<p>If you are thinking of turning down Harvard (I withdrew my app after acceptance EA to Yale but my brother turned them down two years ago), I encourage you to read the "What Can Harvard Do For You" thread. Apparently Harvard is great for monetary success, power circles, and being able to say "Hahvahd!" No one dares suggest Harvard has the best undergrad education or happy students b/c they lose on both front. As evidenced by countless posts on this website, Harvard is primarily about the "name". I'm glad I didn't sell four years of my life (like many of my friends at Harvard feel) in order to be able to say 7 letters.</p>
<p>If you are so happy about your decision to go to Yale, why are you still bothering to go on College Confidential and even more to the point why do you care about Harvard. Sounds like a tinge of regret. That said, congratulations on Yale!</p>
<p>But you are fooling yourself if you don't realize that hundreds of kids choose Yale for exactly the same reason as hundreds of kids choose Harvard - incredible prestige.</p>
<p>Silly goose! I didn't say I was going to Yale...</p>
<p>I am still waiting to hear from UC Berkeley. I should be able to get a Regents scholarship and attend for far cheaper than the cost of an ivy league school and get a similar quality education (perhaps better for the departments I want -- comp sci, math, and international relations).</p>
<p>Well yes, Harvard is more about feeling inflated for four years of your life (and subsequently). Plus, the response of the Harvard student body on the whole Muslim issue was so polarised that I'd have to think of a good reason to pick Harvard over another Ivy (If I make it, that is). I don't think I'd like to be a part of such a student body; I'd like some place more tolerant of others.</p>
<p>Maybe people aren't really responding to the whole "what can Harvard do for you" because it's a silly question. As far as the happiest undergrads, I'm certainly very happy at Harvard, as are most of the people I know here, which is good enough for me. If you're looking for the happiest undergrads in the country, maybe you should re-evaluate your goals as most research shows that those in the lower-middle socio-economic brackets are the happiest by psychological measures. Become a skilled plumber or carpenter, the guys I worked with in high school were some of the happiest people I ever met. If you read most of the threads here (and I mean actually read, not just trawl through for snappy titles) there are very few primary accounts of students being unhappy with Harvard overall. Almost all of the negatives are people saying "my son's friends" or "several of my friends" or "I've heard it said that" - either that or quoting an outdated study or a Crimson Article from 2005. </p>
<p>Harvard's great for me personally because the research access is amazing from a life-sciences front and the pre-med record is second-to-none, but there's much more here than that. Read up on it from primary accounts (meaning more work, but more reliable information than you get here) and maybe you'll learn a little. That being said, no one holds Harvard up as the "#1" school in America, because frankly that school does not exist. Each school fits each person differently, and when you're talking about the difference between Harvard, Princeton, Yale, UC-B, Stanford, MIT, etc, the difference is really in what you're looking for out of college. </p>
<p>It's sort of an interesting circle though. The people who say they don't care about the 'label' of being from Harvard are very quick to try to prove why their school deserves the '#1' label.</p>
<p>Oh, and gouchicago, I think you're falling into the common trap of assuming that if it's being debated hotly on CC it must also be being debated hotly on campus as well. Almost no one here talks about it, just as almost no one here talks about transfer admissions or women-only gym hours. They're interesting debate topics, but no one here really cares that much (Crimson editorials notwithstanding - keep in mind that they have to write about something). </p>
<p>Now if you don't want to come here because of the general apathy to those kinds of issues on campus, that's a totally different story...</p>
<p>haha when I'm at a cocktail party in 20 years and someone asks me where I went to school I much rather say Harvard/Yale than State U X....</p>
<p>lol not to say im not serious about my studies... but even though I could get probably an equal education at great school X... it's still harvard</p>
<p>^ It's not because of the response to these issues on CC, it's the response Harvard students posted on The Crimson. They seemed very polar to me, somehow. I might be wrong, and that's why I'd have to think about it.</p>
