My son is a bright, thoughtful young man, a solid student (32 ACT, many AP classes, 97 weighted GPA) and also a world class athlete. He has been told he can have a likely letter from Harvard, but also a full scholarship from Notre Dame (we would not quality for financial aid at Harvard). Clearly these will be very different experiences. He has visited both campuses and resonated with both. We did not even have ND on our radar, but the visit and speaking to other athletes made it a choice he is seriously considering. Both have great resources for students, and at ND especially for student-athletes, Harvardās international reputation of course is the best, but NDās alumni network is also impressive. The isolation of ND is a downside, but not so much for him. We used to live in the Boston area and love it. Can people provide their thoughts on what they would consider.
@sololebow Depends on future academic plans and also your family income. If cost is not an issue (meaning you can pay for it and it wonāt really strain the family budget), Harvard seems the choice here. If Harvard will require a reasonable amount of debt over the four years, I would still say Harvard unless he is planning on attending med school, law school etc and hefty loans would also be required to finance that.
^Your son is looking at a likely letter from the H-bomb. Unless it is incredibly financially difficult for you to let your son attend Harvard, the choice is pretty apparent. Donāt let the smell of newly minted scholarship money distract you. A Harvard education is worth it (depending on what your son wants to do, of course, which you havenāt specified).
I assume that heās being recruited now because of his sport? Which school does he prefer? What does he plan to study? My son was accepted at both and chose Harvard. He really liked ND, but thought the opportunity post grad coming from Harvard would be significantly greater, no matter where heās located. ND has a big alumni network in certain parts of the country, and among many Catholic families, where it is revered, but the Harvard network is international and there is obviously no religious slant. My son also liked the urban environment of Cambridge/Boston, and the access to our home and to Logan for travel. Heāll also stay in Boston post-grad (heās a senior). South Bend is fairly isolated: no one is going to stay there after graduation, so students are not making local connections. Not to mention that itās quite a hike to Midway Airport. In my humble opinion, itās hard to choose ND over Harvard unless finances are a main factor, or it makes more sense for the sport heās playing. Your son has excellent choices - congrats!
Our family knows a kid who turned down Harvard for a near full ride athletic scholarship to ND.
Besides the quarter million dollars saved, the kid liked the undergraduate-focused student experience more at ND (traditional old school college, tight community, rah rah school spirit). Also thought the facilities, resources and support for athletes at ND were pretty unbelievable. Being an athlete at ND is a pretty good gig ā high academics, high academic support, high athlete grad rates, high enthusiasm/interest in sports from the student body.
Once this particular kid got past the prestiogiosity factor of Harvard, he just liked NDās undergrad experience more and thought he would do better there. Most people (athletes or not) donāt turn down Harvard (80% yield rate), but most donāt turn down ND (55% yield) either.
High class problem for sure.
if you donāt mind me asking, what do you mean by āworld classā?
I know someone who turned down a full scholarship to Vanderbilt so they could pay for Harvard in full. If finances work, I would choose Harvard. Itād give your son a leg up for the rest of his life.
Thanks everyone so far, he is not clear on career/major direction, pretty well rounded kid and interested in lots of paths. By world class I mean in top 10 in world in his sport.
I kind of disagree about being worried about finances. Itās worth it to get a Harvard education not because itās necessarily so much better, but because it will distinguish him from everyone else for life, and the peers youāll meet at Harvard will have better connections for networking. (On the flip side, the people who make it to Harvard are not always the nicest most down to earth people) Also Harvard has a massive financial endowment that can cover the cost of attendance for nearly all of its middle and lower income students. However if he wants to really pursue athletics as his career youāre going to have to do more research on the different programs offered at each school and which is better.
If heās a junior in high school and top 10 in the world in a sport American universities care about, why limit himself to Harvard vs. Notre Dame? Stanford, Duke, Berkeley, UVa, and Michigan all have athletic scholarships, too, along with great academics and locations he might like better than South Bend.
If the kid is top 10 in the world in his sport as a high schooler, it sounds like you are talking about the Olympics or something close to that.
At that level, you probably should be focusing a bit on which school is the best place to pursue that sport. So if the kid is a swimmer, he should be going to Cal or Stanford and not messing around with Harvard or any other school.
At that level of sport, your son probably values the coaching and competitive options as much as the academics and reputation of the school.
If none of that mattered, I would say ND based on finances. Work hard and shoot for a top graduate school if desired or āsettleā for an undergraduate degree from ND.
Once the athletic career is over, I think it would be nice to tell everyone for the rest of his life that he went to Harvard. But it really means very little as life goes on. In most lines of work, nobody cares where you went to school - just that you did go to school and are now good at your job. It would be much more impressive to have $250,000 in your wallet.