<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I guess I have one quick question. Could you guys say why Harvard/Stanford is better than the other? Thanks.</p>
<p>P.S. Better can be better at anything you can think of (some examples would be academics, school spirit, weather, and amount of studying)</p>
<p>Easy.
Harvard is better because it ranks #1 in all international rankings.</p>
<p>/sarcasm off</p>
<p>I wouldn't say better necessarily but different.</p>
<p>Things I like better about Harvard:</p>
<p>Cambridge over Palo Alto. Boston over San Francisco. Campus that's part of a city vs. one that is isolated. Snow. Harvard band.</p>
<p>My Harvard degree probably got me a job in Germany because of the name. Silly since my undergrad degree was not in architecture and it was an architecture job.</p>
<p>Stanford clearly has more serious sports than Harvard. I would guess that there are some majors like computer science that are stronger than those at Harvard. Silicone valley location is probably a plus for comp sci types as well.</p>
<p>Weather man.. do you really want to freeze YEAR-ROUND??? =)</p>
<p>Um... there's the stigma associated with attending Harvard - that hardcore, professional, always-one-upping-each-other feel (so I hear). Stanford is supposedly more laid-back, and that's what my gf there tells me.</p>
<p>The environment is very different. Harvard and the Cambridge area is very academic (read: MIT, Wellesley), and Boston is a great city to be in, whereas Palo Alto is not exactly a bustling metropolis. It all depends on what you want; I wanted a suburban campus, and Stanford fits just that. If you want to live in/near a big city, Harvard is probably a better choice.</p>
<p>Finally, Harvard gives you the degree that's recognized around the world. I would still pick Stanford though =) My advice to you?? Visit both and then decide.</p>
<p>i think Stanford is world renowned too though. I mean raelly, I want to do engineering, and there is no way in hell that Harvard Engineering tops Stanford Engineering! :)</p>
<p>Harvard Band vs Stanford Band? I'm in the Stanford Band and I know a friend in Harvard's. They're pretty similar I'd say, both crazy and chaotic, both loud and lewd. Everyone at Stanford loves the Band (I can't say either way about Harvard because I don't know), but I can tell you that the Stanford Band (LSJUMB) has more nakedness because the climate allows it.</p>
<p>Exactly goegles. My son would probably pick Stanford over Harvard too. I wouldn't. :) </p>
<p>PS You won't freeze year round at Harvard. It hasn't gotten cold yet this year, but Jan through March tend to be chilly. We had a blizzard one year in May, but with global warming I doubt that's happening again soon. You can't beat lying on the banks of the Charles pretending to study for finals.</p>
<p>Stanford computer science kicks Harvard's butt!!!</p>
<p>Overall, it is hard to say which is better.</p>
<p>Stanford seems better in computer science, psycology, geoscience, applied math, and engineering fields.</p>
<p>Harvard is better in pure math, medical school, and some humanity majors.</p>
<p>In other professional schools, and other areas of science, and other areas of social science, they are about equal.</p>
<p>Stanford is clearly better from my perspective. Stanford's weather is absolute perfection. Stanford is much more relaxed and fun, from what I've seen. Stanford is clost to some great beaches. Stanford's campus is green and beautiful year round. Stanford's academics are clearly better than Harvards: while some of Harvard's department are slightly better than Stanford's, none of them can be compared to the level at which Stanford's engineering outclasses Harvard's. </p>
<p>Of course, I'm pretty biased.</p>
<p>Well I would say it all depends on how one uses the resources at both Universities. At Harvard, the name is a prestige in itself, but arguable so is Stanford. But the kicker is WHAT are you going to do after college? Stanford is renowed for being the birthplace for many crazy entrepreneurs (Google guys, Yahoo owner, etc...) It's a place where people have great ideas about innovative gadgets and such, so if you want to get rich, go there (and in California, in general). But in Harvard, academics and academic paths are more important and dominant. For example, it is so easy to get into a good Medical or Law School if you are a Harvard undergrad. But I see more people on the news becoming instant millionaires by way of stanford than Harvard (Bill Gates does not count - he dropped out). So both are excellent schools I would be glad to go to... it's just what you do with it that counts.</p>
<p>Well if you are going for any of the practical sciences ( Engineering, CS etc.)
Stanford beats Harvard hands down in all of them.</p>
<p>Palo Alto is a lot different from Boston, everything in Palo Alto is pretty much upscale suburban (and it's a very expensive area)</p>
<p>However, California weather > 10* Boston Weather
Seriously! You see people outside in their shorts/bikinis tanning up until late November.