<p>Also, even keeping these factors apart, I find Yale and Dartmouth more suited for me than Harvard.</p>
<p>MODERATOR'S NOTE: </p>
<p>Participants are reminded that personal insults violate the Terms of Service on College Confidential. </p>
<p>I was actually 100% serious about that, and it's an option I gave a lot of thought to before coming to Harvard. I worked hard manual labor for two summers (construction and landscaping) and then did electric work junior summer and worked as a climbing guide full time senior summer. The people I worked with during those summers were some of the happiest people I have ever met. Research supports this. </p>
<p>I ultimately decided that I wanted to take the opportunities I was given and run with them, but I maintain that I would have had just as happy a life if I had contracted with any of the firms I worked with in HS (happy being the main descriptor there). </p>
<p>In terms of financial aid, Harvard turned out to be the hands-down best option for me, but if UC-Berkley works better for you then more power to you. Why are you going to Berkley if you want to be a plumber though?</p>
<p>Wait, I'm confused, are you looking at UC Berkley at all? An earlier post of yours said that you got in EA to Yale and only kept an application in at Stanford...</p>
<p>H-bomber is completely gracious in his/her replies to you, ehighmark. H-bomber's comments are neither pretentious nor obnoxious--your post #11 was extremely obnoxious however. Chacun a son gout. Sounds like maybe Harvard dodged a bullet when you withdrew your application. Good luck at Yale/Berkeley though. You should be thankful for your good fortune and not feel the need to denigrate other people's choices.</p>
<p>
[quote]
is that of an ABSOLUTE PRETENTIOUS jerk. I'd be embarrassed if I went to school with you. For your reference, I plan to become a plumber (Einstein worked in a patent office so screw you). And when I come to clean your toilet, I'll shove the plunger down your classist throat -- in death I hear we all are equals, regardless of our college diplomas.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>LOL. What is this stuff? You're going to be a plumber - congratulations? Einstein WAS patent office clerk, but he certainly did not STAY a patent office clerk - or otherwise nobody would know who he is. So you got into Yale and your life goal is to be a plumber? What can Berkeley teach you about plumbing? What's the purpose of being facetious in an online forum?</p>
<p>h-bomber has a lot of patience and maturity. That's probably why he's at Harvard. Unlike you, he's not threatening to shove plungers down people's throats.</p>
<p>Take it easy, ehighmark2443. I didn't find anything derogatory or pretentious in h-bomber's comments. Yours is a threat, albeit probably an empty one. We all need to relax here.</p>
<p>It is usually insecurity that drives threads like these. If the OP really was choosing Yale over Harvard for completely logical reasons: better fit, campus vibe, etcetera, he should be happy with that choice. That students feel the need to criticize on rival schools' boards on CC is really just classless and shows insecurity - concerning the fact that Harvard is often ranked about Yale, for instance.
Be happy where you go, and stop making a fool of yourself. You don't need to publicize why it is that Yale is better for you - doing so only suggests that you are trying to justify the choice to your self and are seeking validation by criticizing Harvard.</p>
<p>Okay. My earlier comment was not so thinly veiled sarcasm. I apologize to h-bomber if you read it as something else. Moreover, nowhere did I mention that I thought Yale was better or a great school but this -- like many threads -- has turned into a thread about rival schools. My intention was to suggest that students should be comfortable enough to find the school that fits them best regardless of "popularity" or "name" even at the most recognizable schools.</p>
<p>Considering that this is going nowhere, might as well let this thread die...</p>
<p>The reason the responses are all so silly on that thread is that it's a JOKE thread. The answers are meant to be silly! If someone were to respond with a serious answer about what a fantastic school Harvard was, everyone would roll their eyes and think, "well no, really, ya think?" </p>
<p>You've clearly missed the joke entirely.</p>
<p>I thought that the suggestion that the OP become a plumber was a little pretentious and/or obnoxious as well. The fact that he thinks because he worked for a couple summers doing manual labor he's a blue-collar martyr with perspective is pretty hilarious though.</p>