caltech is basically 45 minutes where I am, so it’ll be very convenient for me and my parents, but they still can manage Stanford and Yale distance. I still though was curious about the old-school atmosphere of Yale at one point. But yes I will definitely try visiting Stanford, especially since I found they are covering traveling expenses to their prefrosh weekend 26th-28th. I will also look at Caltech and Yale, but Yale will have to wait until I get this financial aid statement problem resolved.</p>
<p>Just curious, where did you decide to go?</p>
<p>Robert? I’m not 100% but judging from the stats and such listed in some of his posts, this sounds exactly (literally schedule, ecs, and all so I’m pretty sure) like someone I knew from my hs. If it is, he’s going to Stanford.</p>