Turning down Harvard

College Search & Selection
21

<p>Personally, i’d choose duke (especially if you aren’t from a very wealthy family.) I don’t know enough about either school to say if one would provide you with more opportunities than the other, but i think we can all agree that a duke diploma will never carry as much weight as a harvard one.</p>

<p>But i want to mention that plenty of people who get admitted into Harvard probably turn down many other great opportunities for the one at Harvard. (including people who probably get the same scholarship at Duke.)</p>

<p>Ultimately it will probably fall down to affordability. So see if you can even afford it, and if you can, talk about it with your parents.</p>

22

<p>beyphy, if OP is not wealthy (<60k) then it should likely be full ride or very little COA at Harvard also.</p>

23

<p>I had a long, and imo very well written reply posted here, but unfortunately the internet went down, and it’s not here anymore =&lt;/p>

<p>The basic point i was making was that harvard’s the most elite, prestigious, and possibly most infuential, university in the U.S. and the world. It’s a name that he’ll carry with him for the rest of his life, in addition to being the OP’s dream school, which he had to work very hard to even get admitted to, and to get the duke scholarship.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, unless his family can afford it, or he gets great aid from harvard, my answer will remain that he should attend duke.</p>

24

<p>In this situation, regardless of finances, I believe the Duke A.B. Scholar is the better of the two options. This maybe my bias speaking, but the A.B. Scholar is extremely desirable, much more so than admissions to even Harvard. Afterall, I think the yield of the program is just a little less than that of Harvard. This is even more impressive when you consider that people who are offered the scholarship most likely received admissions one or more HYPSM. </p>

<p>Not to mention, the average AB Scholar’s future is probably brighter than the average Harvard student. In 2011, out of the 9 AB Dukes, two won the Marshall Fellowship, one won the Rhodes, 2 are currently at Harvard Med, and one started her own enivronmental services organization. AB Duke Scholars alone win more Rhode scholarships than about maybe 25 entire schools. I don’t think any other program can boast those numbers.</p>

<p>Harvard is a great school, but high school students, especially, overestimate the value of a HYPSM degree. Students like to think that getting into Harvard sets them up for life by giving them “Ivy Connections” or “a name that can be carried for the rest of their lives”. In my opinion, these advantage are really vague and aren’t really supported by numbers. Harvard students do not perform significantly better than other Ivies, Duke, Stanford, etc. in terms of starting salary or salary after 30 years. Any perceived advantages in both salary and grad placement rates can all be attributed to Harvard having a stronger student body in general and not necessarily to the school itself. </p>

<p>Nevertheless, the two options you have in front of you are arguably the best one can have and you really can’t go wrong with either.</p>

25

<p>Thank you for the responses thus far. My financial situation is such that I basically do not receive any aid from Harvard, but my family is by no means exorbitantly wealthy, and my parents could probably only afford 2 years of Harvard, causing me to take out loans for the next two years. And considering that I want to go to med school, the numbers are slowly becoming more apparent to me…</p>

26

<p>Yeah that’s basically what i assumed. Go to Duke and don’t look back. No one will blame you for taking a full ride to duke over (at least) 100k in loans at Harvard. (which, it should be noted, you can’t even take out on your own. You could always use the 100k for med school :))</p>

27

<p>My husband is a physician. He is in a large group and he will tell you that the guys who went to Dartmouth, Yale, and Harvard are the weakest doctors in the group…I’m telling you that because going to one of those schools doesn’t necessarily make you successful in your field. The strongest doctors went to University of Alabama and Villanova. The only thing that matters is the last thing you do - that might be medical school for you. Medical school is very, very expensive. The current health care debacle might result in you not really making a huge income, so having excessive debt isn’t what you want.</p>

28

<p>"causing me to take out loans for the next two years. "</p>

<p>Wait, so you’d be borrowing like $100k? Do not do that.</p>

29

<p>Take the Duke scholarship and save the money…shoot for Harvard medical.</p>

30

<p>

I’m typically an Ivy-booster, but I have to say that what you’ve posted above makes the decision for Duke pretty clear. Duke’s reputation has only grown, and I think it is comparable to an Ivy League school nationally these days–and even more so if you might end up in the South. This particular scholarship is well-known. If your family were either extremely rich or extremely poor, I would probably say go to Harvard anyway, but in your case, Duke just makes much more sense.</p>

31

<p>I’m sorry but I thought I’d chime in here. </p>

<p>To all those adults and parents on here who keep writing about life lessons, being an adult, financial security etc… don’t seem like the risk takers. I’m sorry if that sounds ignorant but if you think with your mind and do what everyone tells you is “right” then you’ll end up with this weight on your shoulders, constantly wondering,
" what if I did go with my gut, my heart, my DREAM SCHOOL. "</p>

<p>Yes the idea of planning on paying for this school over time seems very hard and difficult but on the other hand, It’s HARVARD! I don’t think too many of their alumni have had trouble paying their tuitions…</p>

