HELP. I'm ridiculously indecisive. (Rice v. Yale v. Harvard v. Pomona)

College Search & Selection
1

<p>First, I'm sorry for the length of this post. I'm just hopelessly confused and I'm hoping someone will be able to help me out here.</p>

<p>SO. I was absolutely floored by how well my college applications went, and I'm absolutely elated that I have the predicament of choosing between so many wonderful schools.</p>

<p>However, I was halfway expecting to get rejected by the vast majority of these schools, and thus, I was hoping my college decision would've already been made for me.</p>

<p>Well, now I'm looking at four schools that are all splendid, and I can't decide what to do. Anyone care to offer some insights?</p>

<p>ABOUT ME</p>

<p>White girl from Kentucky. I'm interested in just about everything (computers, English, piano / oboe, philosophy, biology, etc.). Personality-wise... I'm fairly down-to-earth, like having a close group of really good friends, like parties OK but like just hanging out in small groups better. My friends tend to be slightly nerdy or slightly artsy... lots of computer jokes, lots of video gaming, lots of drama kids frantically memorizing Shakespeare for their next play, etc.</p>

<p>I like learning and like studying, and can put up with pretty intense workloads, just so long as I get to do something most weekends.... and so long as I get plenty of sleep. I'm one of those weirdos who MUST have eight hours a night to function.</p>

<p>I'm fairly interested in exploring computer science in college, and if I like it as much as I hope I will, I'd really like to scamper to California / the west coast and do techie things.</p>

<p>Barring that, I may get into environmental biology and do the wildlife researcher thing in the obscure corners of Yellowstone. Or maybe I'll go with my love of literature and see where that takes me. Yeah, I'm horrible at career plans.</p>

<p>MY THOUGHTS ON YALE
-The house system sounds amazing.
-Shopping period sounds amazing.
-Seems to offer lots of opportunities for undergrads... study abroad, any language you could ever want to learn, etc.
-The Yalies I've met all seemed warm, nice, and personable.
-This was my top choice when I applied, but now I'm somewhat nervous. I keep hearing these rumors of cutthroat competition, huge classes for all four years, and distant professors. Any insights on this?
-Also... this may be silly, but I'm terrified that I won't be up to snuff in math. My math SAT was relatively low (690), and I had to work very hard in high school AP Calculus. Will I be able to keep up?
-Would I be better off going to Rice if I actually end up being a CS major?
-The weather is awful.</p>

<p>MY THOUGHTS ON HARVARD
-Um, it's Harvard, I guess.
-Boston is one of my favorite cities in the universe.
-A very awesome, artsy girl from my area went to Harvard a few years ago, and she says she loves it there, so that influences me somewhat.
-I haven't actually visited campus yet, so I can't really comment on that.
-Rumored to be even more cutthroat, crazy, and impersonal than Yale... any insights on this?
-Also, the low SAT math fear still haunts me.
-Would I be better off going to Rice if I actually end up as a CS major?
-The weather is awful.</p>

<p>MY THOUGHTS ON POMONA
-I love how I'd get to combine the benefits of a small liberal arts school (small classes and such) with the largeness of the 5C system... If I only saw the same thousand students day in and day out, I know I'd become claustrophobic, but I think having Pitzer / Mudd / CMC / Scripps nearby would help immensely.
-Students seem very friendly.
-Southern California. I love California in general, and I love the weather there.
-Anyone know how much students actually enroll in classes on other campuses? If I actually end up as a CS major, I know I'd like to take some Harvey Mudd classes, and I want to know how possible this is.
-I'm worried the lack of prestige may hurt, especially since I'd rather go into the workforce after college than go onto grad school.</p>

<p>MY THOUGHTS ON RICE
-Also has a house system, which is awesome.
-The weather is amazing.
-I've heard kids here tend to be more down-to-earth here... fewer super-wealthy-crazies here and such. Is this true?
-Engineering school is supposed to be pretty amazing, which is nifty if I end up in CS.
-Houston sounds like an amazing city.
-Seems a bit small for my tastes... only 3,000?
-Is it worth turning down an Ivy to go here? (Yeah, Ivies do have lots of ridiculous undeserved prestige... but that doesn't change the fact that it would really hurt to say "no" to Harvard or Yale unless I was absolutely certain Rice was a good idea.)</p>

<p>SOOOOOOOOO.</p>

<p>Based on my thoughts on each school and what kind of person I am, what do you all think would be a good decision?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

