<p>"The academics are great at both schools, so you might as well choose to be on the winning side when it comes time for The Game. Victories in The Game since 2001: Harvard 6, Yale 1."</p>
<p>Actually, Yale is always on the winning side from what I've seen, because the point of the Game is that it's a social event. Yale has a much stronger campus social scene and is buzzing with activity 24/7; Harvard is almost totally dead by comparison. There are a lot of factors that cause this difference, but I would say most important is the fact that at Yale, all the undergrad dorms (i.e., friends) are within a 2 minute walk of each other, while at Harvard they are 10 times more spread out than that. It's hard to really understand this unless you experience it for yourself.</p>
<p>It is always a good idea to apply to more schools, but if you get in make sure you visit each for 2-3 days (including a weekend day), and talk with as many students and faculty as possible, so you can really compare the differences between the two. While both are amazing universities, and have fantastic undergraduate programs across all departments (though at the undergraduate level, I might give the edge to Yale in most departments, including most sciences, mainly having to do with the fact that Yale has significantly fewer students overall), Yale & Harvard are vastly different places in terms of what the campus social scene, residential life and academic life is like on a day-to-day kind of basis. If you visit for only one day, or make a decision based on what other people say, there's a decent chance you're not making the best decision for yourself. </p>
<p>Ultimately, of course, both are great choices and if you're happy and productive at either, you really can't go wrong -- these are what The Times of London calls the "two greatest universities in the world."</p>
<p>the "cutthroat academic" crappy atmosphere at Harvard is just a false stereotype. People who actually go to Harvard say it's not like that at all. Also, the party scene shouldn't be bad (i've heard harvard has lots of kids who do coke... (kind of kidding)). That said, I still think you should go to Yale so the rest of us have a better chance of getting in. oh yeah, and the residential system at Harvard is a bagillion times better cause the houses are all close and house pride is huge.</p>
<p>For me Boston and Cambridge trump New Haven any day. There are minor differences in how the housing works. In my day there were some major differences in departments, not just quality, but political bent, but you say you don't care. Harvard has the reputation for kids who are almost more serious about their ECs than their academics. I think you need to have an overnight visit to both places to get any real sense if you care about the differences.</p>
<p>Why is it that a large majority of cross admits choose Harvard over Yale? People tend to lump HYP in the same pool of elitism but if you look at the statistics carefully, Harvard trumps any peer institution in attracting talent on a world-class scale.</p>
<p>"Why is it that a large majority of cross admits choose Harvard over Yale? People tend to lump HYP in the same pool of elitism but if you look at the statistics carefully, Harvard trumps any peer institution in attracting talent on a world-class scale."</p>
<p>What is it that people don't get about what I'm asking? I don't want to know the stats, I want to know WHY the stats are they way they are, WHAT MAKES cross-admits choose Harvard? Just<em>forget</em>me and posterX, thank you for actually addressing this question; kyzan, your answer really didn't say anything useful at all.</p>
<p>One last question: Does Harvard have many interhouse IMs? It seems like this might be kinda hard with the major variance in house size; how does Harvard deal with that issue?</p>
<p>I don't think house size is taken into account (maybe points are weighted somehow in the competition for the "Straus Cup"... for overall IM champion).</p>
<p>There are also freshman IMs between frosh dorms... not as many sports as House IMs (no crew, for example), but the big ones are all covered.</p>
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<p>It seems like this might be kinda hard with the major variance in house size; how does Harvard deal with that issue?<<</p>
</blockquote>
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<p>Frosh dorms DO account for dorm size in IMs. Small dorms get a points boost of some sort. That's how Mass Hall, the smallest dorm with only 45 students(and no longer a dorm BTW), managed to win the Yard Bucket from time to time.</p>
<p>Harvard definitely has name recognition overseas, but really other than that I don't know why it wins the cross-admits wars. Maybe Yale sounds too much like the locks? Maybe red brick seems more college-y to people than gray stone?</p>
<p>^^I think Harvard is more famous in the US as well. Even though there is very little to choose between them in terms of education, Harvard looms larger in the popular consciousness --> "Legally Blonde" and a dozen other movies.</p>
<p>Another way to look at it: In the US, Stanford is sometimes described as "the Harvard of the west." Emory or Duke are sometimes described as "the Harvard of the south." There are others. "_________ is the Harvard of ______" is a very common phrase. You never hear any school or organization described as "the Yale of" anywhere.</p>
<p>Token, I thought that was U. of Chicago - at least my U. of Chicago sil gave my husband a t-shirt that said "Harvard the U. of Chicago of the East."</p>
<p>Maybe Love Story is why people choose Harvard. ;)</p>
<p>H>Y in science
H>Y in engineering
H>Y in business school
H>Y in medical school
H>Y in school of education</p>
<p>H<Y in law school
</p>
<p>H <<<<<< Y in engineering. Really, Harvard engineering is not particularly good. That was, unfortunately, the biggest thing that stopped me from applying or considering Harvard - other than the issue of its crappy engineering, I really rather like the school. The engineering was a major dealbreaker.</p>
<p>I saw an ad in the Wall Street Journal for Harvard's executive MBA program that said something like "Harvard Business School - the Real Harvard of Business Schools."</p>