<p>i wanted to especiallythank everyone for their detailed posts on this thread. i mean, i was facing an agonizing decision between the two too, especially with a better (4times better) financial aid offer from Stanford. i ended up choosing harvard, but am still agonizing over my decision. both are such great schools, i guess it's time for me to experience the east coast.</p>
<p>byerly is probably right statistically, but I really did choose based on my feel of the place (haha hereiam). I should mention that after I thought it out for a while, I do agree though that statistics can tie in with the 'gut feeling'; IE 'my feeling' was probably a bit predisposed to stanford after having been admitted SCEA, as those who were admitted to harvard SCEA would be predisposed otherwise. if anyone's wondering, harvards package was a bit better, but not significantly so
Still, I am not just 95% typical but 100% glad I finally made a decision, and 100% without regret with regards to my choice like bluephish, as great of a school as a harvard is
thanks for the welcome and the pm marlgirl!
good luck to mlee and jason, I hope you guys have a great 4 years in cambridge, I don't think any of us need to fret : )</p>
<p>Thanks, icefalcon. Have a good time at Stanford! I'm sure you will though. I think I would actually feel more comfortable with the social environment at Stanford, and so far, my impression is that Stanford people are nicer anway :)</p>
<p>haha aww, thanks for your kind message! i definitely hope we can keep in touch, through facebook or whatnot. You're right, there was NO wrong decision. I feel very, very lucky. mlee, maybe i'll see you around cambridge :)</p>
<p>My son choose Harvard. I would choose Stanford if I were him. The weather around the bay is so nice.</p>
<p>That might make sense if he were looking for a laid back place to retire rather than a place with an electric atmosphere in which to get an education.</p>
<p>Hehehe. I have to agree with Byerly. Stanford feels like summer camp to me. It's slightly surreal, actually. The weather is just a little too nice, the campus is just a little too pretty, and the people are just a little too friendly .... it's like there are happy drugs in the air. If I went to school there, my brain would turn to mush. I would do nothing but frolic outside, all day, every day.
And I like the term "electric atmosphere" to describe Harvard.</p>
<p>Byerly:</p>
<p>I'd go to Stanford if I wanted to be at a place among people who care about learning for life's sake and staying human. I'd go to Harvard to surrond myself with neurotic overachievers and elitist prestige-seekers.</p>
<p>Not actually. But keep in mind that people view different environments in different ways (good and bad). They weight different aspects of the college experience differently as well (after all, few think of college as a time to grow only academically). And they'll connote the personalities of the different colleges accordingly.</p>
<p>^agreed.
of course you guys didn't mean to insult Stanford, but try to read over your posts just in case. ^_^</p>
<p>An electric atmosphere of inferiority, perhaps?</p>
<p>It's hard to underestimate just how hard Stanford students work.</p>
<p>I havent read a single post of this thread. Yet, am I correct in assuming that Stanford v. Harvard has effectively turned into Zephyr v. Byerly?</p>
<p>ahaha lets just not go there
the two places are like polar opposites, but neither is better than the other
and to think that one is definetively better is, for lack of a better term, retarded</p>
<p>haha exactly.</p>
<p>"The weather is just a little too nice, the campus is just a little too pretty, and the people are just a little too friendly..."</p>
<p>These are perfectly good reasons to reject a college. Class, can we say... masochism?</p>
<p>There are apparently, other, more powerful considerations.</p>
<p>Yup, because rankings are the most important thing in choosing a college</p>
<p>Which of these rankings contain measures of student satisfaction with the quality of undergraduate education?</p>
<p>Every Stanford versus Harvard thread inevitable turns into "Zephyr v. Byerly."</p>
<p>Neither of us has given the knockout blow, or won the case, depending on your metaphor.</p>
<p>And you never will. What is better: a slightly better reputation or a significantly better overall academic/social experience? The world may never know.</p>
<p>Those statistics just made me wish I had chosen Harvard. OH NO!!!!!!</p>