<p>"You can only go to one school, no way of knowing how things would have been if you had made a different choice!"</p>
<p>Transfer students DO attend more than one school. I met every Harvard transfer from 1997-2002. As a group, they are the happiest people at Harvard (with the possible exception of non-transfer members of the Veritones :) ). These are kids who shopped around and are able to make first-hand comparisons.</p>
<p>I had to choose between Stanford and Harvard as a transfer admit, and it wasn't easy. In the end, a few things tipped the balance for me. I love Harvard's urban setting. I love the randomized Houses and the fact that everyone lives mixed together for four years, without segregating themselves into theme houses, frats, etc. And I love that Harvard does not give athletic scholarships; it always bugs me that running fast can entitle you to attend Stanford for free, but no level of achievement at violin, physics, acting, writing, community service etc. can do the same.</p>
<p>But if it's at all possible, visit and go with your gut.</p>
<p>Harvard might not give athletic scholarships per se, but they still recruit athletes vigorously. An URM guy at my school got into Harvard, Princeton, Cornell and Columbia for football with a 2.8 GPA (he's going to Columbia). Yes, a 2.8.</p>
<p>Another guy at my school has a 3.6 and is one of the top water polo goalies in the nation. He got rejected from Stanford.</p>
<p>In its current form, I don't like athletic recruiting either, but there's a huge difference between athletic recruiting and athletic recruiting with scholarships. That kid with a 2.8 is going to pay full freight, or else he'll get the same need-based aid as the actor, the scientist, and the politician. At Stanford, a group of upper-income kids are handed $200,000 apiece in exchange for their contribution to the school, and the rest are not. If you believe that being nationally competitive in more sports merits that institutional priority, then that's cool -- you would count the athletic system as a factor in Stanford's favor rather than Harvard's. But whichever one you prefer, there's a big and important difference.</p>
<p>OTOH just to muddy the waters I had a friend at Harvard who transferred from Swarthmore. She transfered back to Swarthmore at the end of the year. :)</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations. My own background is that I recently spent 4-5 years at H & S (one undergrad, one grad) and am very familiar with the undergrad education at each. I've also had several close relatives at both. Here's my 0.02 about key differences:</p>
<p>H: The number of freakish "outlier" students (who have extraordinary talents in some specialized area) is probably higher here than anywhere else in the US, although I suspect the gap is shrinking. The atmosphere is very intense and stimulating. Having said that, many students are uptight and overly obsessed with external measures of "excellence." Perhaps 10% of students thrive enormously in this environment, another 10% simply cannot flourish when they don't receive recognition for being "the best," and most are somewhere in between -- my personal opinion is that this can be unhealthy for everybody. Boston is a neat college town.</p>
<p>S: No other university that can match its strength across the sciences, engineering, and humanities. IMO for decades, S has had a better understanding of "where things are headed in the world" than anywhere else, and they've been pioneers in technology and interdisciplinary research. Many Northeastern institutions don't even realize how far they're falling compared to a place like S. Students are given tremendous flexibility, and it is no coincidence that several have been at the forefront important innovations in computers and biotechnology - even while they are still students. There is a relaxed attitude that "education should be fun," but the down-side is that IMO 10-20% of students abuse this flexibility by taking it to the extreme. Campus life is in Palo Alto is qualitatively different from life in an urban-type setting, and people have different opinions about that.</p>
<p>Good luck, you certainly won't go wrong either way.</p>
<p>I am also making this crazy choice between Harvard and Stanford. I'm especially interested in the music (I play the violin) and the undergraduate research opportunities (I'm particularly interested in neuroscience) so if anyone could help me out that'd be great!</p>
<p>I too have been at both Harvard and Stanford, and while I see good things about both places, my overall take leans more towards Harvard than snack's does. Yes, there are people who were the best around in high school, and aren't in college, and for some of them this is a big problem; there may be a slightly higher percentage of these at Harvard but it happens at Stanford too. And there seem to be more Harvard students who are really excited about academics, which is either good or bad depending on your plans and interests; for me it is a plus.</p>
