These schools are all known worldwide.
But you should not base your decision on prestige among relative peers, and even if you weren’t considering peers, prestige should still only be a minor consideration.
Instead, figure out some things that are important to you.and rank them, and other schools, according to those preferences.
For instance:
Academics
- Class sizes
- Majors and courses offered
- Academic vibe (intellectual vs. pre-professional)
- Curriculum (required courses? distribution requirements?)
- Ease of changing your major (so many kids do, or want to)
Environment:
- Location
- Setting (urban/rural/suburban)
- Weather
- Campus look/convenience
Social vibe:
- Sports scene (of particular interest to you, probably)
- Party/Greek scene
- Clubs
- Things to so off-campus
- Dorms/food
And, obviously, cost. Be sure to include travel cost.
If you choose your apps and final decision based on these things – and visit if you are torn – you will only have good options when acceptances roll in.
For what it’s worth, here are some ways these schools compare to each other:
- Harvard is in Boston and has the highest percentage of grad students. Harvard has a long history of producing leaders. No top school in the US has been doing it longer. Harvard is JFK.
- Stanford is known for its sporty and techy vibes, and for good reason. They rival Harvard for overall graduate program quality, which is saying something. Stanford's campus is different architecturally. Stanford is Steve Jobs.
- Yale is the diva of this quartet, the most humanities-rich among them -- and it is (thus) the least STEMy, though there is quality there. Yale has residential colleges and New Haven is known for its pizza. Yale is Meryl Streep.
- Princeton is the most undergraduate-focused of these four schools. Students interact a lot with their profs, a senior thesis is required, and the social scene is known for eating clubs. Princeton is Einstein.