<p>Congratulations! Both Harvard and Princeton are incredible.</p>
<p>Last week, I was admitted to Harvard and Princeton (in addition to Stanford, Yale, and the other Ivies). I have already sent in my Princeton response card with “Yes” checked off and have said no to Harvard and the others. </p>
<p>Why? </p>
<ol>
<li>Princeton, unlike Harvard and Yale, has more of a focus on the undergraduate. Unlike HYS, it does not have professional school in Law, Medicine, and Business (even though Princeton students do as well as Yale students in graduate school admissions). Small class sizes were important to me, which is something Princeton offered to a greater degree than the others. As per the link in the post above, Princeton regularly receives the #1 ranking in undergraduate teaching.
From the Admitted Students website, a post from Prof. Evan Thomas, a Harvard alumnus:
"Every Tuesday afternoon at 1:30, sixteen undergraduates–one senior, one freshman, eight sophomores and six juniors–gather in a seminar room in Joseph Henry House, a yellow-brick 19th century house nearby Nassau Hall. They are students in JRN 400: Media in America, an introduction to journalism that I have been teaching for the past five years. Every week, we talk about the ethics and practice of journalism. Last week, we discussed how the internet has changed an old and famous literary magazine, the Atlantic Monthly. My guest was Bob Cohn, the editor-in-chief of the TheAtlantic.com. Next week, we will explore how to write an op-ed piece. </li>
</ol>
<p>The students will write op-eds, and then meet with me at office hours to go over their work. I meet individually with each student for a half hour each week. These one-on-one encounters are the most important part of the course. Individual instruction, I have found from long experience, is by far the best way to learn how to write. My students write every week.</p>
<p>I worked as a reporter, writer, and editor for Time and Newsweek for 33 years. I was the Washington Bureau Chief for Newsweek for ten years. I wrote over a hundred cover stories, and I have written seven books, including biographies or Robert Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower. In 1999, I won a National Magazine Award. I try to bring my experience into the classroom at Princeton, and I often invite professionals as guests. (In the fall I teach a seminar on narrative writing). My students challenge me to explain and justify what journalists do. I challenge them to think more critically and write more clearly. The classroom can be a very exciting, engaging place at Princeton. I am a very loyal Harvard alum (class of 1973), so it pains me to say this, but among the so-called Big Three (Harvard-Princeton-Yale), Princeton is the college that pays the most attention to its undergraduates."</p>
<p>Another post, from Professor Jonathan Levy, a Yale alumnus:</p>
<p>"But first I should introduce myself. I’m from Texas originally. This is my fourth year teaching at Princeton, and I arrived here after receiving my PhD from the University of Chicago, and earlier my BA from Yale. So what makes Princeton different?</p>
<p>Let me briefly share a story from my very first day on campus. It was my job interview. Normally, in the academic profession, job candidates give a one-hour talk on their research. Here in the history department at Princeton, however, the first thing job candidates do is give a presentation on their approach to undergraduate teaching. After that, the interview turns to research interests. </p>
<p>I had always heard that Princeton took special pride in the facultys commitment to undergraduate teaching. But I was nevertheless struck when my presentation on teaching turned into an engaged, fascinating, free-flowing dialogue with world-renowned researchers in their respective fields no less on the ins and outs of effective teaching. Cleary, Princeton professors thought about teaching a lot. </p>
<p>In other words, there was a reason why, in a Princeton job interview, the teaching presentation came first. Now that Im here, I realize that a seemingly innocuous scheduling decision was a way to signal to prospective faculty members just how seriously Princeton takes undergraduate teaching. That commitment runs deep here, and truly is what makes this place from the perspective of its faculty different. Just like me, you will sense it from the first minute you step on campus. "</p>
<p>Harvard may be marginally more prestigious than Yale and Princeton, but it does not offer the same level of “commitment [that] runs deep” to undergraduate teaching. A few years ago, the WSJ did a survey of feeders to top graduate schools, HYP were 1,2, and 3, with minimal differences between the 3. Princeton’s alumni network is much more loyal than Harvard’s, so I would argue that job prospects are at least the same/maybe even better after having graduated from Princeton. </p>
<p>Good luck deciding!</p>