<p>Harvard, all the wayyyyy.</p>
<p>Have all you Harvard worshippers ever taken the time to get to know actual Harvard graduates? I hang with a few, and don’t find them any different from the grads I know and work with from YPSM, NU, Berkeley, UCLA, etc.</p>
<p>Harvard graduates are not any different than any other college graduate with the same native intelligence. They could go to Wisconsin or Iowa State, it doesnt matter. The difference is in the penache and marketability of a college diploma and the expectations of employers and others thereafter. I know people who turned down the Morehead to go to Yale. It happens. But its an entirely subjective decision, based on each person’s personality and what they want out of a college experience. Honors at UNC is prestigious and its hard work. Harvard is prestigious and hard work. Who gets the job on WallStreet or into Grad School of their choice? Not a clear answer here. Depends on the student and their ability to package themselves to prospective employers and others.</p>
<p>Of course most of these threads are people fishing for accolades and braggadocio covered in faux humility. I congratulate the winners and perhaps they do have a tough decision to make, which I can fully empathize with…very, very tough call. BUT…expecting total strangers on CC to help you decide is a bit disingenuous. So make your decision, best of luck to you and be on your way. Then buy the gear of the school you select and don’t look backwards.</p>
<p>I went to one of HYPSM, absolutely loved it and wouldn’t trade it for anything but it seems like most people here are still pointlessly obsessed with the concept of prestige. </p>
<p>First off the Morehead/UNC is incredibly prestigious. Moreheads probably do better with respect to graduate school admissions not only because the program is well recognized (you’ll soon realize that almost everyone at top grad programs was either ivy/stanford/mit /aws or a state honors program) because their grades will likely be higher. It is also much easier to win a Rhodes/Marshall/etc. as a Morehead than it is from HYPSM.</p>
<p>Second, do not discount the fact that your social life at UNC is invariably going to be better. Of HYPSM, YPS have a solid social scene but Harvard quite possibly has the worst social scene of any college I’ve ever been to. I’m not trying to bash the school (and I have no reason to since I went to grad school there) but the social scene is just devoid of life. Unless you’re part of one of the finals clubs (which incidentally seem far more elitist than anything at YPSM), there really isn’t much to do. At UNC, you’ll get UNC’s awesome party scene/great sports/etc. I can’t speak for the value you place on this but it was a major concern for me when I was picking schools and its not something to be underestimated. </p>
<p>Finally, I can’t help but urge you to reconsider only spending 2 years if you do the Morehead. College is literally the best time of your life, there is absolutely no reason to get through it faster than necessary. If you’ve completed your necessary credits, do more, there is no reason to rush through it.</p>
<p>In the end, you can’t go wrong with either choice. If I came off as relatively anti-Harvard thats just because it seems like other posters here are more than happy to wave the pro-H flag. Just make sure to consider your options carefully, don’t let pointless notions of prestige cloud your judgement.</p>
<p>You should pick the college you want, not the scholarship.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that if you are on full-ride FA at Harvard, you are eligible for a myriad of grants for summer travel all over the world, so I wouldn’t use the $5K summer stipend as the determining factor.</p>
<p>I’m biased (my D goes to H), but I cannot imagine giving up the opportunity to attend H for free over UNC for 2 years. H has world-wide recognition as the best university in the world. Here on the West Coast, I’m pretty sure a fair percentage of people would not even know what “UNC” stands for. (I don’t mean to denigrate the fine school, just stating the facts). Yes, prestige isn’t everything, but it can make a difference in this economy. If joe-blow employer is hiring, which do you think he would prefer to be able to include on his firm’s website resume - a Harvard or UNC grad?</p>
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<p>I would select Harvard.</p>
<p>How can that possibly tell you anything? It is what my preference would be, it doesn’t mean that is what you should choose.</p>
<p>I don’t see how I can possibly help you. I can’t for the life of me figure out why someone would turn down a free ride at Harvard. Everyone I know who has turned down Harvard has done it either for financial reasons or to go somewhere equally prestigious like Stanford or Princeton or Yale.</p>
<p>There is that word, prestige, again. You’re right, a person should not choose a college based on prestige. That’s what I’ve always said before but as much as I believe that I still can’t see turning down a free-ride at Harvard.</p>
<p>OMG, this thread reminds me so much of when I was in high school, and I was trying to decide between Springfield College and Leicester Junior College, neither of which offered me a dime!!</p>
<p>The obvious answer is Harvard, but if the thought of getting out of college in two years is appealing to you, you may not be a good fit for the Harvard culture. To be a Harvard student is to be totally immersed in undergraduate life and to hate the prospect of having to miss out on something good. Most Harvard students I know are sorry that they “only” have four years there - wanting to leave early isn’t usually part of the equation.</p>
<p>Just from what I heard, Harvard is not fun. If you are the type of person who likes a school like UNC, let alone “LOVES” UNC, then you’ll probably hate Harvard. And the opportunity to be in an environment like UNC and have everything paid for and enough credits to take only courses that interest you??? I cannot stress the value of that enough. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t/didn’t choose Harvard undergrad over any top tier school were finances equal. Have you spoken to any current Harvard students about the aspect of college life that interests you?</p>
<p>I’ve got two daughters at Harvard who think it’s a blast. So do most of their friends. They find it the most awesome experience of their lives, though it’s probably not for everyone. </p>
<p>It depends upon your definition of “fun” and “social life.” Blow-out keggers with people hooking up in the alley out back? It’s there, to be sure, but it’s not what characterizes social life at Harvard. </p>
<p>If you would find it fun to be involved in a half dozen major ECs with friends who are all world-class at something, to go to all your own events plus all the events of your friends’ other ECs, then go out for dessert or drinks in the Square or ride the subway 10mjnutes to clubs in Bosyon where there are students from lots of different colleges, then Harvard is the most exciting place you could be. </p>
<p>One poster suggested that he knew there to be no social life at Harvard because he’d gone to grad school there. The essence of the Harvard social life would be largely invisible to a grad student because it takes place within each of the 12 residential colleges and within the organizations. I would have found it exhilarating as an undergrad, but then I was never that keen on the huge elbow-to-elbow, bar-based scene.</p>
<p>So what choice did you end up making</p>
<p>I seriously hope this thread is flame. Seriously.</p>
<p>^ Most likely, it’s not. This choice (or a similar one) happens for pretty much every Morehead-Cain acceptee. Not all of them will get a free ride to whatever non-UNC school they’re considering, but the people who become Morehead-Cain scholars almost always turn down a top 20 school for the program. I’m not saying it’s definite this thread is true (it is on CC, after all), but it’s more plausible than, say, Harvard or McNeese State.</p>
<p>Also, count me in the Morehead-Cain camp. Incredible advising, alumni network and monetary benefits, plus the better social life and sports devotion at UNC.</p>
<p>^Which is probably why they shouldn’t have attended Harvard to begin wth. If they can’t make such a simple decision, they should end up with a UNC degree.</p>
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Haha did you go to Duke?;)</p>