<p>Hi. I am pretty sure that I will study engineering in college; dont know what engineering though. According to the ranking and history, Stanford has a really great engineering school. I was wondering about Harvards engineering. I heard that they are putting a lot of money into the program to improve it, but Im not sure about its reputation. It would be great if anyone here can tell me more information about Harvards engineering.</p>
<p>Also, I dont really know how the community and the people at Harvard are like. I have been to Stanford for 2 months for its High School summer program, so I pretty much know how its like there. For Harvard, I have heard so many things, like the professors are not quite accessible, the students dont really support each other, etc. I have no idea whats true and whats not. Please tell me more about the Harvards community.</p>
<p>I like Stanford and I know Ill be happy if I go there. However, Id also love to live in Boston, so Im trying to find out whether I would fit at Harvard or not. Please help!</p>
<p>If you plan on using your engineering degree, than Stanford wins hands down. If your degree is merely a stepping stone to Wall Street or some other form of business, then Harvard is the better choice.</p>
<p>Stanford has all the marbles in the engineering game and even Harvard admits it. Harvard only within the last few years established a separate school of engineering, finally acknowledging that being a purely liberal arts school is passe. Stanford was built from the ground up on “practical” concepts such as engineering and only later grafted on the liberal arts. Stanford’s engineering tradition is far, far, far deeper and more widely known. Harvard’s internal goal is to get to where Stanford is today sometime within the next generation (of course, by then, Stanford will be just as much ahead perhaps). In Harvard’s favor is a new SEAS dean who is an MIT grad and knows what it takes to make great engineers and knows how to twist the arms at Harvard to get it done. However, if you want to study engineering right now, you still need Stanford.</p>
<p>I don’t know about that. There was one rube on the Harvard board that insisted that Harvard had a better engineering department than MIT’s. They’ve got a lot of confident people on that campus.</p>
<p>My understanding is that Harvard has a (slight) edge over Stanford in terms of on-campus recruiting for investment banking, hedge funds, and private equity. Engineers (or Math or Physics concentrators) tend to be sought after by these companies because of their quantitative prowess.</p>
<p>In Engineering Stanford cleans Harvard’s clock; it is not even remotely close. But if your desire is not mastery of a field of engineering, not the subject itself, but instead using such a degree as a steppingstone to powerful institutions… then, comrade, Harvard is the winner [as Mr. Sheen has pithily phrased it; “duh”]</p>
<p>Last year my daughter faced the same decision. She got into Stanford in early action and later was accepted to Harvard. She has been to Stanford many times and really liked it. We visited Harvard in the middle of April and met many students over there. They were so friendly and intelligent. Later my daughter committed to Harvard. She does not regret her decision a bit. So make sure that you take time to visit Harvard before making the decision. I am sure that Stanford is as good as Harvard, but you need to find the best fit yourself.</p>
<p>Thank you for all the replies! They’re very helpful.
texaspg: I love studying physics, but I don’t want to do pure physics, so I think engineering is a good choice. I’m thinking about environmental or civil engineering, but I want to take classes on those before I decide whether I like them. I also believe that studying engineering teaches you the practical ways of thinking and logic, which are important no matter what you end up doing.</p>
<p>Yowman - As a guy who studied both Civil and environmental (masters) 20 years ago, my personal advice is not to do them unless you are seriously interested in that field! </p>
<p>Applied Physics is usually part of engineering and tied heavily into electronics and computer science these days. Harvard does some great research in that area. You may want to scoll through some of the articles posted on facebook.</p>
<p>I dont follow stories from Stanford but they were alma mater to Hewlett and Packard and so you can see they were in technology 70-80 years ago before people were thinking about it. Lot of their endowment money comes from their investment into technologies created by their students like google creators (A while ago I read a story where Stanford invested in their idea by leasing the patent to them on their own research in Stanford and the return was close to a Billion or something like that). They leased land to Hewlett and Packard on their campus and the HP still has offices there. </p>
<p>It also does matter what you want to do after your bachelors but you have nt mentioned a plan…</p>
<p>Is that really true?
‘Confident’ might be better replaced by ‘overconfident’.</p>
<p>Harvard’s engineering program is still excellent, no one’s going to look down on you for going there. But Stanford’s is just more well-respected, and has stood the test of time.</p>
<p>texaspg: Thanks for the info. I don’t have a solid plan after graduation, but I really want to work in non-profit organizations or start up a social venture. What do you say about the career path of the students from each university?</p>
<p>If you are serious about choosing non-profit after graduation, Harvard would be the ideal place. They have some programs already geared for that and encourage students to do good after they graduate, especially if they have given financial aid (I have read it some where that Harvard’s (was it Princeton) better financial aid package is aimed allowing students not to have any debt so that they can pursue their passion to become teachers, community volunteers etc.)</p>