<p>I have recently been freaking out, wondering if I made the wrong college choice. I was admitted to Princeton and Harvard and although I have so grateful, I'm now second guessing my decision. I have always planned to study engineering, especially aerospace, so Princeton was my top choice for quite a few months. But then I visited Harvard the week before May 1st, and I loved the social atmosphere and the people there. </p>
<p>Basically, I chose Harvard because I'm not entirely sure that I want to study technical engineering. For getting a job at technology companies in the future, I felt that I wouldn't be at a disadvantage if I chose Harvard, and I felt that Harvard offered more opportunity to explore my options outside of engineering. </p>
<p>If I plan to still study engineering, will do you think I made a wrong decision choosing Harvard? Will it have serious consequences on my job outlook for the future?</p>
<p>choosing Harvard will never, ever, ever hurt your job options. If you loved the social atmosphere of Harvard, GO THERE. you won’t regret it at all. Harvard has the best job placement in the world (perhaps after MIT or Wharton in some cases). Don’t go to Princeton over worry about job future - really, only switch if it’s a better fit socially (which it sounds like it’s not).</p>
<p>I am not going to pretend that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to engineering, but I still think I can offer you some advice.</p>
<p>Both Harvard and Princeton are amazing schools. I don’t really think there will be any job consequences in the future – because both schools are top-tier. I mean, in my mind, you simply can’t go wrong with either of them, especially if you’re looking at it from an angle of future job/graduate school prospects. Both are impressive, show that you are a hard worker, and that you are legitimately intelligent.</p>
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<p>I thus think you made the right choice. So much about college preferences is intuitive in nature, and if you simply felt “right” and most comfortable at Harvard when you visited, then you made an excellent decision when you picked it as the place to spend the next four years of your life.</p>
<p>Well it’s not completely illogical, rankings are BS on the most part anyway haha but i was trying to say that although going to a school with a higher ranking on whatever metric, USNW and whatnot, may seem to be the logical path, it’s honestly not always so</p>
<p>it’s not completely illogical for you to choose Harvard because a) its name has a huge pull b) you’re not a 100% hardcore engineer c) you prefer its social atmosphere more and for those reasons Harvard is actually logical despite its somewhat lower engineering ranking</p>
<p>Wow, I remember reading this thread back when you first posted it. I guess I would have thought that you would be more comfortable with your choice by now.</p>
<p>Just as colleges don’t admit you based on your prospective major or interest at the time of applying, you should not make a college decision based solely on relative strengths of fields. Why not? Because it is statistically likely that your interests will change.</p>
<p>The strength of a program at a given school should be considered only in context of the school as a whole. I know several prospective engineering majors who were admitted to MIT (arguably the best school for engineering in the country), but chose to attend my future alma mater because the latter was more attractive to them in terms of social atmosphere, increased opportunity to pursue interests outside of hard sciences, but mostly social atmosphere. And my school isn’t even close to being famous for its engineering. Did they make the wrong choice? No, because there’s not really a wrong choice. There’s only your choice. And picking Harvard is a great choice that will not disadvantage you in any conceivable way at any time in the future.</p>
<p>collegechoice: to be frank, you place WAY too much emphasis on what you consider the right or wrong choice. Do you have any advance knowledge that Cambridge is going to get a meteor strike? Then withdraw.</p>
<p>You’re about to be a adult, attending a great college. You can’t drop one and take the on the other like changing sweaters. This level of waffling is disturbing – do you really think the experience at either is so diametrically different? It’s not. Just your zip code. Really. </p>
<p>Been there done that. Attended one HYPS, worked at another, then worked at another top-25 school. It ain’t all dat different. Really.</p>
<p>Go to Harvard like you’re going to a buffet line. It’s there for you to explore - not necessarily cement your plans as an engineer. The huge majority of your classmates will change their intended major. That’s a fact. What if you stumble upon a major that will make your engineer path seem like old socks? It very well may be lying in a classroom in Cambridge. Why should this scare you?</p>
<p>Please get some perspective and put this away. You’ll drive your future roommates crazy and it’ll be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just stop it.</p>
<p>OP: Let me ask you a very honest question…did you truly have “space” and “time” to go through a list of pros and cons in your “own” mind NOT influenced/tainted by your parents, friends or acquaintances?</p>
<p>Were YOU allowed to make the final choice between your school choices without undue pressure from “outside” influences?</p>
