<p>This keeps coming up in my school - I would like to know what the Harvard board thinks and why!</p>
<p>Princeton can't rival the H-bomb!</p>
<p>Average Joe: Where did you go to college?
You: Princeton '10!
Average Joe: Oh, wow! You must be a genius!</p>
<p>Average Joe: Where did you go to college?
You: Harvard!
Average Joe: WHAAAT!!!! WOW!!! You must be a billionaire, right?</p>
<p>So do you associate Harvard with $$$ and Princeton with genius? Interesting how does everyone else feel - that is really interesting. I wonder who makes more $$$ Pton grads or H grads? The endowments are huge for both considering size etc it sort of evens out right?</p>
<p>I visited both schools. I thought that Cambridge and Boston as a whole was a more vibrant environment than Princeton, NJ. Princeton is definitely a more tranquil and peaceful place, with a prettier campus, but smaller and seems more "elite" as well. Harvard just seemed like a place where you could thrive on the environment and the people there.</p>
<p>It really depends on what you are looking for in a campus. Princeton is better known for its focus on undergraduates. It is also a smaller, more cohesive campus. My S decided he preferred Harvard because of its urban location. This makes for a less integrated campus; many students go into Boston and Cambridge for entertainment and community service.
As for money-making potential, it really depends on the individual student (public university graduates can make as much, if not more than HYPS graduates).</p>
<p>If I could choose, I would definitely choose harvard because a lot of succesful people come out of harvard. and anyone who graduates from there will be succesful.</p>
<p>well, i mean...</p>
<p>easy</p>
<p>Harvard and Oxford are the most known colleges in the world.</p>
<p>also, you always here it's a Harvard study or sometimes Oxford medical study done</p>
<p>successful ppl come from places like Cambridge, tthough... Sir Isaac Newton went there</p>
<p>Thats true. One question. How popular is Princeton around the world. Is it at the same level of Harvard, or do people not know about it.</p>
<p>I've never seen Princeton. If I was somehow accepted into both all of a sudden, I would need to do some serious visiting.</p>
<p>You shouldn't choose your college on "which is better known" or "what kind of reaction will I get from people." Your choice should come from inside you. You should step on both campuses and whichever feels like home is the place for you. If it's neither, so be it.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>"feels like home?"</p>
<p>How about feels, different, exciting and challenging?</p>
<p>Did you choose CMU because it "felt like home?"</p>
<p>I agree Byerly, "exciting and challenging" would be good. I think what Walden meant by "feels like home," though, is whichever feels like the right fit for you.</p>
<p>I have never understood that word - "fit" - which strikes me as a bit of a cliche.</p>
<p>Most 17-18 yr olds are pretty adaptable, and studies show that the overwhelming majority are happy enough with their school, no matter where they end up and no matter how random the selection process.</p>
<p>I always tell people to go to the best school they get into, unless they are particularly unhappy with an urban/rural setting etc.</p>
<p>I chose CMU because it was a right fit; it felt like home. </p>
<p>How can you tell if a school is going to be "challenging" by visiting? I still cannot tell if my university will be challenging after an entire semester...</p>
<p>In addition:</p>
<p>Who's to say which school is better than which? USNEWS? ...You? </p>
<p>The merit of the school doesn't come from a third-party institution but from and independent ranking in each person's mind. Your college choice should be based on other things than "the highest ranked school." There's more to life than prestige.</p>
<p>A consensus of academics is probably a more reliable indicator than the unguided whims of a 17 yr old, IMHO.</p>
<p>Ever heard the fable of the blind men and the elephant? </p>
<p>The moral of the tale is that a 24 hr visit to a college campus may be a very unreliable indicator of what the place is really like. The sun won't always be shining (or, alternatively, it won't always be raining), and that great party you student host invited you, and the dorm room where it was held, may not be typical of the life you will lead and the place you will live for 4 years. Even the class you may sit in on may be wildly untypical of those you will eventually be taking.</p>
<p>Better to rely on the advice of those with more experience, or the consensus views of others similarly situated.</p>
<p>After all, a school's "reputation" does not come out of thin air, but represents the consensus views of others, developed over time, based on real-world factors.</p>
<p>
[quote]
and anyone who graduates from there will be succesful.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's just simply not true. So many people graduate from top schools and end up as "nothing", or at least nothing near their predetermined benchmarks of success. Succesfull and intelligent people will be so regardless of where they go to school. Going to a top school will guarantee you nothing.</p>
<p>It's not about "guarantees", scarletleavy, but probabilities.</p>
<p>Oh I know. But there are so many people who want to go to top schools, mainly Ivies, because they think it will guarantee success. I was just pointing out a trend that I think is stupid.</p>
<p>Strange, I always thought of Harvard as the "whoa" school, but Princeton as so elite that it was more of a whispered "ooooooooooh." So Princeton above Harvard for eliteness/prestige. And by the way, Yale over Harvard but under Pton.</p>