2

<p>my pitch for rice:</p>

<p>just in general: college system is awesome! you’ll form a very strong bond with the other students in your college. weather is good (but slightly humid for my taste). kids are pretty laid-back, but can be over-the-top crazy at times (in the best possible way). the engineering is fantastic, as is the music school, architecture, sciences, and pretty much all academic departments. the surrounding area is awesome, lots of opportunity for work/internships, entertainment, etc. there are about 3000 or so undergrads, and another 2100 grad students. i think the smallish size is a bonus: large enough to make a large group of friends from all over, but small enough so you don’t get lost, and you don’t have to compete for time with your professors.</p>

<p>you seem like you would fit well in any of the schools, but based on what i saw when i visited rice, it would be perfect for YOU. i met a few kids there, most notably one who turned down MIT for rice engineering, but there were plenty of kids who turned down an ivy to go here.</p>

3

<p>Here is the list of computer science classes at Pomona. As you can see, they list the classes you could take at the other campuses - mainly Harvey Mudd ones:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.pomona.edu/ADWR/Registrar/catalog/27_Computer%20Science.pdf[/url]”>http://www.pomona.edu/ADWR/Registrar/catalog/27_Computer%20Science.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Do these look like classes you would be interested in taking? Have you compared the course selections at the other colleges?</p>

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<p>Yale. You probably won’t enjoy Harvard because:

  • “I keep hearing these rumors of cutthroat competition, huge classes for all four years, and distant professors” is actually the stereotype for Harvard, and while Yale might have a little of this because it is still one of the best schools in the world, this feeling is far, far less than it is at Harvard.
  • “just so long as I get to do something most weekends” Yeah, Harvard’s scene is underwhelming, and most students have a stuck-uppityness that leads to an aversion to attending parties held by other schools (Tufts, Cambridge, the Boston schools).</p>

<p>Which means you should probably pick Yale. Mostly because of the “…it’s Yale” factor and that the Y Bomb is almost as strong as the H Bomb.
I always like to think that liberal arts colleges offer a much better education than state schools and all universities (including Ivies), and this is true (Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona - you will overwhelmingly have smaller and more discussion-based classes and more engaged teachers than at a university). But in the end, I would totally pick YPS over a liberal arts school</p>

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<p>Yale or Pomona. Harvard has the least satisfied student body in the ivy league. Yale has a fun undergrad life, great recruiting, a world class network and is hard to beat…unless you want a small undergrad focused school with an amazing liberal arts education plus access to one of the Country’s best tech colleges with the world’s best weather (Houston is not even close).</p>

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<p>Pomona hands down, amazing personalized education w/ small classes all taught by professors. You get the benefit of a small college in a large consortium, so you can meet lots of different people while still the small LAC vibe. Cross classes at Claremont Mckenna and Harvey Mudd give you an excellent range of types of classes.</p>

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<p>If you really want the West Coast in your future, Pomona may make more sense – Californians tend to be a little less awed by the Ivy League than people in the northeast. </p>

<p>However, you sound like your interests are all over the place (That’s a good thing!) Yale loves renaissance men and women, and it offers just.about.everything. And good food. And… you know… it’s – Yale. </p>

<p>PS With all due respect to Rice, Houston isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. And the weather is simply loathsome. JMHO</p>

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<p>I like your idea of Harvey Mudd classes on top of what Pomona offers. I’ve got mad respect for the people I’ve met that went to Mudd. Pomona? I only know it by its first class rep. </p>

<p>I’m biased toward Boston/Cambridge, but downtown New Haven has a lot to offer (far more than it did in the past). Between those two schools, it’s really what your gut tells you. Where you see yourself. </p>

<p>I did spend some time working for Shell Oil in Houston. Couple things. Houston is not much. It’s completely ‘white flight’ to the suburbs after work. Staying or going downtown for dinner? Nope. Weather? If uncomfortably hot and sticky is your thing, you’ll love it. I’m sure that some student do select Rice over some Ivies. I can’t imagine many select Rice over HARVARD or YALE however. If you pick Rice over these other schools be prepared for the ‘what the heck were you thinking’ conversation. Because by picking Rice (ignore pun) it’s going to happen.</p>

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<p>Honestly, Rice seems to be the best fit for what you want. But if you can’t get over turning down H/Y for Rice, I’d say go with Yale because its social scene seems better suited to your tastes.</p>

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<p>Thank you for the replies, everyone. Please, do keep them coming.</p>

<p>As for Houston weather: I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I would <em>much</em> rather it be uncomfortably hot and humid than freezing cold… Remember, I’m from Kentucky. I’m adapted to heat, but I whine when it gets below fifty degrees outside.</p>

<p>katliamom: Would Pomona really mean more in California than an Ivy degree? I only ask because I have a friend who lives about thirty minutes from Pomona’s campus… and had never heard of the school. Ever. When I told her I was applying, she was confused and kept asking why I wasn’t applying to the UC system.</p>

