I was recently admitted to both Stanford and Harvard and need to make my decision soon. I’m planning on majoring in Computer Science with Math or Statistics (maybe some sort of minor). Objectively, Stanford has the better CS department + Silicon Valley is nearby, but it didn’t seem like Harvard had a bad CS program either. I feel like at Harvard I can develop my overall personality and explore other fields, but Stanford’s startup culture and strong research appeals to me too. I’ve tried making every possible comparison I could think of (unfortunately I’ve never visited either campus, but they both look nice from what I’ve heard/seen, and I’m pretty flexible with weather), but I still couldn’t reach a conclusion. Any thoughts?
Stanford is much stronger in CS and is one of the ‘big four’ in computer science, and you have tremendous opportunities in Silicon Valley. It is also possible to get a Masters in 4 years in CS as well; some students do it. So not really close in terms that major. Of course, outside of academics, there have been some pretty successful CS alumni of Harvard, like Gates and Zuckerberg, but they both left early, and then went west.
1 Like
By the criterion of CS, you might be choosing between a school that’s within the top few in the country for this field (Stanford) and one that might be outside the top few dozen or so (Harvard). However, if Harvard is strong enough in this field for your interests — as it very well may be — then you can rationally base your decision on anything you would like. As one aspect of note, Harvard offers one of the country’s top math programs.
OP: Once you wrote that your intended major is CS, I expected to see MIT, CMU, Univ. of Washington, Georgia Tech or UCal-Berkeley–but not Harvard.
For CS, buy a Harvard hoodie, but attend Stanford University.
1 Like
If you are more interested in working in Silicon Valley after graduation, Stanford’s proximity should be helpful. Harvard would be closer to its traditional post-graduation employers (Wall Street, management consulting).
Is cost an issue? If so, would the costs be the same or similar?
Yes, Stanford may be stronger in CS . However, IMHO there is no bad choice here. If cost is not an issue here, and you can afford either, I say go to the one that you are most excited about. And congrats on 2 amazing acceptances!
The conventional wisdom is to choose a tech school for CS, but OP’s interest in both CS and startup may change considerations.
When it comes STEM undergrad education the instructions probably won’t vary much and learning takes place with oneself instead of in the classroom. Unless you are in the cutting edge research or PhD program the department’s ranking matter very little.
Stanford is much closer to SV, but is working at a startup as a software engineer your career goal? At this point you are top 0.1% of the class your aim is probably much higher than that. If being a startup CEO/founder is in your dream then its not so clear cut between S vs H even as a CS major.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/12/these-schools-graduate-the-most-funded-startup-ceos/
Harvard has far fewer tech/CS kids than schools like Stanford and MIT yet every year Harvard College has about a dozen kids won prestigious fundings like YC, on par if not more than other CS schools. Running a ten million dollar tech company at the age of nineteen is probably the ultimate education in entrepreneurship and CS a school can offer you. And getting funded with millions of dollars takes far more skill sets than just CS knowledge. I know this because my kid just went thru this. Of course many of those kids would not be anywhere close to being successful like Gates or Zuckerberg in their ventures. Chances are they will return to Harvard after their failure or selling out their startups and graduate with an education and experience in startup/cs few other places can match. If this is something that interests you then Harvard may not be a bad choice. A few years ago we were in a similar situation, we are in Ca and were familiar with SV and Stanford, but looking back we are glad that my kid chose Harvard to broaden experiences and opportunities.
Another vote for Stanford.
1 Like
One thing to add: You say you are interested in both CS and Statistics. The intersection of these fields is Machine Learning and Data Science. Stanford is one of world’s leading institutions in machine learning, and Harvard is not at the same level. Harvard does have a top notch statistics department though.
In terms of Campus, Harvard’s is over 350 years old, and it is classic ivy institution integrated into city of Cambridge. Walk off campus and you are in the middle of Cambridge and you have immediate access to the trains and buses (once people start using those again). It is right on the Charles River. Meanwhile Stanford is more of a spread out, suburban campus, surrounded by foothills and nearby towns, and tech companies. Palo Alto is a 10 minute bicycle ride and San Francisco is an hour away.
FWIW I went to both schools for grad school. You cannot go wrong either way. Choose where you will be happiest!
I think you are better off at Harvard. I have two friends at Stanford in CS, and these guys are brilliant at creating and coding, and were before they got to Stanford. I think you are not really sure. It sounds interesting, but you like the idea and haven’t really become passionate about it, or had much experience with it. you would be with some heavy hitters at Stanford. Harvard CS undergrads will go on to grad school or work in tech, but they aren’t the kids coding from the crib and building things in general like you see at Stanford. Harvard is a better fit for you.
I think we’ve all been had.
Mathcsb is right - Stanford is a developer’s developer. Harvard is a competitive developer.
Fwiw, anecdotally some great computer scientists don’t flock to harvard… they go to MIT instead.
That’s very different than undergrad mind you, but that’s the mind set. Either way, doesn’t hurt to have options