<p>Greetings from Italy. Applying this year.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>Yeah, most people turn down Harvard for the other Ivies but 80% is SO much compared to schools like UChicago which have like a 30% yield b/c most of their applicants get into other Ivies. I think Harvard has the highest yield of any school, and the other Ivies and Stanford have numbers right below it. A girl I know turned down Harvard for Stanford and I thought she was crazy, but I just don’t see Stanford’s appeal so I am biased.</p>
<p>Penn is my absolute first choice so if I get accepted there I would happily make room for someone else to go to Harvard. But then, I’m not even getting accepted to H so I won’t be taking up space in the first place hahah.</p>
<p>Hey you guys! Applying as well. </p>
<p>And if I got in there, and to Columbia as well, I would choose the latter most likely. Believe it or not!</p>
<p>Hi Obstinate, have you applied ED to Columbia? </p>
<p>EDIT: weirdly worded.</p>
<p>
I would turn down Harvard for MIT or Stanford.</p>
<p>I did, but had to pull out last-minute due to a misunderstanding (finances-related) with my non-custodial parent.</p>
<p>Otherwise I wouldn’t be applying!</p>
<p>hey anonymous, nice to “see” you too.</p>
<p>how bad is it that at my alumni interview, i mentioned not liking to read much?
My interviewer asked about what kind of reading I do outside of school and I answered honestly that I don’t read basically outside of assigned reading! she did say she was glad that I answered honestly, but she loved reading… Now, I am regretting it… any opinions? am i screwed?</p>
<p>@Obstinate: Oh! That sucks! I was just wondering, because you seemed pretty set on Columbia. </p>
<p>@Mynci: Well, I’m not sure what weight interviews carry, and if the admissions office would ever even receive this information, but not liking reading isn’t a good thing; if you do get in, are you sure you would want to study in an environment where you’d be “forced” to read a ton? … How can you not like reading? Meeh.</p>
<p>MIT is my top choice but it would be really hard to turn down Harvard if I got in. Good luck everyone.</p>
<p>Harvard’s My first choice 
it seems that everyone here prefers MIT, Stanford, etc over it o.O</p>
<p>@An0maly: You’re right; it would be hard. But I guess that would be the difference between going to a school because I like it or because of its prestige. Not that MIT doesn’t have prestige, but it is Harvard.</p>
<p>The prestige thing kind of makes me not want to go there though. I’d want to go to school where people go to the school because they love it, not because it’s Harvard.</p>
<p>Admittedly, prestige matters. It’s not like I want to look for a job and hear “You went to XYZ college? WHAT???”</p>
<p>I would have gone to Stanford over Harvard.
Xargon might actually have to make this choice. What a luxury :)</p>
<p>A lot of kids on the West Coast here definitely prefer Stanford to Harvard The academics at both are, obviously, outstanding, and the weather in Cali is… well… just frankly, sunnier and nicer than Boston :)</p>
<p>@Guiltybystander: Yeah :(. We’ll see!</p>
<p>I am applying to Harvard. I was admitted to Chicago under its EA program so I do have a very good backup that I would be more than happy to attend. I truly believe that Chicago has the fastest growing reputation in higher education.</p>
<p>This is the most anti-Harvard thread you could imagine for a prospective students thread on the whole of CC! </p>
<p>So, okay, who here actually likes Harvard? Have you visited? What did you think? Didn’t you guys just love the place? Any particular professors you’d love to be taught by? </p>
<p>Or lets get to know each other then: Any good books you read recently? What music do you listen to?</p>
<p>I know you people aren’t representative for the Harvard student body, because they all seemed nice and didn’t critize Harvard every other second.</p>
<p>I would never do such a thing! Literally. I am always defending Harvard to my classmates who claim it is “pretentious” which is TRES ironic since like NO ONE from my school goes there, so where are they getting their information from… I did the summer program in 2008 and I loved the campus and the people I met during my four weeks but haven’t visited since.</p>
<p>hmm i also have had no time to do reading since like sophomore summer where I did too much reading, coincidentally at the Harvard class I took (6 books in four weeks!). But I’m in a really good English elective this year and have been reading epic poems which is great. </p>
<p>for music I really like phoenix, passion pit, MGMT, TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, I’m From Barcelona and music like that with the occasional guilty pleasure top 40 hit.</p>
<p>what about you? what are your interests and Harvard praises?</p>
<p>Same here! People always bash Harvard. Even the air in this thread is completely different than in other prospective students threads. I’m surprised!</p>
<p>Anyway, you listen to quite a lot of the same music I do! I love MGMT and TV on the Radio (saw both of them live twice); my favourites are Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, The Doors, Andrew Bird, Neil Young, Bowie, LCD Soundsystem, Van Morrison, Velvet Underground, Dylan… the list continues and continues… </p>
<p>Books I can’t choose, there are too many I like! I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction and essays lately though… In lieu of the piles of required reading I have to do for school, luckily I can pick the books myself though! </p>
<p>I visited Harvard once this fall, I am an international so I didn’t have the opportunity to look around to long etc. I really liked the students. I was walking around alone for a bit, looking lost probably, because I was immediately three tours around campus haha! And I sat in on a philosophy class, which was amazing. I like all the opportunities Harvard offers best, and that a lot of my favourite economists teach there.</p>