<p>…for you to be still wavering like this going into August tells me you are not HAPPY with your decision…</p>
<p>…I know what you are going through…since my children had to make tough choices as well…</p>
<p>…as parents, we gave our children room, space, time, with list of pros and cons for all the schools involved to discover where they would be the happiest…and not to be concerned about what “we” thought since we were not the ones “attending” school…they were…</p>
<p>…if you truly did your DUE DILIGENCE in examining both schools independently…free of bias…from certain forces telling you “should” go to a certain school for its “name”…then you made the right choice…</p>
<p>…BUT, if you feel, even today that you did not have this opportunity…to go through this checks and balances…on your own “TERMS”…you may feel “cheated” and therefore still “regret” your decision…unfortunately…</p>
<p>…I feel for you…nevertheless, it is time to move on…best of wishes!</p>
<p>N.B. I hope that future students and parents reading this will learn from this OP’s situation…and prevent this from happening to your child…</p>
<p>I’m with T2. There will be many decisions the OP will have to make as he/she goes through life. Once you make a decision, commit to it and don’t look back.</p>
<p>There were a few similar threads with students second-guessing their decisions - especially between Harvard and Princeton. Perhaps you’re thinking of one of those?</p>
<p>^^ Man, you really need to move on. What are you going to do, try to switch at this late date? Even if you are successful, you will probably start doubting the decision as soon as it’s done. College is 90% what you make of it. FWIW my daughter spent time during high school doing funded research and studying at four of the supposed top six schools and loved Harvard the most by a wide margin. But I am just trying to assuage you with that comment which I shouldn’t do at this point. STOP looking back and move forward.</p>
<p>There are too many variables in life which you can’t possibly know ahead of time. Besides T2’s meteor comment, suppose Princeton is a slightly better academic fit for you but the person you were meant to spend the rest of your life with is at Harvard. What then? You don’t know what life holds in store for you. You just make decisions and then go with the flow while doing your best to make them be the right ones. Sometimes, you have to make some course corrections along the way. You won’t know though until you get to that point so worrying about it beforehand is pointless.</p>
<p>“Summer melting” and all this waffling is not a productive use of your time. Enjoy your time at Harvard. if you don’t, chances are it will have been not the school’s fault but your own.</p>
<p>Also, I might add that, like T26E4, I also attended and worked at three of the top Ivies. There is REALLY not that much difference among them as he says. While some students may have a had a difficult choice initially about where to attend, I think the common thing I saw after they started school was that they were almost all very self-confident, highly motivated, and eager to explore and take advantage of what the school they did choose had to offer them. </p>
<p>You stated that you enjoyed being at Harvard more so you chose it. Sounds like a great reason for you to have chosen Harvard over Princeton. You then asked if you wanted to be an engineer if it would hurt your job chances and everyone said not to worry about it. Yet, even now you are still seeking reassurances. I would suggest that if you still have doubts, rather than asking a bunch of strangers where you should be going, make up your own mind! It sounds like you did and it’s probably too late to do anything about it now anyway - so go find what you love doing at arguably the best school in the world and go do it.</p>
<p>Falcon1…since the OP did not respond to any of my questions regarding how s/he came to make his/her decision…you may have to give him/her the “benefit” of the doubt…</p>
<p>…my sneaking suspicion is that his/her choice may in large part have been “forced” on him/her…even if the OP states otherwise (to protect his/her parents) and I know plenty of parents of ALL ethnicities (not just Asians) who do this either bluntly or subconsciously to their children…</p>
<p>…when young “adults” feel that they really had no significant “say” in the ultimate decisions concerning their life…they feel “uncertain” and “cheated”…with feeling of “no control”…</p>
<p>…it is not healthy for sure…and, as you are plainly aware…there will always be those individuals in life who believe the grass is greener on the other side…</p>
<p>^^ You may be right but I thought his/her original post was pretty clear and in no way suggested being influenced or coerced (wish I could do the cool box quote thing):</p>
<p>"I have recently been freaking out, wondering if I made the wrong college choice. I was admitted to Princeton and Harvard and although I have so grateful, I’m now second guessing my decision. I have always planned to study engineering, especially aerospace, so Princeton was my top choice for quite a few months. But then I visited Harvard the week before May 1st, and I loved the social atmosphere and the people there. </p>
<p>Basically, I chose Harvard because I’m not entirely sure that I want to study technical engineering. For getting a job at technology companies in the future, I felt that I wouldn’t be at a disadvantage if I chose Harvard, and I felt that Harvard offered more opportunity to explore my options outside of engineering."</p>