<p>Yale is Yale.
This is true enough and I love what the statement entails (alumni, camaraderie, a love of learning, first jobs, residential colleges, bulldogs etc).
BUT
I’m struggling with the idea of throwing myself into that mix. There are two reasons: (1) I might fail to come out of my liberal, academic bubble soon enough to engage in the real world and (2) one of the other schools I am accepted to has a major which I believe to be a near perfect fit for what I currently plan on studying as well as the freedom to study the add-ons I want.
To be less vague, the difference is Yale’s tradition and cognitive science major versus Wash U’s realism and PNP-CN major.
Other interests/hobbies include the environment, astro and nuclear physics, philosophy, politics, cultural anthropology, lit, education, therapeutic riding, and cooking but mainly I just want to enjoy my four years of learning that which I want to learn about and spending time with nice company.</p>
<p>St. Louis or New Haven? The Arch or the Bowl? Midwestern realism or East coast elitism? The perfect intellectual program or the perfectly programmed intellect? Such choices.</p>