| Preface: I was a graduate student at MIT (within the last decade) and was a resident tutor for the undergraduates in student housing (yay free rent!). I would frame the following advice as: know thy self. If you want to go into the engineering/sciences and eventually get a PhD, do not go to MIT (wait until grad school). ~$200k debt is not worth it since you will likely end up in a similar type of job. If you want to start a company related to CS and make that a focus of your life for the next decade or so, go to MIT, but realize that most fail at this and end up at regular tech jobs. (I am now in the midwest because cost of living is incredibly low for people with >2 kids). If you struggle with mental health, be weary of MIT, as course 6 is incredibly intense. You will have classmates at MIT who will already have started one or more tech companies while in high school. Your international classmates will be in the top-10 of intellectual achievements in their respective countries. My undergrad math students from China were publishing papers with professors as co-authors. Some people get depressed with the big fish > small fish transition, but if that’s not you, enjoy the ride! Here are undergrad hacks: get more sleep than your classmates, do socialize even if you aren’t comfortable socializing lest there be no advantage to going to MIT when compared to their free online courses, if you don’t enjoy drinking (like me) - hold a red cup with water, be an ideal friend |