<p>Well its just as stupid, if not more so, IMHO, to go all the way over to the other side and scoff that it doesn't matter where you go to school, whether among talented classmates, using excellent resources, and with excellent teachers, or via correspondence courses advertised on a pack of matches.</p>
<p>I agree completely, of course it matters where you go to school. But its not like if you don't go to HYP you are destined to fail in life.</p>
<p>Well, Wake Forest is hardly chopped liver, and you must feel its a pretty school to be trekkiing there from "a tiny village outside of Munich, Germany"</p>
<p>This is a good point Byerly.</p>
<p>The main point I was trying to get across was that picking a school solely on prestige could end in disaster.</p>
<p>Indeed. I am very happy with my choice and will be trekking quite a ways to go there, regardless of the "prestige" factor.</p>
<p>Ok.ok Harvard over princeton.</p>
<p>BUT BUT What about:</p>
<p>Yale versus Princeton........which one would you all choose??</p>
<p>princeton definitely</p>
<p>Another factor to consider, Princeton is considered by some to be the bastion of conservatism in America, whereas Harvard is located in good ol' People's Republic of Cambridge.</p>
<p>Jeez, both schools are prestigious. You'll get a top notch education no matter which one you choose. My choice came down to location. I've been to Princeton and I've been to Harvard Square, and I don't need to tell you which one is more enriching and exciting.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that Harvard's Cambridge/Boston setting is an important reason why it enjoys such a huge cross-admit edge vs its principal "rivals".</p>
<p>Interestingly, MIT - also in Cambridge/Boston - generally comes closest to Harvard in the cross-admit "wars".</p>
<p>Hey, there's a reason my top two choices are Harvard & MIT. ;)</p>
<p>Haha. The same goes for me. I think the only school that could rival Harvard and MIT in that aspect is Columbia. And just look at how Columbia's acceptance rate has fallen in recent times. The city appeal is undeniable.</p>
<p>Yep..because of NEW YOURKKKKKKKKKKK. (intentional U for accent ;))</p>
<p>Yeah and Columbia's not even in the greatest neighborhood, so that shows you exactly how much of a pull that city appeal has on students.</p>
<p>Rudy did more for the Columbia yield rate than anybody else - simply by getting rid of the squeegee guys. Within 2 years, the streets of Gotham City suddenly seemed less menacing. Columbia apps rose, relatively, while apps declined relatively at bucolic Dartmouth + Cornell, which enjoyed a brief boomlet during the height of the urban crime rate explosion, but now have sub-50% yield rates again.</p>
<p>I personally found Princeton to be far more elitist and pretentious than H to the point that I kinda disliked it... so I didn't even apply.</p>
<p>To its credit, Princeton has a decent location equidistant from Philadelphia and NYC, but realistically how often are you going to be able to take an hour long train ride to the city?
The only noteworthy things in the town of Princeton, NJ, are the university and College Board, and we all know the latter is the devil.</p>
<p>Yeah Princeton's home of rich private schooled WASP children... and the town's full of rich private schooled WASP adults. The school's gotten better, I know, but the town's so WASPy that I think I'd stand out as a Jew, haha. I couldn't imagine living there as a Hispanic or African American.</p>
<p>Not to say Harvard's free of its rich private schooled brats, because it sure as heck isn't.</p>
<p>Princeton is boring to me. Their policies on education (only one major for everyone, huge focus on senior thesis) weren't what I was looking for.</p>
<p>Harvard is EXCITING. Boston is the greatest city in the world. Cambridge is the greatest city that's near another great city in the world.</p>
<p>Plus, Princeton's colors suck. Orange and black? Talk about HALLOWEEN. LAME.</p>
<p>As for the other Ivy's...I also realllly like Penn and Columbia (city factor again). Yale was eh. Darthmouth was way too rural. I didn't get a good feel from Brown. And I've never been to Cornell.</p>
<p>I agree...Harvard just seemed much more exciting and promising than Princeton. I myself am from a suburb of Boston, but I checked out most of the Ivy campuses (minus Yale and Cornell) and I liked Harvard, Brown, Columbia, and Penn more than Princeton and Dartmouth. The city adds so much more to the experience. Dartmouth was literally in the middle of nowhere, and Princeton, NJ has nothing. Sure, it's between Philly and NYC, but why would you want that when you could be right in Boston?</p>
<p>And Columbia isn't really in that bad of a section...as I recall, however, Queens is right nearby. Even Queens didn't seem that bad, though. If you have a problem with an urban setting like New York, then maybe it wouldn't be good for you. I personally loved Philly and NYC. My sister is at school in Providence, and she loves it.</p>
<p>I don't know...Princeton just seemed kind of stuffy to me.</p>
<p>Since I live in New York I guess I should point this out. The district you are thinking of is not Queens, but Harlem, which is next to Columbia's campus. Queens is a separate borough from Manhattan. In fact, there are series of articles in Columbia's newspapers about an ambitious plan to expand Columbia's campus into Harlem.</p>