<p>Praguer, this entire thread is somewhat presumptuous. One could put every ounce of energy they have into getting off the Harvard waitlist and chances are they still wouldnt.</p>
<p>Byerly,</p>
<p>Sometimes you need to give it a rest.
I attended Harvard, loved it there, but it ain't the freakin' Garden of Eden, Nirvana, Utopia, nor Shangri-La.</p>
<p>As to the question raised by the original poster...
True, Harvard is ranked higher in math and econ in relative terms... but Yale still has EXCELLENT departments that will offer the vast majority of undergrads all the same opportunities... maybe for the truly exceptional (exceptional even by Ivy League standards) undergrad might hit the glass ceiling... but that is rare.
And certainly, for PhD students who might need very particular specialties, it will matter...</p>
<p>But for the average Ivy League undergrad, Harvard and Yale offer virtually the same opportunities.</p>
<p>That said, the original poster applied early to Yale and was unenthusiatic about applying to Harvard in the first place... that tells me that the original poster probably has some gut attraction to Yale... kid, you got in... go for it... enjoy it!
It sounds a little like buyer's remorse questioning whether to go for Harvard... or maybe just the fact they didn't accept you outright makes Harvard more alluring... or whatever. But virtually every senior who had multiple options ends up feeling a bit regretful after making the decision. (I recall spending the entire summer before going to Harvard stressing over did I make the right decision... should I have gone to Stanford? MIT? What a waste of a summer.) I say, move on! You got into YALE! That was your original first choice! STOP sweating the silly, irrelevant stuff (like microscopic differences in prestige).</p>
<p><sigh> I wish Brownalum were here to take Byerly on. Now those would be great debates.</sigh></p>
<p>You will note that I offered NOT ONE WORD of criticism of Yale, or of any other school. Rather, in response to yet another reference to Harvard's alleged "lack of focus on undergrads" and the alleged "unhappiness" of its students (frequent themes sounded here) I simply stated the following:</p>
<p>"Most people who have a choice pick Harvard for an undergrad education. In the case of SYPM, 75% of common admits traditionally opt for Harvard undergrad.</p>
<p>They find it "enjoyable" enough to stick around and graduate at a rate higher than that at any other college or university in the United States of America."</p>
<p>Hey Justice~, I've got one word for you</p>
<p>MANKIW!!</p>
<p>(Go to Harvard)</p>
<p>O yea, and I never knew Jeff Sachs teaches at Columbia. For some reason I thought he was at Harvard.</p>
<p>And please, yale people, lets stop the Byerly bashing. Yes, he takes pride in Harvard, theres no doubt about that, but all hes trying to do is help a prospective student out with a very difficult decision. Never once has he criticized Yale as an institution, and to be honest, he has offered hs students more constructive advice than anyone else on this board. So lets leave him alone and give him the credit he deserves.</p>
<p>yeah harvard's DEFINITELY the best in terms of econ faculty, it's no contest. oh, and sachs left harvard for columbia a few years ago.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that my parents are moving to Boston so if I go to Harvard I'll be roughly 20 minutes from them. I would like to be close to them.</p>
<p>I am not being presumptuous. I didn't say that I would definitely get off the waitlist. However, due to my college track record (I got into Yale, Princeton, Amherst, Williams, Penn, Brown, etc. with no rejections) I think I have a chance.</p>
<p>Getting into one Ivy (or 4) doesn't guarantee you'll get into another (or the other 4).</p>
<p>I'd put money on you not getting in off of Harvard's waitlist, Praguer. That not a reflection on your academic worth, just the truth of the matter.</p>
<p>Well I'm also on the Harvard waitlist, and I got into Yale, MIT, Columbia, Williams, Dartmouth, Brown, Tufts. But that doesn't mean anything. It's almost impossible to get off the Harvard waitlist, since they barely take anybody. I don't think they even took a single person last year, and they waitlist a ton. So what I'm saying is that the colleges you were accepted at have no reflection on your ability to get off the waitlist. So I would just forget about Harvard and focus on any of the other great schools you got into.</p>
<p>Praguer...</p>
<p>Yale is not far from Boston either... only about 130 miles...
you can drive in there in just over 2 hours.</p>
<p>I agree with the posters above. Yale is almost as good, and the drive from New Haven to Boston/Cambridge is tolerable on the weekends.</p>
<p>I'm not even sure how to respond to that...</p>
<p>You see, Vivaldi--Harvard's football team keeps beating Yale's, so that proves Harvard is a much better school....Er, doesn't it? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Actually, Harvard does take a lot from the waitlist. Last year two of my friends got off, and I think Harvard took 80ish people.</p>
<p>This year, they're all taking 15-20, so in a sense you're right: we can forget about Harvard this year!</p>
<p>Vilvaldi, just let Byerly be. :P</p>