<p>I have no personal knowledge of Stanford or MIT, so your question is a hard one for me to address, but that’s never stopped me from expressing opinions before. Dartmouth is very strong in economics (that might even be an understatement) and engineering. In fact, Thayer (the engineering part of that sentence) will evidently be getting a big boost in coming years: <a href=“http://thedartmouth.com/2014/03/26/news/students-faculty-support-thayer-expansion”>http://thedartmouth.com/2014/03/26/news/students-faculty-support-thayer-expansion</a> </p>
<p>It sounds as though your friend would be a walk-on in football. Probably more likely to work at Dartmouth than Stanford, and, yes, Dartmouth would be a higher level of play than MIT. And, it’s an Ivy. That’s not something to undervalue – in athletics or academics or the value of the degree (see below). </p>
<p>In terms of location, I think Dartmouth has the others beat hands down. Even though it’s not as convenient to a major airport, your friend’s total travel home from Hanover (including the Dartmouth Coach ride to Logan in Boston) would probably be about the same as Palo Alto to SFO to Atlanta (or wherever). Depending on where he would fly into, it might actually be shorter, since there could be easier connections to regional airlines. And, has he been to Stanford? It’s nice enough campus, but the charm of Hanover & New Hampshire versus the sprawl & traffic of Santa Clara County? That one’s a no-brainer to me. </p>
<p>One thing to consider is where your friend might want to land after college. All three schools are national “brands” (as it were), but I’d hazard the guess that Dartmouth would offer better access to East Coast financial (although daughter '13 has a friend who graduated from Stanford the same year and landed a great job on Wall Street, so …) and Stanford might be stronger on the West Coast (although the local Dartmouth Alums are very active, so …) – and my personal opinion is that an Ivy degree plays better nationally than a Stanford degree does. </p>
<p>I also find it odd that Stanford actually has more graduate students than undergraduates, and I wonder how that plays into faculty interactions with students. One of the things that sets Dartmouth apart is its attention to undergraduate teaching. Daughter saw that first hand. The relationships she had with professors who will be mentors for years to come and the opportunities she had for independent research were … fantastic. </p>
<p>All the best to your friend. And, welcome to Berkeley! GO BEARS! </p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I’ve made my comments about Stanford as unbiased as possible. </p>