<p>My son is making the choice between these two schools. Both are absolutely wonderful schools, and he is having a hard time choosing. It might help to hear why those of you who were faced with this choice, made the decision to attend Harvard. I am posting this on the Princeton forum as well. Thanks in advance for your replies. (He plans to major in physics/math)</p>
<p>There are quite a few “Harvard vs. Princeton” threads on this board if you search. Both are fantastic for math. Harvard is great for physics as well - I have no knowledge about Princeton’s program.</p>
<p>I think that it should come down to fit - and that really depends on your son. Which campus + student body does he like more? Does he like the idea of eating clubs (Harvard’s final clubs are much less significant)?</p>
<p>EDIT: 2,000th post… wow</p>
<p>For the record, Princeton’s physics department is absolutely fantastic, especially for theoretical physics.</p>
<p>I would say it’s a fit issue.</p>
<p>Not to mention that Princeton’s Plamsa Physics Laboratory is the best plamsa lab in the country, and possibly the world. Your son would have an incredible opportunity to do undergraduate research there.</p>
<p>I’m wondering what the climate in physics will be like for females at Harvard. We just visited Princeton, and physics seemed like it would be an extremely challenging major.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You must have no life.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I imagine that this is the case almost everywhere, especially at top colleges.</p>
<p>JMMom32 - Physics would be considered a challenging major at any school. The climate for females in physics at H is quite good. My D is a frosh planning to concentrate in physics and she is loving it so far. Her profs have been accessible and supportive. She has a large study group and the are very collaborative. She started doing research this semester and got into the lab of the first prof she approached. If you check out Dr. Georgi’s personal web page you will see that they long ago started to work on making physics more accessible to women and they appear to have made good progress. It certainly is a field that is still dominated by men, but H seems to be leading the pack in changing that. One of their most famous physics profs is Lisa Randall and she was a H student for both undergrad and PhD.</p>
<p>If i were given ghe option I probably would have chosen Princeton; they both are rich with similar opportunities but the Princeton campus is nicer in my opinion and I liked their class selection for physics and math a bit better than I did for harvard.</p>
<p>I loved Georgi’s website and his presentation on females in physics was so interesting and well-done. Thank you!</p>
<p>JMMom32,
Yes wasn’t that nice? I loved that too. Both these schools are amazing. Tough choice!</p>
<p>Update on the women in physics front - Melissa Franklin was elected the next Chair of the Physics Department at H. [Harvard</a> Physics Faculty: Melissa Franklin](<a href=“http://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/franklin.html]Harvard”>http://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/franklin.html)</p>
<p>i personally think brown PLME is a lot better</p>
<p>So, does anyone have to add something to this topic?
The dilemma is now for a probable math major with an interest in both pure and applied math.</p>
<p>I know someone studying math at Princeton and he absolutely loves it! Although, I am not sure he wouldn’t at Harvard, but he didn’t even apply there.</p>
<p>My S is studying Math and Physics at Harvard, and…wow. In particular, Math 55 was a unique opportunity - obviously, it’s not for everyone, but if it is for you, it is unique.</p>
<p>From personal experience, Princeton has one of the top math facilities in the country. When I was younger, I went there for AMC, and I was astounded by the lectures the professors gave. The faculty also seems to be more diverse than Harvard’s. I can’t say I know much about Harvard’s math department.
Anyway, I’m sure your son made a good choice.</p>
<p>College is far more than the ability to select a course or two (although my S is going to do 55 next year). It is, as Fitzsimmons put it in his Visitas speech, properly a decision that is NOT made by toting up tick marks in each column to arrive at the correct answer-- rather it is a decision of the heart – a sense of having come home to somewhere you had never been before. You know deeply inside if you belong-- and if you don’t-- the intellectual reasons are the window dressing we use to conceal that the decision was arrived at non-rationally-- as are the biggest decisions of our lives-- who will be our mate, who will be our closest friends. So in the end, it isn’t about Plasma Physics labs or Math 55 or any such non-sense-- It is, as Dorothy put it: “there’s no place like home.” I hope everyone finds their homes.</p>
<p>IMO, toting up tick marks was incredibly helpful. Columbia, Brown, and Harvard were my options, and I was feeling kind of stuck before any of the visits. I made a laundry list of pros and cons, and Columbia was winning by a ton. After about half an hour of working on this list, eyeing Columbia’s huge lead, I tore up the list because there was NO way I actually wanted to go to Columbia.</p>
<p>One of my more quantitative friends, upon hearing this story, told me that I should have weighted each item, because clearly Columbia was winning in unimportant things, but Harvard was winning in what mattered. I’m of the opinion that throwing it away with a jubilant “screw this! I’m going to Harvard” was more effective.</p>