<p>princeton....</p>
<p>Harvard. Everyone I've met (except for one person) says they wish they could've done harvard for undergrad instead of graduate</p>
<p>i cant believe the people telling him Harvard has a better name than Princeton...if you havent heard of Princeton then i dont know what to say</p>
<p>Harvard is the first American college :D</p>
<p>W&M people will argue with you there haha</p>
<p>my uncle works at amherst</p>
<p>hes a philosophy professor</p>
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<blockquote> <p>W&M people will argue with you there haha<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>If they do they will lose that argument. W&M's own website says they are second-oldest:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wm.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.wm.edu/</a></p>
<p>"It will be a great moment in the life of the College—and an unparalleled thrill for our students, faculty, staff and alumni—to host the Queen once again and further strengthen the bonds between the nation's second oldest college and our historic roots with the United Kingdom," said William and Mary President Gene R. Nichol."</p>
<p>hmm.
the discussion looks funny at all!</p>
<p>Princeton seems like a much more enjoyable experience and it's not like the Harvard name is so much better that you're going to be shut out of opportunities by going to Princeton instead. The impression I've gotten is people choose Harvard for the name and Princeton for the experience. Ten years down the pike, which one is going to be more useful for you?</p>
<p>"Harvard prioritizes its graduate programs."</p>
<p>Speaking as someone who attended for both graduate and undergraduate, this is completely false. The college is the heart and soul of Harvard.</p>
<p>Harvard undergrads are unsatisfied. According to the school's Wiki:</p>
<p>"In 2005, The Boston Globe reported obtaining a 21-page Harvard internal memorandum that expressed concern about undergraduate student satisfaction based on a 2002 Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) survey of 31 top universities.[59] The Harvard internal memorandum noted that: "Harvard students are less satisfied with their undergraduate educations than the students at almost all of the other COFHE schools. Harvard student satisfaction compares even less favorably to satisfaction at our closest peer institutions." While the actual survey results as reported by the Globe are open to interpretation, the Harvard Crimson editorial board opined that "we believe the implications of this survey are significant, and the administration ought to make satisfying undergraduates a top priority for the near future."[60] The Globe quoted Lawrence Buell, former Harvard Dean of Undergraduate Education, as saying "I think we have to concede that we are letting our students down."</p>
<p>The Globe presented COFHE survey results and quotes from Harvard students that suggest problems with faculty availability, quality of instruction, quality of advising, social life on campus, and sense of community dating back to at least 1994. The magazine section of the Harvard Crimson echoed similar academic and social criticisms.[61][62] The Harvard Crimson quoted Harvard College Dean Benedict Gross as being aware of and committed to improving the issues raised by the COFHE survey.[63] However, in the same article, Harvard Professor Harvey C. Mansfield expressed skepticism at the willingness of faculty to improve the undergraduate experience: "I think the administration has a commitment to improving Harvard, but I don't think the majority of the faculty does. They are the ones who are complacent and deserve most of the criticism."</p>
<p>The COFHE's study has found that Harvard's student satisfaction ranks among the absolute bottom of its pool of the 31 best universities and LACs. Hell, even the administration knows it.</p>
<p>Princeton, on the other hand, has only slightly less name recognition, but will provide a much better undergrad experience. Better access to professors, better social life, better treatment in general are all things that are awarded to Princeton's UG in comparison to Harvard's. Again, I am speaking in generalisms, so what I say may or may not apply to the OP, but these are commonly acknowledged views of the two schools.</p>
<p>Hanna, heart and soul is a relative matter.
Princeton, Dartmouth, Brown and the LACs are where undergraduates are almost the ONLY thing.
I realize you know Harvard and the U of C. I've attended both and I can tell you that in my department all the profs wished they didn't have to teach undergraduates. I steered my kids to two of the above named (Princeton, etc.) and they received a far better education than I did at Harvard or the U of C.
Don't think you have the proper basis of comparison.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Harvard prioritizes its graduate programs."</p>
<p>Speaking as someone who attended for both graduate and undergraduate, this is completely false. The college is the heart and soul of Harvard.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You may not have spent much time at the research-focused parts of the university. The faculty, endowment, libraries, museums, etc are the crux, in my opinion. Undergrads number two, and grad students a distant third. Treatment of the professional students varies widely from HBS plushness to the Ed-school ghetto.</p>
<p>I completely agree with danas. Princeton, Brown, Dartmouth (and Amherst) are my favorite schools.</p>
<p>Also out of all the people I know that went to these types of schools, I absolutely love everyone who chose Princeton or Brown. Everyone I knew who went to Harvard was either hyper-competitive, introverted, or socially challenged. In some cases all three. Probably a coincidence but still...</p>
<p>Go to the one with that has, in your opinion, a prettier campus. You might as well like your surroundings for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>Princeton! I think it is number one right now. It also, I think, has some great math courses too. And yes harvard is overrated. What about MIT?- Engineering!</p>