<p>This happens to be my first post after lurking for two years on these forums ;^). My son has been accepted to both Harvard and Stanford and he would like to major in Chemical Engineering. </p>
<p>We would appreciate it if Students/Alumni could tell us which school is better for these types of engineering? What you see as the non-trivial advantages/disadvantages/things to consider about each school? If you had a choice, which school would you choose?</p>
<p>We always let our kid choose which school he wants to go to. At the same time, we would like to know more prestige about each school, so that we can offer him a bit of advice for his decision.</p>
<p>My son is planning to visit Stanford soon but Harvard is just too far for us (we live in west coast). Stanford will give him some Financial Aids and I believe Harvard will as well. If you could offer us some advice or help that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks to you all.</p>
<p><em>I posted it onto both Harvard and Stanford's forum</em></p>
<p>Good idea is for him to visit both and decide. If you call up Harvard they may even give him some money to visit to check them out. Some ivys have money set aside for admits to come and check them out. Only thing is you have to ask for it.</p>
<p>As a Harvard freshman, one thing that I have found this past year is that people who are unaccustomed to New England weather can get pretty miserable. Weather does make a very real difference, psychologically. I am from New England so I knew what to expect, but many people from more temperate climates have a tough time adjusting, especially considering that it gets cold as early as October and doesn’t warm up until April. This leaves a lot of bleak winter days. </p>
<p>That being said, nothing is prettier than Harvard in the snow. I would choose Harvard over Stanford every time.</p>
<p>I’m trying to make up my mind between the two also. I spoke with a Harvard student a few weeks ago and they mentioned that if you are a student at Harvard then you can take courses at MIT. I plan on majoring in humanities, so I never looked into it. But, if that is true, then your son would still have comparable engineering resources at Harvard. I’d do some more research into it.</p>
<p>My S had a choice between H and S. He chose H because he is from the Northeast and did not like the prospect of no snow. He never looked back on his choice. But his roommates who came from warmer climes did not enjoy the Boston winters.
For chemical engineering, I would echo DocT and suggest he go to Stanford.</p>