Can you help me (my specific case) in Stanford vs. Harvard?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>I have a close family friend who faced the same choice several years ago. He was torn, but eventually choose Harvard and had a good experience there. I spent a lot of time talking with him about the choice. I think there are differences between the two schools that extend beyond the weather.</p>

<p>1) Undergraduates almost universally love Stanford. With Harvard, there is a split of opinion. Some love Harvard, others dislike it. When my friend was considering his college choice, I spoke with a recent graduate of Harvard. His advice was blunt; “Tell your friend to go to Stanford.” I ask why. His response: “Harvard doesn’t really care about you. You are just one more person in a 300 year old history.” I never told my friend this story.</p>

<p>2) Having said this, if you are focused going in, Harvard can be great. For instance, I know several students who had a great experience at the Crimson. From reading both papers, it is clear that the Crimson is better than the Stanford Daily. On the other hand, if a student is not focused going into Harvard, he/she can be eaten up. I think this is what happened to the person I spoke with who was negative on his Harvard experience.</p>

<p>3) Faculty are probably more approachable at Stanford. Even among the elite schools, Harvard has a reputation of having faculty who are not approachable, certainly to undergrads and to some extent even to grad students. A friend of mine has a son who went to Harvard. After his son graduated, he told me, “Sam had a great experience at Harvard but it had nothing to do with the faculty. It had everything to do with his experience on the Crimson.” (BTW, Sam did extremely well academically–very top of his Harvard class.)</p>

<p>4) Harvard is weak in some academic areas, whereas Stanford probably is not. For instance, Stanford probably has the top statistics department in the world. Harvard’s is far weaker. Stanford is very good in engineering. Harvard much less so, perhaps due to the impact of MIT. Such departments may or may not be relevant for you. Of course, Harvard has many top departments (classics, economics, etc.).</p>

<p>Hope this helps. Best of luck.</p>

22

<p>I’m a freshman at Harvard, so I’ll give you my $.02</p>

<p>I’m actually considering transferring to Stanford next year. I think Harvard is great and all, but for me, it has two HUGE cons. </p>

<p>1) The academic environment here is not conducive to learning. Harvard is INCREDIBLY competitive. I was a part-time student at UCLA when I was in HS, and Harvard is hands down 1000x more competitive. Of course, Stanford is going to be difficult too, but I feel that Harvard is much more cutthroat. Maybe it’s the ****ty weather that makes people so tense.</p>

<p>2) Harvard seriously lacks ways to wind down. Stanford has nice weather year round, meaning you can walk out and about and relax and study in peace. At Harvard, when winter rolls around, you’ll be cooped up in your room. And since the D-Hall (for freshman) is all the way across the Yard, you’ll also go hungry.</p>

<p>I’m not saying that you should take my view as a representative outlook on Harvard. It’s a great school, yes, but it’s an acquired taste, much like caviar. </p>

<p>P.S. If you’re coming to pre-frosh weekend, don’t think that that’s how Harvard is year round. Somehow, the weather always gets nice around this time…and the non-existent nightlife somehow sprouts up.</p>

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<p>Faced with this decision three years ago, I ultimately chose Harvard. Why?</p>

<p>1) There really is something special about being on the campus that has been the center of American intellectual life for centuries ( 7 Presidents going back to the Adamses and continuing through to today’s President, living in dorms that Emerson, William James and Updike lived in, etc.). I still get a thrill every time I walk through Harvard Yard.</p>

<p>2) Cambridge has everything from beautiful trendy areas to scruffy working class hoods, all within a schort walk (not bike ride) from your dorm; the eating and shopping options are endless, accessible by foot, and so much more than the rather limited Palo Alto offers</p>

<p>3) You can be in downtown Boston in 12 mins for 2 bucks; you can walk there in under an hour. Boston is simply beautiful and endless source of cultural, commercial and recreational opportunities.</p>

<p>4) The student body at Harvard had an intellectual intensity and edge I didn’t find so much at Stanford. As good as the student body is as Stanford, I just don’t think it matches the depth of Harvard’s. For example:</p>

<ul>
<li>Harvard has twice the number of National Merit Scholars in a similarly sized undergraduate student body:</li>
</ul>