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<p>Everything you cite about Yale also applies at Harvard. And for that matter, everything you say about Harvard (except the props to Boston) applies to Yale.</p>

<p>My two Ds went off to Harvard, leery of stereotypes, and have found that virtually none of them apply. Among the things they’ve determined to be myths - unhappy students, cutthroat environment, lack of undergrad focus, snootiness, inaccessibility of faculty, huge classes - their experiences have been quite the opposite.</p>

<p>Realize that “man bites dog” is news while “dog bites man” is not. No one, on CC or in personal conversation, is likely to say “I hear Harvard’s pretty good.” A critique of a common-held belief sounds much more profound. And Harvard students aren’t prone to hyperbole because unlike the rest of us, who overly-extol our alma mater’s virtues in order to help it catch the next higher school in the pecking order, they don’t perceive another school to catch.</p>

<p>What have my Ds found? Basically, a vibrant and resource-rich college experience, with small classes, exciting peers, dinners with faculty, active social lives, famous campus visitors, the world’s most spectacular EC environment, and institutional funding grants for just about anything you’d want to do. And your Math SAT beats both of theirs.</p>

<p>The winters are indeed cold, though.</p>

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<p>Try to visit Pomona, Harvard and Yale. (With all due respect to Rice, I don’t think its quite in the same league and like Phoenix, it is very “white flight” as one person said previously after 5PM.) </p>

<p>I think you can find a niche at Harvard (as your friend did). Yale and Pomona seem more conducive to a lot that you are looking for however, but again all of these places are what you make of them. I have a feeling you might fall in love with Pomona if you visit, as it definitely sound like your cup of tea, so beware if you really don’t want to turn down Harvard or Yale haha. </p>

<p>Personally, I would go for Harvard, it is much more diverse of a student body then people give it credit for and I think you can find a place there.</p>

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<p>People who live 10 minutes away from Caltech doesn’t know what it is. They think it’s DeVry or Pasadena City College.
If you want to work in the CS field right after graduation, Rice would be your best bet.</p>

14

<p>gadad - That is a good point, and it’s true that the CC forums are predisposed to the Yale>Harvard (because of Harvard’s undergrad problems) belief. But please, don’t try to be condescending. A close family friend has one child at Yale and one at Harvard, and the Yale one likes it a lot better. And just like your example, this is merely a statistical sample of 2 out of thousands, so it can’t be taken very seriously (although if we want to look at legitimate surveys, Harvard does actually have particularly low happiness ratings).</p>

<p>middsmith - no offense or anything (and I don’t know anything about the CS field), but I highly, highly doubt that Rice is more prestigious in that field than Harvard or Yale. Perhaps equal, but nothing in the world is more prestigious than HY in any undergrad subject. In technology/math Caltech and MIT are equally as prestigious, in business Wharton is equally as prestigious (or slightly less so), and I would assume that the CS field follows the same pattern at least.</p>

<p>I think the OPs decision is between Yale, Harvard, and Pomona, with Pomona being a ways behind. Everyone talks about prestige not actually being that big of a deal, but in the end… well if it was me, I would regret turning down any HYPS school.</p>

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<p>I think Yale would be your best bet.</p>

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<p>Go to either Harvard or Yale. Rice and Pomona might be pretty good, but they’re a couple levels below.</p>

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<p>My advise is to go to Yale. Ponoma to the west coast=Williams to the east coast. Both are top notch LAC’s, but neither is known nationally like Y and H. A renaissance student would probably be happiest at Yale. You’ll just need to bring some polarfleece jackets , superwool liners to wear under your jeans, and warm socks. Layering is the way to keep warm in cold climates. But, if it turns out you do freeze there, or are otherwise miserable, it is more likely that you could transfer to P or R after your first year from Y, rather than the other way around.</p>

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<p>LOL @ menloparkmom… no need for jean liners or warm socks. Try a typical Northface jacket. It’s not too cold (and it’s only getting warmer! Yay global warming!)</p>

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<p>You sound like a perfect fit for Yale; but if you really want West Coast, Pomona’s reputation is excellent among those who matter. (Academically, H = Y = Pomona > Rice; specific interests may vary.)</p>

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<p>Rice and Pomona offer just as good of an educatoin as harvard and yale. I think it is a pretty ridiculous claim that they are a couple levels below. Different things are better for different people. What qualifies Harvard and Yale as a couple levels higher than rice and pomona?
Cause from everything that is written about Pomona, quality of education as well as life style are hard to match.</p>

<p>Have you visited all of the schools?
You might have a violent gut reaction to one or the other.</p>