It's not as good as SoCal weather but Palo Alto is about as good as it gets in NorCal.
Lastly Stanford just seems to have a much more chill atmosphere than Harvard, probably because people are happier to be outdoors and enjoying themselves instead of cooped up all the time</p>
<p>I think the EA rates speak for themselves: 16% v. 20%</p>
<p>S ftw!</p>
<p>k-theory, i don't really think EA rates have much to do with the prestige of the school...</p>
<p>that being said, the most un-qualified idiots got into harvard ea from my school...so ya...</p>
<p>The stats commonly cited to show that stanford is a better place for budding entrepreneurs do not mention one thing: all of the companies mentioned were started by graduate students from stanford, and I am pretty sure none of the founders was a undergrad there.</p>
<p>What concerns me, as a father of a high school senior, is whether stanford offers the quality undergraduate education as other top institutions.</p>
<p>During the past five years, I hired two stanford guys, and about 7 mit guys, all with CS bachelor degrees. Based on the very limited stats (and am aware the thread is about S vs. H, not vs. MIT), I think stanford undergrad education is just not at the same level as MIT's. After comparing their transcripts, I concluded the general and core curriculum requirements there are not as rigorous as MIT's. </p>
<p>I do think stanford's graduate school in engineering (including CS) is neck-to-neck with MIT's, and the faculty is equally strong. But the under grad education quality is a different story.</p>
<p>Before 1980's, Stanford might have NOT built its undegraduate programs in EE and CS. It only focused on EE/CS graduate education. I'm not 100% sure. But it is what I believe. </p>
<p>In terms of strength of the CS faculty and graduate education, Stanford triumphs every other place in the world (Berkeley, MIT, CMU included).</p>
<p>"...Stanford triumphs every other place in the world..." is simply an over the top statement, IMO.</p>
<p>Two watershed develpments in the 20th century were done at the other institutions that you tried to top,</p>
<p>1) MIT Radiation Lab was the birth place of on-board radar system that fundamentally changed the air-power balance and helped us and RAF to beat the Nazi air power; it also helped the navy to win the fight against U-boat. Many credited the development as the deciding factor in winning the WWII (e.g. see The INVENTION THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: HOW A SMALL GROUP OF RADAR PIONEERS WON THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND LAUNCHED A TECH by Robert Buderi). It's hard to imagine otherwise. </p>
<p>2) TCP/IP the protocal that defines today's internet communication layer, was done at Berkeley by Bill Joy, he subsequentluy integrated it into Berkeley UNIX's stack. That's THE reason today we can sit here sending msgs across wires. </p>
<p>We're digressing.
As a consumer who's about to shed $$$$$ for his kid's undergrad education, I'm keen to learn where I can get the best quality, rather than a subpar product with great wrapping.</p>
<p>If your child is motivated to learn, I sincerely doubt that any differences in the overall quality of academic departments at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc. will make a difference. If one department is clearly stronger than the other (say engineering at MIT/Stanford vs. Harvard) that's different of course, but if they are both strong enough that you could have long arguments about which department is better it probably just really doesn't matter. </p>
<p>As a college sophomore, I strongly believe that the overall qualify of life at a college matters MUCH more than small differences in the quality of a department. The way a program is run might make a difference (large lectures vs. small seminars). If there are sections might make a difference. But if it is ranked #2 or #3 just doesn't matter. Things that seem silly and trivial, like the weather, are actually far less trivial than most of the stuff you will worry about. </p>
<p>You've heard this a million times already probably, but what matters most is that the school is a good fit for your child. Don't worry about prestige alone, but focus on what your child's life will be like for four years.</p>
<p>TCP/IP was first invented by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn at STANFORD university. Both Cerf and Kahn come to Stanford occasionally to give guest lectures. (Just an example of the influential people you will meet at Stanford.)</p>
<p>Guys, at that point in the gradient, the difference between MIT and Stanford is next to nothing. And if you ARE interested in CS, Stanford's proximity to Silicon Valley really helps in terms of internships, learning more about the career, etc.</p>
<p>But it all comes down to fit. BOSTONC, have your kid visit both of them and see which one he likes better. MIT and Stanford have programs of near-identical caliber, but if your kid likes one over the other, he will definitely perform MUCH better there.</p>