As a current Harvard student, I can attest to the fact that we do love to complain. In my view the complaints about a lack of social space are what the British call whinging. This is a university, not a country club. Budgets are being cut this year and this is affecting resources, courses, graduate stipends and even student numbers. IMHO there are plenty of places to meet and socialize and creating more of them should be far down the university’s list of priorities.
I am interested in your final choice, @howtobe. Please let us know what influenced your decision and whether you visited during the pre-frosh programs.
The accommodations in some of the houses at Harvard are far more pleasant than some seem to think.
The data on Parchment.com (which is the best publicly-available info I know of) suggests that, at a 95% confidence level, between 72% and 83% of students admitted to both Harvard and Penn choose Harvard. Assuming that’s true (and given that fin aid probably isn’t a major factor, since both schools give out plenty), I would guess that the ones who choose Penn are primarily people who are dead set on Wharton or some dual-degree program unique to Penn - which you’re not. In fact, the academic areas you’re interested in are stronger at Harvard by any ranking I’m aware of.
Anecdotal evidence (including this article, which a predictable group of CC members doesn’t like: https://newrepublic.com/article/120185/inside-americas-number-1-party-school-university-pennsylvania) would suggest that Penn has a rather more robust party scene than Harvard.
Your call - you’re very fortunate, is all I’ll say.
@DeepBlue86 That article was such a hatchet job and was derided by everyone. She took all the stereotypes she could fin,d exaggerated them and wrote sth not worth the paper it was printed on. Penn has a more robust party scene no one is denying that, but is it a party school? of course not.
Also agree with your observation about the few cross admits choosing Penn being mostly dual degree or Wharton kids, but Penn academics are comparable enough that if he feels that Penn fits so much better, then it might be worth it.
Emphasis on “some”, @compmom - other houses haven’t been renovated since they were built 80 years ago, and Harvard’s having some well-publicized difficulty raising the hundreds of millions of dollars required to do it properly: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/3/30/house-renewal-capital-campaign/
Yeah, I am well aware of the renovations. I liked the old ones better- found them charming. Eighty years isn’t that long in the Northeast. The accessibility issues are real though.
Some of the charm remains along with some new spectacular features. Old Quincy and Old Lev are fully renovated. All of Dunster is renovated. All of Winthrop + a new hall is almost finished. Lowell begins complete renewal this spring. Of the old river houses, this only leaves Kirkland, Eliot, and Adams, and Eliot will be completely painted and refreshed this summer. ETA: The renovated areas are now fully accessible.
You call it “charm”, @EastGrad - a student I know who I heard today, with his roommates, is moving out of Adams House for next year, calls it “mold”. It’s Harvard, though - in the end, I’m confident they’ll find the money. Lots of naming rights to sell (e.g., Otto Hall), even if the houses themselves are unlikely to be renamed.
@DeepBlue86, wondering whether the Yale Colleges are less moldy? 
Adams House has its Gold Coast along with fantastic access to the Yard and the Science Center; I would not leave for the world. Or at least not until I graduated.
I would say so, @EastGrad - renovations of the colleges began in the '90s, and all have been completed since then - some twice - to say nothing of the two new ones opening in the fall.
I love the location of Adams House, to be sure (I may have spent more time there than I’ve let on) but my impression is that at this point it looks better from the outside.
Agreed. Living in Adams is still better than being quadded, IMO. Regardless, I did not make my college selection based upon the “charm” of the housing.
And…maybe Drew Faust reads College Confidential : http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/5/3/adams-next-house-renewal/ 
X-posting what I said on the penn forum:
First things first, a confession: I wasn’t actually into Harvard when I made this post. I was just deciding whether I wanted to pursue the waitlist or not. I recently got off the waitlist, but for the class of '22.
Second, a conclusion: I decided to go to Duke instead! I loved my visit (hadn’t visited when I started this thread), even more than I loved Penn (which I did). My heart was never set on Harvard, and a gap year does not interest me, so I’ve decided to go to Duke. I still have the option of going to Harvard, so if anyone has a case they’d like to make for it, feel free, but I’m pretty much set on Duke.
Thanks for all the analysis in this thread!
@howtobe Never good to lie on these threads. How can anyone ever believe you then? I noticed this on the other thread and I personally think it is not cool what you did.
@hcmom65 Ok.
No. You won’t go to Duke. I knew it.