<p>Please hear me out completely before making any comments. </p>
<p>Fortunately, the acceptance/rejection hype has (finally) settled. It has been a stressful four days for all of us, I'm sure.</p>
<p>However, for many people, the process is not over. I applied to many schools, and was very lucky/fortunate to have gotten into some great schools:</p>
<p>HARVARD (Single Choice Early Action)
PRINCETON
YALE
PENN
COLUMBIA
DARTMOUTH
CORNELL
BROWN
RICE (Interim Decision)</p>
<p>Currently, I am completely lost as to where I should begin to decide on a college... I hope I am not the only one in this predicament. I do not solely want to rely on USNews or Statistical Rankings to decide my undergraduate degree. I have not visited any of my schools, but am planning to visit four of them in the upcoming month of April. </p>
<p>Question: What else does one consider outside of financial aid and "campus likability"? What determines "fit"?</p>
<p>Is there an alumni who can provide some assistance in describing how his/her personal experience has been regarding the aforementioned undergrad program(s)?</p>
<p>Much thanks,
(A very confused and torn.) Tri</p>
<p>I don't think that's the most relevant thing for undergrad. For example, the economics education you will get at say, Harvard, Dartmouth, Rice and Brown will essentially be the same thing, mostly. </p>
<p>Because you got into so many good schools, narrow them down to 3 or 4. Chances are they will be the top three on your list and maybe one other, judging by what most students end up choosing. Then make a list of pros and cons for each--consider things like housing, the nature of the student life (activist, preppy, partying, etc.), location, size, and so on. You should be able to narrow it down doing that. Hahvahd must be your first choice considering you applied SCEA, right?</p>
<p>I hear Princeton has undeniably the most beautiful campus.
Princeton has a rep as being undergrad focussed, with access to great minds in both the profs and your peers.
Its also relatively smaller than many of the other ivies and its located in its own town and I hear the community is very close knit.</p>
<p>What do you want to study in? (if you've made a decision on that)
Any specific traits you're interested in? Eg- best food, Campus, courses offered, location, sports etc etc</p>
<p>You should visit and see which campus you like the most and the one you can see yourself happy at.</p>
<p>I absolutely agree with everything Kjoodles said.</p>
<p>Princeton, in my opinion, has the intellectual brainpower that you'll find in Harvard, Yale, etc in both students and faculty, but unlike peer institutions, will focus most of its resources on you - the undergraduate. Student satisfaction at Princeton, therefore, tends to be higher than a lot of peer institutions.</p>
<p>Finally, however, your happiness will be decided by how much YOU fit in a particular campus. When I went to visit Princeton, I felt like I was immersed in a separate world where intellectual passion and discovery reigned for four years. It seemed like the ultimate undergraduate experience. Try the same - go visit the places you're interested in and find the place that really speaks to you.</p>
<p>Let's start with this: Why did you apply to those particular schools in the first instance if you hadn't done due diligence sufficient to make you confident--for concrete reasons--that each would be a great fit for you?</p>
<p>You cite US News right away--is that what did it for you? The schools' rankings? It looks like you didn't go much deeper than that.</p>
<p>You didn't visit; apparently you didn't expend any real effort at all toward getting a particularized focus on the listed schools. And now you claim to be "lost," seeking advice from strangers on a very important decision.</p>
<p>But "lost" at a time when your impressive acceptances permit you to post the list on the internet to receive praise and support from strangers.</p>
<p>There's an overt subtext at work here. It might be beneficial to you to look carefully at that, too.</p>
<p>Give the guy a break. All of us look at rankings, whether we agree with them or not (and I have my share issues with US News rankings), and a lot of people, unsure of what school is right for them, apply to quite a few. And not everybody is able to visit a lot of places; I was only able to visit 3 universities around application time, just because lots of other things kept me busy.</p>
<p>If the guy has a question, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and answer his question politely.</p>
<p>I agree with all the previous descriptions of Princeton.</p>
<p>Location is also extremely important in choosing a college. I thought I would go early to Yale until I visited and realized I didn't want to spend the next four years watching my back all the time. That prompted me to take another look at Princeton and I absolutely fell in love! </p>
<p>If you like cities, take a look at Harvard and Yale. If you like the country, try Dartmouth and Cornell. Personally, I think Princeton is the best of both worlds: it's in the cutest little town ever but with great accessiblity to Phildelphia and New York. </p>
<p>Obviously we're all going to vote Princeton! You are posting in our forum. But you absolutely have to visit. With luck, one school will just reach out to you.</p>
<p>Princeton owns. Enough said. The campus +++</p>
<p>Also, the admissions counselor who gave us a speech when we visited was HILARIOUS. this guy absolutely must be so OUTGOING. He was down right cool.</p>
<p>Yale campus is very nice also. Love the gothic buildings and residential colleges. Harvard is a little less appealing but its only 15 min from Boston.</p>
<p>Advice from a grownup. Absolutely the education you will get at HYPSM is equivalent. Even differences between departments are minimal at the undergraduate level unless you are already so specialized in an area of the humanities that you are looking to become a professor or you are a math or science or engineering genius. Because it's about your professors, and there are fantastic and less good professors at each of these universities. Also, absolutely in terms of prestige and networking there is no difference between these universities once you are in the job market. I have never, nor have I know anyone ever, to pass over a Princeton or Yale graduate for another candidate just because that other candidate went to Harvard or Stanford. Doesn't happen. Or pass over Harvard for Yale, or Stanford for Princeton. Doesn't happen.</p>
<p>So that stuff doesn't matter, for the most part.</p>
<p>However, you will be spending FOUR years somewhere. And better you should like it. So go to the place that feels right. It's the only reliable gauge.</p>