<p>If a prospective student is this talented and has their financial concerns all met, why would they consider it a plus to be able to complete college in two years? This candidate should be looking at college as a way to prepare to make a significant impact in the world, not merely as an expedient route to the necessary credentials for grad school or an entry-level job.</p>
<p>Harvard is Harvard for a reason. It’s the opportunity to have classes taught by Nobel laureates, and a plethora of summer opportunities, internships, and exchange programs that blow other university’s opportunities out of the water. It’s the ability to meet some of the most talented students from all over the world (Alex Zhai anyone? Not including many, many others). Being near Boston is also a plus, and would help make for an amazing four-year experience. Lets not forget some of the other not-as-well-known facts, such as being able to cross-register at MIT (a plus for anybody, not just science majors. Most people would be surprised to know it has one of the best business programs in the country). </p>
<p>Harvard offers incredible things to learn and amazing people to meet wherever you look, where as Chapel Hill as a whole might not match up in certain areas. After all, while Chapel Hill is a great school not every student is a Morehead Cain Scholar. At Harvard, on the other hand, the majority of the students have at least one incredible thing or another to offer. While Chapel Hill might pay for the OPs summer programs, Harvard might offer much better programs. In my opinion, a great summer program is much more worth it, even if it has to be paid for, not only for the experience and learning opportunities, but also for the amazing connections one can make at program Harvard offers.</p>
<p>A Harvard degree is a Harvard degree anywhere in the world, while a Morehead Cain means something to a portion of people in the US, but some people have not even heard of Chapel Hill. I know I hadn’t until I moved to NC from up north. I’d go for Harvard, for a great experience and an astounding amount of doors opened to whatever the OP wishes to do.</p>
<p>I was a finalist for the MC scholarship at UNC and attend Harvard now, so I’m familiar with your situation.</p>
<p>Going down to Chapel Hill for finalist weekend was a great experience - UNC is a great school and the Morehead kids are great people. You also get a lot of opportunities with the scholarship.</p>
<p>That being said, there is really no place like Harvard. You learn from the people who literally write the books here. UNC has a few superstar professors, but trust me when I say every Harvard professor is a gem.</p>
<p>Also, I didn’t really realize the power of the Harvard name until I got here. You can literally do anything that you want here (anything the Morehead could offer and more).</p>
<p>Oh and yes, financial aid is the best in the world. I pay $800 a semester.</p>
<p>^800 per semester?! WHOA! that’s great.</p>
<p>Harvard no contest.</p>
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<p>My sentiments exactly. But then again, OP claims to have received LLs from HYPS already.</p>
<p>I like many others, don’t really understand what there is to contemplate. Harvard all the way!!! I don’t even understand why anyone would think twice about this.</p>
<p>^because morehead-cain is harder to get than a harvard acceptance. and the alumni network is amazing. i mean, it’s not a no-brainer for sure.</p>
<p>^ I still don’t get it, why would it matter if it’s harder to get into? Harvard is still by far much more prestigious internationally. Every joe on the street knows Harvard, but if you ask morehead -cain , many responses will be what??? The alumni networking at Harvard is probably one of the best in the world. I suppose I’m uninformed enough at the morehead-cain, which makes me believe that nothing beats a Harvard education and environment full of bright students.</p>
<p>This question is a simple litmus test: Anyone who thinks it is a no-brainer does not know what he is talking about. You really ought to investigate and find out. </p>
<p>Every year, some rational people choose Carolina and the Morehead-Cain over Harvard, and other rational people choose Harvard. I suspect that the ones who choose Carolina are disproportionately people who would not get a lot of financial aid at Harvard, so that there is a huge economic difference between the choices, potentially well over $200,000. If your family circumstances are such that you would get full aid or close to it from Harvard, that huge economic difference is off the table, but there are still some massive benefits to the M-C scholarship (and to Harvard as well). I wouldn’t worry about generalized prestige, though. High school students are obsessed by it, but in the world it means practically nothing.</p>
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<p>Er… <em>cough</em> statistical improbability <em>cough</em>
Regardless, I think it’s sufficiently agreed upon that the OP should pick the school that he/she feels most comfortable at. end of story.</p>
<p>i agree with JHS. both are absolutely wonderful!</p>
<p>My vote: Harvard, without a doubt (since money is not an issue for the OP).</p>
<p>^ Oh… well, if THAT’S true, and money really isn’t an issue at all, then I would say Harvard for opportunities and the amazing peers you meet.
