<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I've been lucky enough to be admitted to both Stanford and Harvard. I have been taking college classes for the past 2 years and will have accrued somewhere around 80-90 credits by the end of the year. </p>
<p>Recently, I learned that Stanford would take up a year of my credit (a classmate of mine spoke to an officer at the registrar's office during Stanford's admit weekend), while I doubt that Harvard will take any. (Although I plan on contacting Harvard as soon as possible.)</p>
<p>I'd like to hear advice on the benefits and drawbacks of attending both universities given that only Stanford will, most likely, accept the credit. I plan to major in mathematics, btw.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>You’re right that Harvard is unlikely to accept the transfer credit.</p>
<p>What do you hope to get out of using the transfer credit at Stanford (i.e. saving money, getting into more advanced math classes from the beginning, getting out of general ed requirements)? </p>
<p>Some of those things are possible at Harvard with advanced standing (requires ~5-6 AP 5s) and others just aren’t a problem (I’m certain there’s a freshman math class that will challenge you intensely if you want it).</p>
<p>I know a few students at Harvard who came with extensive math coursework - one had completed a Math major at UChicago, and another had done about the same about at Cal. Both found classes that really challenged them (and will certainly take grad-level courses before graduating) and see to really love it here.</p>
<p>Essentially, I’d prefer to get Gen-Eds out of the way. I wouldn’t try to place out of math courses or anything like that. I’m going to check with Stanford to see if they would allow me to bypass the Gen-Ed requirements with the transfer credit I have.</p>
<p>Doing Advanced Standing at Harvard cuts down on your “Ged Ed” requirements a bit.</p>
<p>In general, though, so long as you can afford it (and with the financial aid places like Harvard and Stanford give, hopefully you can!), I’d strongly encourage you to spend four years in school.</p>
<p>If I had graduated in three years instead of four (for example), I never would have been able to be on the executive board for my student organization, I wouldn’t have been able to have my awesome, life-changing internship between junior + senior year, and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to take the random/fun classes that have made college so enjoyable. Take your time, if possible!</p>
<p>EDIT: So I guess my point is, choose between Harvard + Stanford based on fit… not based on transfer credit.</p>