<p>Why is that Harvard is more prestigious and often gets more "oohs and ahhs" than say Stanford, UC Berkely, Yale or Princeton? Is it the faculty? The students? I don't get it. What makes it so much more ...."WOW?"</p>
<p>Wasn't it the first college around?</p>
<p>age + location</p>
<p>and good research?</p>
<ol>
<li>All 3 professional schools (Buisness, Law, and especially Medicine) usually ranked 1st. Not so for the other schools.</li>
<li>$22.6 Billion endowment. By far largest in the world. $12.7 for Yale, $10 for Stanford.</li>
<li>Age.</li>
<li>Strong research in graduate Science programs.</li>
</ol>
<p>Harvard is far bigger than Yale and Princeton, older, and is excels at the graduate level in almost all disciplines. It's really commonly accepted that Yale and Princeton are better undergraduate institutions than Harvard, but Harvard College is still damn prestigious, and Harvard is also the top "one stop shop" for all sorts of academic disciplins and professional schools at all levels. Harvard has also been around longer than Stanford and MIT, so it has a huge head start on thoe schools.</p>
<p>
[quote]
4. Strong research in graduate Science programs.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What do you mean? How is it stronger than say..MIT or Cornell? I always never figure out what people exactly mean when they say "research opportunities." That could mean a million different things.</p>
<p>Harvard has 157 faculty members in the National Academy of Science, which is the most distinguished society of academics for science, and from whom most of the research comes from. The second highest is Stanford with 126 members. MIT has 102 members; Cornell only 39 members. </p>
<p>Copied from earlier post:</p>
<p>NAS: national Academy of Science
NAE: Natl academy of Engineering
IOM: Institute of Medicine</p>
<h1>1 Harvard (271 members in total, 157 in NAS, 15 in NAE, 99 in IOM)</h1>
<h1>2 Stanford (260 members in total, 126 in NAS, 85 in NAE, 49 in IOM)</h1>
<h1>3 MIT (236 members in total, 102 in NAS, 108 in NAE, 26 in IOM)</h1>
<h1>4 Berkeley (209 members in total, 128 in NAS, 73 in NAE, 8 in IOM)</h1>
<h1>5 University of California at San Diego</h1>
<p>(107 members in total, 66 in NAS, 16 in NAE, 25 in IOM)</p>
<h1>6 Caltech (100 members in total, 67 in NAS, 30 in NAE, 3 in IOM)</h1>
<h1>6 Yale (100 members in total, 64 in NAS, 5 in NAE, 31 in IOM)</h1>
<h1>8 Princeton( 97 members in total, 70 in NAS, 20 in NAE, 7 in IOM)</h1>
<h1>9 Columbia ( 92 members in total, 38 in NAS, 17 in NAE, 37 in IOM)</h1>
<p>Other universities :</p>
<p>Cornell ( 62 members in total, 39 in NAS, 21 in NAE, 2 in IOM)
U Penn ( 82 members in total, 35 in NAS, 8 in NAE, 39 in IOM)
U Washington ( 84 members in total, 41 in NAS, 12 in NAE, 31 in IOM)
Chicago ( 50 members in total, 40 in NAS, 1 in NAE, 9 in IOM)
Duke ( 51 members in total, 18 in NAS, 3 in NAE, 30 in IOM)</p>
<p>
[quote]
2. $22.6 Billion endowment. By far largest in the world. $12.7 for Yale, $10 for Stanford.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This helps significantly; such enormous funds will ensure Harvard's prominence in academia.</p>
<p>flavian, where did you find that information?</p>
<p>The fact that 4 presidents and many leaders graduated from Harvard.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The fact that 4 presidents and many leaders graduated from Harvard.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Indeed, how many current Supreme Court Justices graduated from HLS?</p>
<p>[ul]
[li]Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer (Law School and Professor) </p>[/li]
<p>[li]Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Began at Harvard Law School but graduated from Columbia Law School) </p>[/li]
<p>[li]Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy (Law School) </p>[/li]
<p>[li]Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist (Kennedy School of Government) </p>[/li]
<p>[li]Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (Law School) </p>[/li]
<p>[li]Supreme Court Justice David Souter (College, Law School, and a current member of the Lowell House Senior Common Room)[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Article: Harvard Poised to Become First Law School With High Court Majority</p>
<p>Black-robed for two centuries, the Supreme Court justices could be sporting a new color next term: crimson. </p>
<p>That would be to honor Harvard Law School, which, if John Roberts is confirmed, could make an unprecedented boast: five of its graduates serving on the high court simultaneously. A sixth justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, attended Harvard Law but finished her degree at Columbia.</p>
<p>
[quote]
flavian, where did you find that information?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Someone earlier went to all the academy sites and collected the data for each of those schools.</p>
<p>Mostly because of its huge endowment (which is mainly rooted in its age). This wealth leads to having top professors, research projects, graduate programs, etc.</p>
<p>MIT and Stanford have only been prominent for about 50-75 years and thus haven't had as much time to accumulate wealth. Nevertheless, they are already on their way of decidedly passing Yale and Princeton. But I'm not sure if they can catch up to Harvard in the near future</p>
<p>But how can their endowment factor into this if the bulk of the money is left unused? Surely 22.6 billion can buy the best professors, but so can 12.6 billion. With the bulk of the money being unused, isn't safe to say that the money that IS being used to supply professors and research grants is essentially the same for HYP and S?</p>
<p>
[quote]
But how can their endowment factor into this if the bulk of the money is left unused? Surely 22.6 billion can buy the best professors, but so can 12.6 billion. With the bulk of the money being unused, isn't safe to say that the money that IS being used to supply professors and research grants is essentially the same for HYP and S?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It also ensures generous financial aid packages. The amount of money per student is higher, which is a criteria in ranking schools by endowment.</p>
<p>
[quote]
t's really commonly accepted that Yale and Princeton are better undergraduate institutions than Harvard
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I do not think one can render an accurate comparison. To be sure, there are some undergraduate departments in Harvard that one should choose over its counterparts at Yale and Princeton. There is a tendency to conflate undergraduate departments when comparing undergraduate schools, but, for instance, choosing NYU Philosophy is more prudent than choosing Harvard Philosophy.</p>
<p>princeton is america's wealthiest college on a per capita basis. it has about one-third the number of students harvard has.</p>
<br>
<blockquote> <p>The fact that 4 presidents and many leaders graduated from Harvard.<<</p> </blockquote>
<br>
<p>More like seven presidents:</p>
<p>Harvard is good because it has the resources and the will to invest in what it takes to do many, many things very well. Certainly not perfect and not the best in everything, but the best in some things and excellent in pretty much all of the rest.</p>
<p>Harvard is prestigeous because it has been so good for so long. It was widely regarded as the best college in the US in the 17th century, the 18th century, the 19th century, the 20th century, and it's off to a pretty good start in the 21st century.</p>