<p>I'd choose stanford any day.</p>
<p>I must add the following, of the 7/9 kids from my school that got into Yale, all 7 are still applying to Stanford (sucks for me =( )!</p>
<p>pcrisp: youre wrong. It's absolutely true/</p>
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In many ways, this is a supremely silly thread.
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<p>Can't agree more. To those accepted EA, some of whom will likely be accepted at Harvard or any other of Stanford's close competitors such as Yale, Princeton, or MIT, I won't tell you to just pick Stanford. Actually to be honest, I think it would be hard to give objective reasons that really hold clout (outside of special interest, like a certain Professor) for you to pick Stanford over HYPM, so I won't do that either. Nor will I resort to cross-admit statistics or yield, cause those are pretty useless statistics, especially here. What I will tell you is this, if there is any chance at all that you may pick one of those schools over Stanford, apply to them RD. If you are lucky/fortunate enough to get offers from both, visit each school for a few days, pay close attention to the impressions you get of each and if you could envision yourself spending the next 4 years there. If, at that point, you are still undecided, then perhaps it might be fruitful to discuss the minutia that separates Stanford and Harvard.</p>
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YPS all offer superior undergrad experiences. I think Y is best for a myriad of reasons, but I'd defend YPS over H any day of the week.
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<p>YP? Really? Undergrad experience = highly overrated.</p>
<p>Well, since you apply SCEA, you obviously wanted Stanford more than any other school? It has to be your first choice school since you did "check" off. If you can't decide, flip a coin? :P</p>
<p>^^ agreed. Barring financial aid, why would you want to go elsewhere, since Stanford's your first choice? Unless, of course, you applied to Stanford's single-choice early action program without it being your first choice...</p>
<p>Well Stanford is early action for a reason and it's not just for financial aid. You have to sign that it is your first choice when you apply, not when you get admitted.</p>
<p>Should you actually have the happy choice of Harvard vs. Stanford, I'd recommend that you invoke the Chelsea Clinton Rule and go to the one that is farthest from where you live and most different from your previous experience. If you are an east coast kid choose Stanford. If you are a west coast kid choose Harvard.</p>
<p>Both are great schools and will give you four years of exposure to the other side of the country - broaden your experiences and expand your view. Try new things, meet new kinds of people, eat new food, and experience new weather.</p>
<p>I feel your pain, but I'm trying to decide between Stanford and Yale and I already got into both :(</p>
<p>How's that possible?</p>
<p>Recruiting perhaps?</p>
<p>^uh ohh.... somebody didn't follow SCEA protocol o_0</p>
<p>AWWWWW HERE IT GOES </p>
<p>lol @ public confessions</p>
<p>'chocolategurrrl' is a troll</p>
<p>Yeah, she's definitely a troll... don't listen to her.</p>
<p>I’m a current Harvard grad student and cannot speak highly enough of my experience here.</p>
<p>LIFESTYLE: I’m a city guy, so I love that the campus is situated next to Boston (on the other side of the Charles River) and all that it has to offer: museums, cafes, hip bars, etc. Cambridge is also a charming town. Palo Alto is beautiful but I’ve heard that there is not much to do outside of the university gates. </p>
<p>WEATHER: Palo Alto is definitely a better place to be from December - February, when the temperature here is between 25-40F. Aside from those three months, however, the weather is quite pleasant. </p>
<p>STUDENTS: The stereotype of the arrogant and self-centered Harvard student is inaccurate. In the 70s, the stereotypical Harvard student was a scruffy, disheveled, artsy intellectual. The change may have been due to the 90s movie Good Will Hunting (shrug). I cannot really point to one Harvard personality type … the only unifying characteristic is that people are extremely smart, hardworking and successful in their respective disciplines. </p>
<p>ACADEMICS: The undergrads here are very impressive. I’ve noticed that juniors and seniors tend to have a solid command of most of the academic literature of their fields, which in my experience usually occurs in graduate school for students at other institutions. Most of the professors here are some of the top thinkers in their fields worldwide. It’s a good place to be.</p>
<p>RANKINGS: There are three or four global rankings of universities, and Harvard is #1 in all of them. </p>
<p>NETWORK: I was in SE Asia last summer for an internship, and was able to meet with more than 25 senior executives and other elites, mostly, I think, because I mentioned in my introductory email that I’m a Harvard student. This is very annoying, I agree, but it can be helpful. According to the NYTimes, Harvard also has the most powerful alumni network of any university.</p>
<p>Community College FTW! I had a friend that went to Princeton and he is making as much as me. Only, I had 30k of debt, he has way over 100k. College is more about you, and less about the facilities / staff. Go somewhere that is Tire 1, and that should be plenty for you.</p>