<p>Maybe the real life lesson here is to not take the easy way out if your dream is a more challenging path. </p>

<p>A short by Robert Frost, you should remember reading this in 8th grade…</p>

<p>Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,</p>

<p>And sorry I could not travel both</p>

<p>And be one traveler, long I stood</p>

<p>And looked down one as far as I could</p>

<p>To where it bent in the undergrowth;</p>

<p>Then took the other, as just as fair,</p>

<p>And having perhaps the better claim</p>

<p>Because it was grassy and wanted wear;</p>

<p>Though as for that the passing there</p>

<p>Had worn them really about the same,</p>

<p>And both that morning equally lay</p>

<p>In leaves no step had trodden black.</p>

<p>Oh, I kept the first for another day!</p>

<p>Yet knowing how way leads on to way,</p>

<p>I doubted if I should ever come back.</p>

<p>I shall be telling this with a sigh</p>

<p>Somewhere ages and ages hence:</p>

<p>Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—</p>

<p>I took the one less traveled by,</p>

<p>And that has made all the difference.</p>

32

<p>“don’t seem like the risk takers”</p>

<p>Not dumb risks, no. Borrowing $100,000 for an undergrad degree is a dumb risk, even if you don’t have a full ride at Duke. If you do, it becomes an even dumber risk.</p>

33

<p>

</p>

<p>That’s because their students tend to come from rich families, not, as you seem to imply, because a Harvard degree confers financial security.</p>

34

<p>@beyphy</p>

<p>yes your right. But what I think I’m missing from this persons background is their financial situation. </p>

<ul>
<li>they said if they go to Harvard, they need to take out a full loan correct? </li>
</ul>

<p>to my understanding, Harvard is need blind/full need for all applicants, meaning, based on fasfa, college board PROFILE, or any other way of measuring ones ability to pay for college, the school is required to pay for the attendee, or pay what the attendee cannot afford…</p>

<p>So what this applicant said earlier about taking out a 200k loan is that his family can pay for the college but are not willing to? if your parents and your income is 150,000 a year, the school knows that the family can’t afford 2/3 of their income to pay for their child’s schooling.</p>

<p>to dukvard: I think something must have gone wrong with your financial aid app, you should talk to the school. I find completely outrageous that they are not willing to grant you a single dime.</p>

35

<p>I think Harvard phase out aid at around 170-180k income, or I guess if the family has a lot of asset. To get no aid at all, you have to be fairly wealthy.</p>

<p>I say follow your head. You will be fine at Duke and beyond.</p>

36

<p>Even for a family that makes enough to be full-pay at Harvard, the tuition is a lot of money, and can impact other things, such as retirement funds, money for professional or graduate school, and college for siblings. And this isn’t a full scholarship at Podunk College–this is Duke, which is in USNews’ top ten, so it has plenty of prestige. And this is a scholarship that makes a student a big fish at Duke. Even if you can go to Harvard for free, this isn’t an easy choice. And since the OP can’t go to Harvard for free, and isn’t so rich that the money doesn’t matter, the scales pretty obviously tip to Duke.</p>

37

<p>Here’s an old thread with a similar discussion:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/897859-duke-robertson-vs-nearly-full-ride-princeton-19.html?highlight=duke+scholarship[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/897859-duke-robertson-vs-nearly-full-ride-princeton-19.html?highlight=duke+scholarship&lt;/a&gt;
That student had significant aid at Princeton; he chose to go to Duke.</p>

38

<p>eppy, you make some serious assumptions. What if everyone here who recommended Duke has taken risks, a chance to follow their dreams and this is their advice? Like Hanna says, they’ve figured out the difference between dumb and smart risks.</p>

39

<p>I recently visited Harvard because some of my friends go there and I’m a freshman at Duke. I must say that the social scene is much MUCH richer at Duke. Harvard’s parties are very restricted and exclusive than Duke’s. I felt that the people at Harvard were much easier to talk to and much more interesting though. It all depends on what you want. Going to Duke will be the funner experience for sure though.</p>

40

<p>Perhaps do a little reading on the cost of Medical school at <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/students/considering/financing/64810/considering_cost.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/students/considering/financing/64810/considering_cost.html&lt;/a&gt;
Current Tuition (not including housing and living expenses) at a private medical school is $43,000 a year. Now, that times 4 plus living expenses = a lot of $$$.</p>

<p>Here’s an interesting quote:
“Most medical students borrow at least a portion of the money they need to finance their education. In 2010, the median debt was $160,000”.</p>

<p>So, maybe saving all that Harvard tuition money might be a good idea?!</p>

<p>Besides, it isn’t like the OP is comparing Harvard against some lowly-ranked school. I think the choice is obvious - Duke. Go to Harvard for medical school or a Harvard teaching hospital for residency. You can have your cake and eat it too :-)</p>