Harvard vs WashU

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>I posted the same thing on the WashU boards, but I wanted to hear your opinion as well.</p>

<p>I know these threads are <em>extremely</em> obnoxious, but what do you think? I have a <em>really</em> good scholarship to WashU, but Harvard? I know so much more about WashU than I do about Harvard and I really want to make an informed decision. I plan on majoring in Biochemistry and Linguistics. Any advice or insight?</p>

<p>I will only have to pay about $8K to go to WashU and probably around $18K to go to Harvard (I haven't gotten my Harvard Fin Aid letter yet, but I based this on info from their website). There is also the (slight, I know) possibility of them matching WashU's scholarship.</p>

<p>At this moment, I intend to do Pre-Med and go to med school after graduation. I am keeping an open mind about things though because I am also really interested in music and languages.</p>

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<p>Go visit both places. Talk to the students there. Sit in on classes. Meet your fellow accepted students.</p>

<p>I was in a similar situation to you (scholarship at Duke vs. less money at Harvard), and doing the above made me realize I truly wanted to go to Harvard. Fortunately, the difference in cost was something my family could handle.</p>

<p>I can really only speak to the Harvard side of the coin, but some advantages you might want to consider:

  1. Strong med school advising and placement (>90% accepted at a med school, I believe)
  2. Strong programs in whatever you end up wanting to study – be it linguistics, or bio, or English, or African languages
  3. Peers with wildly diverse interests + talents, who push you to achieve great things</p>