Harvard, Stanford, or Princeton for Computer Science/Applied Mathematics?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I am trying to decide where I should go to college! Of the offers of admission I have received, I have narrowed the schools I am considering to Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. </p>

<p>I plan to major in computer science or applied mathematics. I would like to be a part of a department where females are represented in the students and faculty. I also really enjoy humanities, which is why I applied to schools also offering strong liberal arts. </p>

<p>I have visited both Harvard and Princeton, and I liked both schools. I really enjoyed the environment at Harvard, but found the focus on undergraduates at Princeton very appealing. I have yet to visit Stanford. </p>

<p>I would really appreciate advice regarding...
- the atmosphere of each school (would like to avoid a pretentious environment)
- the strength of their computer science/engineering or applied math programs
- the rigor of each of these programs
- opportunities for internships or graduate school
- strength of their career centers/alumni networks
- accessibility to professors at the undergraduate level</p>

<p>Advice would be greatly appreciated! :)</p>

2

<p>Out of the three, Stanford is the best choice for computer science.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.thedishdaily.com/news/2012/12/06/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-guest-lectures-stanfords-cs106a-class[/url]”>http://www.thedishdaily.com/news/2012/12/06/facebook-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-guest-lectures-stanfords-cs106a-class&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This is beginner CS class at Stanford. Check out how well represented the class is. 80% of the English majors supposedly take the class.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.thedishdaily.com/sites/default/files/Ymd/zuck%20crowd.jpg[/url]”>http://www.thedishdaily.com/sites/default/files/Ymd/zuck%20crowd.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

3

<p>Stanford hands down.</p>

4

<p>Stanford…definitely:)</p>

5

<p>I would pick Stanford for CS, but Harvard is hard to turn down :)</p>

6

<p>Stanford. /end Only reason you would look at Harvard is just for it’s rank which is seemingly above Stanford.</p>

7

<p>Not to pile on, but Stanford! Best in CS and much less pretentiousness. Plus better weather.
However, both CS and math are superb at any of these three!!! So I would choose based on the other factors. Where do you want to be for 4 years? What environment do you want?</p>

8

<p>Princeton because I’m a contrarian. I like Princeton’s undergrad focus.</p>

9

<p>Harvard is a bit of an also-ran in computer science. Among the three, Stanford is tops but Princeton is a strong second.</p>

10

<p>For the criteria you listed, I don’t think there’s much of a difference among the three except for strength in CS/engineering, where Stanford is ahead. As for the atmosphere, you’d have to visit and find out for yourself - it’s different for every person and can be hard to describe. Stanford has a reputation for having an unpretentious atmosphere, with a ‘laid-back’ student body (though you should google ‘Stanford duck syndrome’).</p>

<p>You might look into the Mathematical and Computational Science program, which is one of the many interdisciplinary programs at Stanford:</p>

<p>[Stanford</a> University - Mathematical and Computational Science Program](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/group/mathcompsci/]Stanford”>http://www.stanford.edu/group/mathcompsci/)</p>

<p>Graduates from MCS do very well in both industry (esp. Silicon Valley) and grad school.</p>