Harvard vs. Northwestern vs. Penn vs. Stanford vs. Duke

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Hi, I'm a Junior, and I am trying to make a list of colleges that I plan on applying to. Out of these (Harvard, Northwestern, Penn, Stanford, Duke), which best fits me? I realize that I should visit these schools to really get the feel for which is better, but I am just looking for some help nonetheless. Anyways, here is what I'm looking for:</p>

<p>-great pre-medical program (I want good advising to help me find research opportunities and internships, etc. I want a place that has great overall academics too with friendly and accessible teachers.)</p>

<p>-location in/next to a big city (I want to experience a cultural city that offers things from great restaurants to popular sports teams to fantastic shows. I know that I probably won't be able to see everything and will probably only go out to the city once or twice a week, but I want to have the option at least.)</p>

<p>-great school spirit (I want to be around a tight-knit environment with people of the sort. Also, I really enjoy watching sports (especially football and basketball) and want to go somewhere that has lots of school spirit and fans for their sports teams, which are at least pretty successful. I don't need the top ranked school in each sport, but entertaining, competitive sports would be super fun to watch.)</p>

<p>-competitive atmosphere, but not cutthroat (I like competition. I feed off competition in a way. And I want to be around competitive people, but not SUPER competitive people. I don't want to be around people who won't work with me on homework, help me out, etc.)</p>

2

<p>Columnia.</p>

<p>Stanford is pretty far from SF.</p>

3

<p>Okay, let’s go through this systematically:</p>

<p>Great Pre-Med Program:
Harvard, Stanford, Duke, and Penn all have top-notch pre-med programs, with the admit rate being 85%+ to medical schools. Other places to consider for pre-med are Columbia, Yale, and Hopkins. Teacher accessibility would most likely be highest at Stanford or Duke since Harvard and Penn are more grad-oriented and thus focus on their grad programs. You would not be disappointed in the research opportunities at any of these schools since all of them have top med schools and hospitals associated with them.
Best to worst: Harvard, Stanford, Penn, Duke, though the difference is negligible
Other mentions: Columbia, Yale, Dartmouth, JHU, Georgetown</p>

<p>Location:
Harvard and Penn are obviously located in major cities so no trouble there. Stanford is located in a wealthy suburban area, but is only about an hour away from San Francisco, so if you are ever inclined to go into the city, its within easy reach. Duke is in Durham which is one of the scariest cities I’ve been to. My AP Lit teacher who went to both Duke and UNC says that when she taught in Durham as a student teacher, she got death threats daily and the kids were extremely rowdy. Not exactly the best place to go on a Saturday night.
Best to worst: Harvard, Penn, Stanford, Duke
Other mentions: Columbia, JHU, Georgetown, WashUSt, UCLA</p>

<p>School Spirit:
Duke undoubtedly has the best school spirit of any university in this academic echelon, no questions asked, but Stanford follows behind pretty closely. Ivies have notoriously poor school spirit in comparison, but its not ‘bad’ per se. The Harvard/Yale and Princeton/Penn games are big deals, but you probably won’t be going to a game every weekend.
Best to worst: Duke, Stanford, Harvard/Penn
Other mentions: Hopkins, UNC</p>

<p>Competition:
Generally, the level of competition varies based on the group of friends you form, but of those you have listed, Harvard is probably the most ‘cutthroat’. I can’t speak for the others since I haven’t had the opportunity to inquire about their level of competitiveness, but I would assume that all the students there are very motivated individuals who try to do their absolute best.
Best to worst: I can’t really say, though I would assume that all are very competitive
Other mentions: Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Hopkins</p>

4

<p>Going to disagree there.</p>

<p>Yes, Stanford is about an hour away from the city, by car, but many Stanford students do not have cars. Stanford lacks BART. Buses take forever and a half.</p>

<p>UC Berkeley is a good alternative to consider. There are a ton of BART stations in the East Bay.</p>

5

<p>Second mostly what Lirazel said in this thread here: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1073120-harvard-vs-duke-vs-uchicaco-vs-northwestern.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1073120-harvard-vs-duke-vs-uchicaco-vs-northwestern.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

</p>

<p>Advisors at Harvard tend not to proactively help you find research opportunities. They are more than happy to offer assistance if you bring to them any problem you have in your own search process, but you have to have the initiative to approach them and seek out opportunities yourself in the first place.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Boston is kind of nice if you prefer the city atmosphere, but Harvard is located in the nearby Cambridge, which is more like a small, New England town. You would have to take the subway or similar to get to Boston. It’s not too difficult to travel from campus directly to New York City either, though I don’t think any people do that on a frequent basis.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Occurs about once a year, against Yale.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I think you’ll probably be happy enough with what you find here.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>I doubt teacher accessibility would be any higher at Stanford or Duke. Have you looked into LACs?</p>