Harvard or Stanford?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>This is the conundrum those who have been accepted to both Harvard and Stanford face. I've been accepted to Harvard so I am only halfway there and it probably took every bit of my past and future's luck to get to that point. If however, I happen to be the ~2% (or some ridiculous number like that?) who gets accepted to Stanford RD, where should I go? The two main things I am looking for are compsci and fun.</p>

<p>I know Stanford has the ranking and Silicon Valley, but Harvard is Harvard and has Mark Zuckerberg. Stanford is in Cali but secluded and Harvard is in Cambridge/Boston but cut-throat competition. So what do you guys think?</p>

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<p>Hey, congrats man! I got into Columbia over here, and my advice is to just go to Harvard. Save yourself the stress of applying, and focus that effort into something else. Before, I never had time, but now I actually go on KhanAcademy to learn physics stuffs I enjoy, as well as not do anything to think freely about my ambitious app. So yeah, reward yourself for once. It’s a different story if you need to play the financial aid bid wars, though.</p>

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<p>Nice! I’ve already applied to Stanford so my post-apps euphoria has also kicked in, Just realized that in the hypothetical situation i get into stanford i have no idea which one i’d pick</p>

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<p>

Very few students who are admitted to either college are cross admits, so I wouldn’t waste time on hypotheticals.</p>

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<p>If you have the choice you will figure it out. </p>

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<p>gibby and NorthernMom are absolutely right. Last year, Harvard and Stanford were, similarly, my two top choices. I was accepted to Harvard early and then waitlisted at Stanford. I imagine my situation is pretty typical. Don’t count your chickens – and in the meantime, just go read all the other legitimate Harvard vs. Stanford threads. </p>

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<p>There are actually very few cross admits between Stanford and Harvard as they have very different applicants and geographics, and getting in RD is significantly more difficult than EA or ED in any school. Also both of these schools now take over 50% of their students early. Many students accepted to Harvard EA, are actually rejected from the other ivies regular pools. </p>

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<p>Cross that bridge when you get to it. </p>

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<p>Don’t worry about it yet… sheesh.</p>

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<p>“Harvard is in Cambridge/Boston but cut-throat competition.”</p>

<p>No, it doesn’t. This is a myth that comes up all the time, but people who actually went to Harvard don’t describe it as academically cut-throat. There are lots of team projects in the CS department, in particular. No one knows or cares about anyone else’s grades.</p>

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<p>Yeah, I agree w Hanna about the competition thing, I haven’t felt that Harvard is cut-throat at all (but that’s just me… I’m a freshman). Congrats on being accepted!!! Personally I’d choose Harvard out of the two (not that I personally had to make that decision, didn’t apply to Stan), but ofc you’ve gotta wait and see what happens before actually making your decision! (They’re totally different environments, but both awesome schools! You really can’t go wrong imo) Congrats!!</p>

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<p>I’d visit. They have very different “feels” in regards of location. I’d chose harvard bc it’s on the east coast.</p>

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<p>Palo Alto is hardly secluded…proximity to SF and Silicon Valley for tech firms/internships, the weather, and that beautiful campus… Hard not to pick Stanford. IF you get the chance. </p>

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A lot of applicants get the opportunity to choose among these great institutions. It’s a personal decision. In my opinion, the only bad reason to choose Harvard is “because it’s Harvard”.

My son was given the opportunity to choose and chose Princeton, but believes he couldn’t have gone wrong with Harvard or Stanford

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It really depends on what you want to do later in life. If you’re pursuing a medical career, Harvard is the way to go. If you want to go into hi-tech, Stanford might be the better option. They are both wonderful schools. It just depends on what your major is/what your study path is.

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What’s the rationale there?

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@goldenfygg: I’m with JustOneDad: that’s unsupported advice if I ever saw any. No med students out of Stanford? Really? C’mon.

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Over the years I have seen equal numbers of students choose Stanford, Harvard or Yale (of those who got accepted to multiple schools…not very many have these options) when it comes to being “premeds”…and, of those, Stanford and Yale students seem to have a “happier” time in a chillaxed environment than those students who chose Harvard. You must remember, “true” premeds are rarely at ease or not under duress during their college experience (no matter where you go)…but, it helps to be around those who are more chillax…

…and going to the OP…when it comes to CS or Engineering…it’s a completely different story…

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As I understand it, Yale grads have a 99% success rate with medical school admissions.
It’s not hard to believe as I am very impressed with the “new” Yale.

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Obviously OP is going to choose what they feel best with but it’s just that Harvard is in close proximity to some of the best hospitals in the country.