<p>I am a football player (2040 SAT / 3.8) who has the chance to attend Boston College at no cost or Harvard at less than $20k/year. I could go to Harvard for four years and graduate with a bachelors degree or I could go to BC and because I would "redshirt" one year would be in school for 5 years and if I do it the right way can have my scholarship cover my bachelors and at least 1/2 of my masters degree. I am really torn because both great schools but Harvard is Harvard. At BC I would be playing big time football, great school and no debt. Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks</p>
<p>Do you want the huge academic commitments and competition along with an emptier football stadium on game day–(Harvard)?</p>
<p>Or less academic intensity and competition, with an impassioned sports-mentality campus like BC? </p>
<p>Are you willing to give-up the lifelong crimson-hued Harvard aura and label for the one year of extra school and being debt-free? What are your long term goals–major, job, locale- and how much influence would the H vs. BC names affect them?</p>
<p>Nice dilemma, congrats!</p>
<p>It would seem to me that those are very different schools. You must have a feel for which one would be a better fit for you. I have not visited Harvard but I know football defines BC, but Harvard defines the college education. Have you been on official visits to the two of them?</p>
<p>I agree, nice dilemma! Good luck with it :-)</p>
<p>My two cents…I’ll make two assumptions. Your area of study is covered at both schools and you have a passion for football.</p>
<p>If you aspire (and have the talent, size & speed) to play professional football, go to BC. Their coaches, and program have a history of putting players in the NFL & CFL. You will get a quality education as well. If Plan A doesn’t work out (pro football), you will have Plan B (your education)</p>
<p>If you aspire to be a professional doctor, lawyer, business man, etc… go to Harvard. Your access to some of the best people in their field will be second to none. Alumni network is second to none. You can play college football, but also get one the best educations offered in the world.</p>
<p>So, “what do you want to be when you grow up”?</p>
<p>Just remember the cliche that there is no such thing as a free lunch. You will pay one way or another-- either financially (H) or in that you primarily have a job, playing football (BC). Regardless what coaches tell you during recruiting (think of them as high school guys looking for a hookup–they will say anything) you are, at the end of the day, a football player who goes to college not the other way around.<br>
At H your athletic skills will not be pushed to the maximum-- you will sacrifice that, not only in possible professional sports opportunities (and don’t let Ivy coaches tell you that they have have kids play in the pros-- it’s true but rare as hen’s teeth), but in seeing how good you can be.
At BC, if you have the candlepower for H, the same will be true in the classroom. </p>
<p>So which matters more to you?</p>
<p>I’m loath to say this but the rarity of the H label is something to consider. For your entire life, people will refer to you as “he graduated from Harvard by the way”. Your grandkids will be told “your grandpa was a Harvard grad”. In everything written about you, Harvard will be fastened next to your name.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to diminish your opportunity at BC – it’s a great situation for sure. But the cachet of an HYP degree is very strange.</p>
<p>I don’t know how that makes you feel. I’m a HYP alum and know that that “label” is constantly around – whether I want it to be or not.</p>