<p>"Chicago and Columbia have an intellectual atmosphere that Harvard does not."</p>
<p>That's rather unreasonable. They're different schools, definitely, and chosen for different reasons, but in no conceivable way is Harvard lacking in an intellectual atmosphere...</p>
<p>And I really heavily agree with someone's assessment of columbia above. I love the school to death but sadly what turned me off most about it, whether you like it or not, were the students' reactions to my other choices. I had considered them much on the same level and expected the students to treat them as such- when Columbia stopped expecting to see me there next year so did I.</p>
<p>I agree with you about the value of a well thought-out core curriculum. If my S had been a different kind of student, I would have pushed harder for him to consider Columbia or Chicago. For Chicago and Columbia students, the core curriculum is the centerpiece of their education. For my S, the priority is taking particular math and physics classes in the sequence that makes the most sense to him; the rest of his schedule will be built aroung them.</p>
<p>Thanks for the discussion Sac, and I remember first going to Columbia and having the core explained in terms of giving you a common intellectual vocabulary and really liking that idea.</p>
<p>I guess my reservation though, and it relates to pebbles's point above, is that if even Columbia students are taken with Harvard is it fair to conclude that Harvard really does have a better group of students, and so to the degree that the community surrounding you is important Harvard's will be composed of slightly brighter (and I know I use that word for lack of something more precisely expressed) undergraduates.</p>
<p>Since they get almost everybody who they offer a place, if we assume the Harvard admissions criteria are more or less accurate in terms of who can contribute to an intellectual society, I will be surrounded by the best intellectual society at Harvard in terms of the quality of individual if not in terms of the quality of communal culture. I don't know if I fully agree with that, that's just what strikes me after thinking through the implication of the attitude of Columbia students.</p>
<p>Much as I love Harvard, I would not say that Harvard has a better group of students than Columbia! Sac's S, for example, was admitted at Harvard but chose Columbia. The pool of students who get admitted to either Harvard or Columbia (or to both) is pretty similar.</p>
<p>I'll bet the head-to-head comparison of cross-admits is 4 out of 5 to Harvard. That's certainly the impression I get when kids at Columbia say it would be ridiculous to turn down Harvard for Columbia.</p>
<p>Making a distinction in quality may be splitting hairs, but I'm not the only one to do it.</p>
<p>I'm also just not sold on the statement "Chicago and Columbia have an intellectual atmosphere that Harvard does not." -- I got that impression at Chicago but not at Columbia.</p>
<p>Ali G -- I would certainly not try to talk you out of Harvard. (We have people in our family who went there and loved it.) I would hope, however, that you don't choose it because you expect everyone there to be more brilliant than at any other excellent college. I certainly don't feel I have to defend the intelligence of students at Columbia.</p>
<p>Your statement about cross admits is true (I believe I made a similar statement earlier), yet I have always failed to understand what statistics about cross admits should have to do with choosing a college. What does it matter what other students in the same situation choose? In any case, a large number of Columbia students apply ED. Certainly, some of those students could have applied and been accepted elsewhere, including Harvard, and they are not even part of the cross-admit equation.</p>
<p>Anyway, different strokes for different (equally intellectually gifted) folks.</p>
<p>That sounds like a great decision for our son, Marite.
[quote]
I will be surrounded by the best intellectual society at Harvard
[/quote]
Even assuming that this is true, is that really a very important aspect in a college? This is especially true when you consider the fact that the level of intellectualism would be only slightly higher, if at all.</p>