shellyswimwvu,
Wow. That sounds like a tough decision. But it depends on what your DS really wants.
Don't have a child in the MIT program, but was myself an Aero/Astro at MIT back in the day ('89). One thing that MIT has is undergraduate research opportunities that are unparalleled. MIT is a research institution, which is its primary strength. As a parent with kids in college, and one about to enter, I understand what the difference between a teaching university and a research one is. Neither is better; it just depends on what you want as an undergraduate experience.
MIT in virtually all departments is in the vanguard of research and projects in most fields; Aero is no exception. The professors work on amazing stuff. You probably know of Missy Cummings, who is currently a visiting professor and director of the AeroAstro Humans and Automation Lab, is a graduate of USNA, and was one of the Navy's first female fighter pilots. I know she's done some stuff on aircraft carrier deck operations - developing a decision support system called DCAP - Deck operations Course of Action Planner, which is supposed to help human decision makers guide the automated planners in developing schedules, etc. These details are off-topic, but the point I want to make is that undergraduates have access to all this stuff that the professors are doing. I think the access at MIT for undergraduates is better than elsewhere, where graduate students have priority. There is a structured program called UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) that facilitates undergraduate participation in faculty and graduate research. Sometimes it is even on a paid basis.
There is just nothing like the research that goes on at MIT. But then, there is nothing like the undergraduate experience at an academy. Your DS has the happy choice to pick!
All the best to him, whichever he chooses!
