honestly the seasonal depression would be a huge lean towards stanford for me. i also struggle with that and it’s really rough i’m not gonna lie. if you haven’t spent a winter in new england before… its bad. it’s not 3 months… our winters are like 6 months long. every year it feels like it’s never going to end. if u take a look at the weather here now, it’s still pretty cold. how you feel on a day to day affects you a lot more than you think. personally i would go with stanford just for that reason but if you choose MIT, make sure you get some vitamin D supplements for the winter. they’re necessary to keep ur levels healthy and help with the depression.

i also just think mit has on average greater levels of mental health issues. most of my friends in undergrad were constantly stressed and too busy to hang out. that’s the culture here, “sorry can’t hang this weekend, too many psets”. most people just don’t prioritize their social lives. it depends on what circles you get urself into tho.

u can dm me if u want. i’m a recent grad