<p>I got accepted to both Harvard and Princeton. I'm so happy that I got into both, but I am also confused since I have no idea where I want to go. </p>
<p>Which one would you rather choose, harvard or princeton and why??</p>
<p>Princeton hands down. Think of it this way: Princeton pours all of its resources into 4,600 lucky undergrads, while at Harvard you will get stuck with TAs (instead of profs) for teachers, larger classes, and 13,000 (or something) grad students that will have priority over you.</p>
<p>Well, maybe its not as bad as all that:) I encourage you to visit both places. Princeton's campus, by the way, is much more cohesive than Harvard's.
Congrats on two great acceptances, though! You are a very lucky person.</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptances!
I'd choose Princeton -- love the campus</p>
<p>Similar thread already under among the parents:</p>
<p>Well I'm curious what you are interested in studying…then I can give you better advice. Regardless, you have two great choices on hand.</p>
<p>I say Princeton because I think Princeton is better than Harvard. I suggest you visit both campuses. I don't know what you are looking for, but when I visited Princeton, I didn't like the atmosphere. OF course, I can not tell you what school to attend but I do think that visiting both schools will help you to decide.</p>
<p>Princeton is known for its undergrad education; Harvard is known for its grad and professional education. I say you should get a good undergrad experience at Princeton now and look at Harvard later.</p>
<p>
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while at Harvard you will get stuck with TAs (instead of profs) for teachers, larger classes, and 13,000 (or something) grad students that will have priority over you.
[/quote]
Wrong on all counts. Undergrads are the rock stars of Harvard, ask anyone. TAs do not teach classes, full professors do. TAs hold session, think study groups, to help you with the class, the homework, etc. Harvard's resources are $29 billion compared to $9.5 for Princeton, so even if you believe the grad and professional students figure in, the per student funding is still greater. Oh, and the law school has it's own endowment of $840 million, the Business School $2.1 billion, etc. As an undergrad, you have access to the entire Faculty of Arts and Sciences, not shared with any of the professional schools.</p>
<p>Bandit–I think Princeton may have a higher per student endowment (see <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_US_colleges_and_universities_by_endowment#Largest_endowments_per_student%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_US_colleges_and_universities_by_endowment#Largest_endowments_per_student</a> ).</p>
<p>It's interesting that this thread is full of Princeton students talking about Harvard's disadvantages. One wonders A. why they're reading the Harvard forum and B. how they know "so much" about a school they don't attend!</p>
<p>There are definitely significant differences between the schools (finals clubs vs. eating clubs, mandatory vs. optional thesis, location, culture, etc). Biggest thing is to soul-search ("What do I want?"), research (with more specific questions than "which is better"), and visit (beware, admitted student weekends can be somewhat deceptive)! And take all advice with a grain of salt. People (myself included) have agendas and biases!</p>
<p>If you are a current Harvard undergrad, could I have your thoughts on the following?</p>
<p>My son is a an MIT-type as far aswanting to devour applied and abstract math, as well as bio and chem stuff. But he wants Harvard or Yale, because he is in love with literature, politics, philosophy etc. Basically everything</p>
<p>Do you know anyone who is loving gut-wrenching hard science and math as an undergrad at Harvard?</p>
<p>I would recommend Harvard if you're looking for a good balance between the sciences/math and the humanities.</p>
<p>Thanks, and I am glad you are liking it there. may I ask in what are you concentrating?</p>
<p>Another thing to keep in mind is that a Harvard student can take classes at MIT (and vice-versa). It's a bit of a pain because the academic calendars are different but if there happens to be a class he really wants to take MIT is right there. Yale doesn't have this advantage.</p>
<p>I'm a music/government joint concentrator.</p>
<p>2011 dad: Suggest your son try math 25/55 and Physics 16 first term. Fill in with a year long Literary humanities seminar ( an education in itself). This would still leave room in the program for a language or philosophy plus participation in a choir or orchestra. Piece of cake.</p>
<p>Don't forget expos... bleh</p>
<p>Well, that could end up being second term depending on his luck.</p>
<p>I've talked to plenty of students from Harvard, and they all say that practically no one enrolls in classes at MIT. It's just too much of a hassle, they say.</p>
<p>I feel that one could learn much more from a Princeton undergraduate-focused education than from a Harvard education (though I must admit, I do like the feel of many big-name professors, projects and research opportunities that are abound with a not-so-undergraduate-focused school. Which is why I get so confused when I ponder Princeton vs. Harvard).</p>
<p>I really like suburban campuses over urban campuses, with the social life centered around the campus, and Princeton's campus is also just prettier. Harvard's campus didn't really do much for me.</p>
<p>Not a lot of students crossreg (schedules don't match up perfectly, taking the bus is a hassle), but I personally know 5 or 6 who have taken accounting @ MIT. It's definitely doable, if there's something you really want to take!</p>
<p>It's important to keep in mind that it's very possible to graduate from Harvard, never having taken a class with more than 30 or 40 people in it (obviously, this would not be possible if concentrating in something like econ, and you'd be taking the unpopular cores!).</p>
<p>Finally, Harvard's social life is definitely campus-focused. It's <em>definitely</em> not a "let's go clubbing in Boston" scene (although student groups occasionally rent out clubs). It's rather regrettable how rarely people leave the "Harvard bubble."</p>
<p>Hrteeexz brought up an interesting point about "big-name professors." I really don't know Harvard's situation, but Princeton makes a point of having big-name professors teach intro courses (a relatively unusual practice you would not encounter, according to a Yale friend, at places like Yale). This means even freshman get a lot of exposure to the big-names. For example, ECO 100 and ECO 101, the basic economics courses, are taught by Alan Blinder, Harvey Rosen, and Uwe Reinhardt, all big names in their public policy and health economics fields. Even language classes such as Chinese at the intro level are taught by our most well-known Chinese professors, like Perry Link. And Cornel West and Robert George (well-known constitutional scholar) teach freshman seminars.</p>
<p>I'll leave it to a Harvard person to shed some light on their situation.</p>