But I was under the impression that money was at least somewhat important, since the OP felt the need to apply for a scholarship?</p>
<p>Harvard. 10char</p>
<p>@fuzzyfirebunny:</p>
<p>I meant that money is not an issue for the OP because the difference between the Harvard need-based FA package and the Morehouse-Cain scholarship is, as the OP stated, just a $1000 stipend and maybe a summer-program fee. </p>
<p>Ceteris paribus, I’d go for Harvard, without a doubt. </p>
<p>I’d even give up five figures in additional scholarship money per year to be able to claim a seat at Harvard. That’s just my opinion, though.</p>
<p>(@Browniebaker - I gave up 5 figures of scholarship money at Duke to attend Harvard… never regretted it)</p>
<p>@just<em>forget</em>me:</p>
<p>Congrats on the choices you had and the choice you made! </p>
<p>(I suspected I couldn’t be the only person who would turn down five figures to attend Harvard. :-))</p>
<p>My S turned down Yale, Princeton and Stanford (did not apply to H) to accept the Morehead in 2004. He has never regretted his decision. In his class of 40 Morehead Scholars there were at least 20 others who turned down HYPS, including a double Stanford legacy. </p>
<p>The OP is not well informed about the Morehead because if he/she was, they would not be contemplating only two years at UNC. The summer experiential learning portion of the Morehead surpasses ANY study abroad program around in that for three of the four summers you can do whatever your mind is able to imagine from retracing the Silk Road on bicycles to meeting the Dalai Lama. The summer after HS which is the outdoor leadership summer is the only summer with somewhat designed choices but there are still over 40 things to choose from. After that, for the next three summers, you are really only limited by your imagination. No one EVER cuts short their Morehead experience. My son entered UNC with 43 AP credits which enabled him to double major and have a minor. Some choose to get a Master’s Degree instead.</p>
<p>The network of Morehead alumni is amazing and Chapel Hill really is a very special place to go to school…people don’t want to leave and when they finally do the go back often to visit.</p>
<p>When he was faced with the decision, a mentor at his HS told him that it was a no brainer…at Yale he would be one of about 1500, albeit a very select 1500, but still one of 1500. With the Morehead he would be one of 40 with the Morehead Foundation and staff not only interested in his success but also deeply invested in it. His mentor was very astute and the recommendation proved to be a good one.</p>
<p>He had an amazing four years, four incredible summers and had an undergraduate experience that many would covet. He’s now finishing his second year of Med school at a top ten school…although today, he and a group of friends are in the middle of a 14 day Spring Break European trip that includes Prague, Rome, Paris (where he spent 10 weeks after his sophomore year), Amsterdam and Frankfurt.</p>
<p>When asked recently if he would have done anything differently his response was; knowing what he now knows he would have not agonized over the decision like he did before before making it and his decision would be exactly the same.</p>
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<p>This is absolutely true, and also the exact same reason why, in the end, I didn’t accept my Morehead-like scholarship!</p>
<p>I went to a rather small, suburban high school where I was the “big fish in the small pond” to some degree. I really wanted to go to the biggest pond possible for college, to sort of see how I stacked up. I was also sort of eager to blaze my own path (and apply for my own grants/jobs/etc) vs. having a staff to help me.</p>
<p>Maybe those thoughts were a bit silly - but in the end, things ended up working out for me (my summer plans were limited only by my imagination, not $), and I enjoyed having 1,599 classmates, all of whom were way better than me at one thing or another.</p>