Harvard vs Yale vs Princeton for Econ/CS/Applied Math

College Search & Selection
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Hello, everyone! I hope everyone has been receiving good news over the past few weeks. Congratulations to all.

I was accepted to all the Ivies, Duke, and a few other T20s. I am stuck between Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Please help me decide which one to pick! And if you have a convincing argument for one of the other schools I got into, please please share!!!

I am going to be studying some combination of Econ/CS/Applied Math. Also, I am very serious about music and plan to play in the orchestra at whichever school I attend in the fall.

Thanks and congratulations to all!!!

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Perhaps throw a late application into Alabama. They are literally paying for smart kids like you.

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I received a likely letter and was just officially admitted

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I did not apply to MIT either because of my interest in music

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Guys, don’t call the user a troII. Such posts were deleted. I validated at least a couple of the acceptances.

Answer her questions or move on, please.

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Thank you, I worked very hard and do not appreciate being cursed at!!

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What is your intended career?

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Go to whichever has the vibe you are looking for. As long as they are equally affordable, nobody but you should make the decision. Congrats.

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I am not quite sure. I am considering something in finance and perhaps quant

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but I am also very serious about music and want to continue with performance as well

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My nephew went to Penn if that is in the running and he is doing very well in finance.

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This post is believable.

If what you want is an amazing symphonic orchestra for those who are not performance music majors, you’re talking Harvard. Their symphony is excellent, has a wonderful conductor. Every school will have a symphony, but Harvard’s is at a very high level. Yale has a graduate level school of music, but I don’t know if they would allow you to play in their symphony. They do have a combined 5 yr program, with a master’s in performance music, if you’re interested in exploring that. Harvard has the NEC/Harvard dual degree program.

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Harvard and Princeton are stronger than Yale for a quant career. Harvard is more pre professional in this space than Princeton is. They have a club etc. Princeton manages as good a placement as Harvard without the club environment.
You really should target the more pure side of math for a serious quant career. Less focus on applied math. Don’t need the econ, although wouldn’t hurt. Sort of fuzzily need the CS.

Yale has the slightly weaker math, and somewhat more weaker cs department.

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I am not URM. Not that it matters, but I am a white girl

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Well, among HYPS I would choose Princeton because they concentrate most on their undergrads. There are relatively fewer grad students taking the profs’ time, taking research opportunities, etc.

But schools like Brown and Dartmouth are also appealing because of their high undergrad priority.

If I wanted a bucolic Ivy, I’d go for D or Cornell. Medium-sized city, Yale or Brown. If I wanted to be in a big city/urban environment, it would be Harvard, UPenn or Columbia.

What are your interests? Including things like potential majors, location, environment, vibe… will help you decide.

What are the schools you’ve been admitted to, and what are their costs to attend, and what are your interests?

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I am going out on a limb and say Princeton. Compared to H and Y, there seems to be an overwhelming focus on undergrads.

However, I think many of the other posters here can give you greater insight than I can.

And on the quant and econ focus, are you “sure” that’s what you definitively want? With the great schools you choose from, it’s all about FIT for YOU. And use the first year to explore all the things you can learn from these wonderful schools.

Kick the tires carefully over the next month before deciding.

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Wow. Basically exactly my thoughts!

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I have also been admitted to Georgetown, UMich, UVA, and Williams. The costs will all be very similar.

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I have never heard of a non-URM getting into ALL the top schools! Unless it’s because your family promised a building at whichever school you were admitted to, this is truly incredible. Unhooked applicants with perfect test scores, perfect GPAs, and very nice ECs seem to routinely get rejected by these schools. You must have some truly incredible credentials.

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You can set all of them aside if you want a quant job. It is MIT (which you didn’t apply to), Harvard and Princeton that are relevant places to think about. These have the strongest math departments, and have the best placement.

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