<p>That aspect was one of the biggest factors in my D's decision to choose Harvard over Stanford and MIT. She knew she wanted to live with students who were different from herself, in ethnicity, race, interests, etc. While of course at Stanford and MIT, one can choose not to live in a segregated house, there will necessarily be less of a random mix, if some students have self-selected to go with ethnic or theme housing. One particular concern with Stanford was the separate housing for SLE (I may have the name wrong, but it's the housing for a separate, especially intense intellectual focus). She thought she might like a lot of the aspects of that program, but she didn't like the idea that she'd be cut off somewhat socially from the mainstream. </p>
<p>Have things turned out the way she had hoped at Harvard? Yes, even better. She has kept up with many good friends at Stanford, and other than the weather, she has heard nothing to make her regret her choice. Her freshman entry-way has had an amazingly diverse mix of students, and as a result, her blocking group of 8 students for next year does as well. It includes a mix of boys and girls, Asian-American, African-American, Latino-American and white, a wide range of political persuasions, 5 different states, and a varied assortment of academic and extra-curricular interests. </p>
<p>One other factor that made a slight difference for her was comparing how easy it was to get places without a car. When she went to the admitted students' weekend at Stanford, it was kind of a hassle to get to campus from the airport via public transportation, and she and some fellow pre-frosh discovered that the on-campus shuttle didn't run at certain hours, like when they needed to get to the airport Sunday mid-morning. Getting to and from Logan Airport from Harvard is incredibly easy and inexpensive.</p>
<p>There were other things she preferred about the atmosphere at Harvard, but I'm not sure I can articulate exactly what her feelings were.</p>
<p>i'm facing the same dilemma. i'll be visiting both school in a few weeks, but i've still got some questions.</p>
<p>a characterization i sometimes hear is that Harvard is for primarily type A people and Stanford is for primarily type B people. now i'm definitely a type B person, perhaps unhealthily so, but as much as i like to just chill, i don't think it'd be wise for me to be in a place where my "laziness" would be accentuated/encouraged. thoughts?</p>
<p>in addition, i have found that basking in the sun renders me completely incapable of work (minus physical activity). on the other hand, cold weather is...well, cold.</p>
<p>
[quote]
a characterization i sometimes hear is that Harvard is for primarily type A people and Stanford is for primarily type B people. now i'm definitely a type B person, perhaps unhealthily so, but as much as i like to just chill, i don't think it'd be wise for me to be in a place where my "laziness" would be accentuated/encouraged. thoughts?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I promise, visit Stanford just once and this notion will be instantly dispelled. :-) I mean, how do you think Stanford students actually got in in the first place? The brightest students in the nation come to Stanford, and you better believe that they aren't lazy. Sure, Stanford students have fun and they know how to have fun better than any other school of comparable caliber, but they work just as hard as they play.</p>
<p>And for Harvard, I highly doubt everyone there is a workaholic who has no social life.</p>
<p>Visit both campuses, and you'll see which student body fits you best.</p>
<p>The label on the top right ("went to Penn") is misleading.
As it says on the bottom, the table presents -estimated- decisions, not actual data. Which isn't to say that the estimates are wrong, but they are estimates.</p>
<p>"You can't beat the prestige at Harvard. Ask any 2nd grader if they like Harvard or Stanford more...You'll hear alot of, Stanford?"</p>
<p>My goodness, that's ridiculous. I suspect most "2nd graders" would care more about their preference between Elmo and Barney than between two colleges.</p>
<p>"73% of top high school students in the U.S. choose Harvard over Stanford when given the choice ... they are not dumb, and they are not blindly following prestige, either."</p>
<p>How can anybody blindly declare that "they are not blindly following prestige"? The reality is that some are blindly following prestige, whereas some are not.</p>
<p>Stanford students appear much more laid back, but really aren't as much as they seem. It's called the "duck syndrome" and it's explained as everything looking peaceful on the surface, but really working their butts off underneath.</p>
<p>that nyt chart represents the surveyed opinions of a bunch of hs seniors who, when asked Staford vs Harvard, probably didn't have that choice in real life and probably did not research all those schools in great depth. so most of the figures will probably be based on prestige and other superficial knowledge.</p>
<p>No, the chart is based on the actual college choices made by the subjects. There had to be extrapolations because students didn't just apply to two colleges and chose one; they chose from several, and the model had to incorporate that information into college A vs. college B type scenario.</p>
<p>I'm not sure how one can publish a study "based on prestige and superficial knowledge"? That sounds like a real easy way to get a publication. Will you teach me? Please?</p>