<p>[The</a> Top Universities Recruiting National Merit Scholars](<a href=“http://www.blackexcel.org/06-top-universities-recruiting-national-merit.htm]The”>The Top Universities Recruiting National Merit Scholars)</p>

<ul>
<li>Harvard has had 30 Rhodes Scholars over the past 10 years; Stanford has had 14</li>
</ul>

<p>[The</a> Rhodes Scholarships<a href=“check%20undergrad%20institutions%20on%20the%20left”>/url</a></p>

<ul>
<li>Harvard does over twice as well placing grads into top grad schools, according to this study by the WSJ</li>
</ul>

<p>[url=<a href=“Office of the American Secretary | The Rhodes Scholarships”>Office of the American Secretary | The Rhodes Scholarships]The</a> Rhodes Scholarships](<a href=“Office of the American Secretary | The Rhodes Scholarships”>Office of the American Secretary | The Rhodes Scholarships)</p>

<p>At the end of the day, it’s the people around me that matter most, and the Harvard student body continuously inspires me.</p>

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<p>Harvard and Stanford are two elite universities with their own special qualities. I would like to respond to natsherman because he sounds like someone from the Harvard admissions department. </p>

<p>Nat, I think you place importance on some things that are of little consequence to the typical prospective student. The people who attended your school a century ago have a nostalgic factor, but that doesn’t have any correlation with today’s level of undergraduate instruction. Here is a link to U.S. News & World Report’s list of best undergraduate teaching universities. Harvard isn’t even in the top twenty. The quality of undergraduate education is important to most students, not what transpired a century ago. </p>

<p>[Best</a> Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-ut-rank]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-ut-rank)</p>

<p>Probably less than 2% of the Stanford student population (and probably most elite schools) is interested in applying for a Rhodes Scholar. The other 98% of the student population has interests in applying for other scholarships that one could make comparisons about.</p>

<p>Stanford has an excellent record of placing students in grad school, has an extensive co-term program, and stands head and shoulders over anyone else in its grad school rankings for science and engineering fields.</p>

<p>So I would just like to say that both schools are excellent. The best advice I can give for prospective students who are undecided is to ignore everything in this thread (including my post) and visit the schools you are thinking of attending.</p>

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<p>

Except MIT, I’m sure you meant to add, which performs better than Stanford in virtually every science and engineering discipline. “Head and shoulders” is hyperbole regardless. Stanford has only the faintest of leads over Berkeley and CalTech. None of these relevant to the discussion at hand, of course, but you did not say “head and shoulders over Harvard.”</p>

<p>

Nope. Music, classics, art history, and religion are just a few areas in which Stanford is noticeably inferior to Harvard, usually by as many as 10 or 12 universities. </p>

<p>As for the difference in the statistics programs at Stanford (#1) and Harvard (#3)…let’s not grasp for straws.</p>

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<p>MIT and Stanford are pretty much tied up in science. Stanford has an edge in biology, computer science, and statistics. MIT has an edge in math. They are about equal in physics, chemistry, and geo-science. In 2011 US News graduate school ranking, MIT only has a tiny edge over Stanford. </p>

<p>For engineering, MIT and Stanford are about equal. Stanford is better in environemtal engineering, industrial engineering, and civil engineering. MIT is better in chemical engineering, material engineering, and nuclear engineering. Both ar tied in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering (MIT wins in US news for 2011 ranking, while Stanford wins in NRC ranking)</p>

<p>

Stanford and Berkeley are about equal in science and engineering. Stanford has a slite edge over Caltech in science and engineering according to department rankings. Harvard and Stanford are about equal in lots of areas. Stanford is better only in some departments, for example, statistics, computer science, and engineering.</p>

<p>

As a statistician myself, I think Stanford is much better than Haravrd in statistics. Even though we are talking about #1 and #3, Harvard’s #3 is a distant #3.</p>

<p>Stanford has 8 faculty members in its statistics departemnt selected into the prestigious national academy of science, with 2 of them are retired. Harvard only has 2 NAS members in its statistics depart, with both retired already.</p>

