<p>I applied to a ton of schools last fall and luckily managed to get into 3 great schools.</p>
<p>I like the idea of the edgier culture in NYC and the Core curriculum at Columbia, but I understand that Stanford and MIT have more money for undergrads and also have better programs in biology than Columbia.</p>
<p>I'm from a small rural town with a 'bubble' reputation and the idea of going directly into the 'Stanford bubble' concerns me. I've also heard rumors of an 'anti-intellectual vanilla culture' at Stanford. However, Stanford does seem to be the most balanced of all the schools.</p>
<p>I would love to be with a politically active and intellectually engaged student body. A school that's a hot bed of ideas and entrepreneurship would be great, but I'm not interested in internet startups.</p>
<p>I'm interested in Biology and political science.</p>
<p>Any advice?</p>