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</p>

<p>MIT and Stanford are pretty much tied up in science. Stanford as an edge in biology, computer science, and statistics. MIT has an edge in math. They are about equal in physics, chemistry, and geo-science. In 2011 US News graduate school ranking, MIT only has a tiny edge over Stanford. </p>

<p>For engineering, MIT and Stanford are about equal. Stanford is better in environemtal engineering, industrial engineering, and civil engineering. MIT is better in chemical engineering, material engineering, nuclear engineering. Both ar tied in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering (MIT wins in US news for 2011 ranking, while Stanford wins in NRC ranking)</p>

<p>

Stanford and Berkeley are about equal in science and engineering. Stanford has a slite edge over Caltech in science and engineering according to department rankings. Harvard and Stanford are about equal in lots of areas. Stanford is better only in some departments, for example, statistics, computer science, and engineering.</p>

<p>

As a statistician myself, I think Stanford is much better than Haravrd in statistics. Even though we are talking about #1 and #3, Harvard’s #3 is a distant #3.</p>

<p>Stanford has 8 faculty members in its statistics departemnt selected into the prestigious national academy of science, with 2 of them are retired. Harvard only has 2 NAS members in its statistics depart, with both retired already.</p>

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<p>hippo2718’s selective quoting of what I wrote is misleading, to say the least. My point was not to advocate one school over the other. I was merely pointing out that both schools have their relative strengths, and students should presumably choose based upon their particular interests.</p>

<p>hippos2718 quotes me, but it is interesting where he stops. He is my entire point 4:</p>

<p>“4) Harvard is weak in some academic areas, whereas Stanford probably is not. For instance, Stanford probably has the top statistics department in the world. Harvard’s is far weaker. Stanford is very good in engineering. Harvard much less so, perhaps due to the impact of MIT. Such departments may or may not be relevant for you. Of course, Harvard has many top departments (classics, economics, etc.).”</p>

<p>Hippo conveniently stops quoting immediately before my point about engineering. Here’s why. I just took a look at US News & World Report. It is one ranking which is easy to get. I’m too cheap to pay for the full rankings, so I’m limited to the top ten departments.</p>

<p>Here are the results: Aerospace: Stanford #3, Harvard not ranked
Biomedical: Stanford # 8, Harvard not ranked
Chem: Stanford # 5, Harvard not ranked
Civil: Stanford #3, Harvard not ranked
EE: Stanford #2, Harvard not ranked
Envir: Stanford #1, Harvard not ranked
Industrial: Stanford #4, Harvard not ranked
Materials: Stanford #6, Harvard not ranked</p>

<p>I guess we can see why Hippo didn’t mention engineering.</p>

<p>Perhaps I was a little harsh on Harvard’s statistics. It is true that US NWR has Stanford at #1 and Harvard at #3. Like datalook, I am a statistician. I too was surprised at Harvard’s ranking. Stanford clearly dominates, at least among professional statisticians. Other rankings seem to agree. For example, Phd.org has Stanford at #1, Harvard at #7; a NRC 1995 ranking also has Stanford at #1 and Harvard at #7.</p>

<p>Again, my reason for posting all of this is not to knock Harvard. It is merely to say that no school is tops in everything. The right school for one person is the wrong school for another person.</p>

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<p>To be honest, I didn’t read most of this page. I didn’t mean to start another useless argument when I was looking for input, citing facts that can be easily manipulated. This site had a good purpose, originally, but it has lost it. </p>

<p>If anyone cares, I chose Stanford. This is why:</p>

<p>The people are awesome.
The academics are incredible.
The weather :slight_smile:
To me, it is the epitome of innovation.
To me, it is the new way, while the east coast is the old way.</p>

<p>I’m done with this site. It is a complete waste of time, and “truth” tends to be found by consensus opinion. If that were true, then I’d be thanking Apollo for the beautiful weather at Admit Weekend.</p>

<p>Peace out, and good luck to all!</p>

30

<p>Congrats.</p>

<p>

people tried to let you know. </p>

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Who is the next victim? :)</p>

<p>

How was it, besides the weather?</p>

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<p>Fantastic. :D</p>