<p>I would chose Harvard over U Chicago if I had the choice. I'm sure that your son will be able to find difficult classes and spend all his time studying at Harvard if he wants to. The difference between the quality of the educations is not that big. There will definitely be like-minded people there. But he will also have more opportunities for not studying, if he should chose that side of college life.</p>
<p>"But if you want a pro, Harvard seems to be in a better "college" town than Chicago. Also, the Red Sox and Patriots are better than the Cubs/White Sox and Bears."</p>
<p>If such information actually matters to your son, please go to Harvard.</p>
<p>Faithfully Submitted,
Cesare de Borgia</p>
<p>To give my honest opinion, I think Chicago would provide the better learning experience, but Harvard will offer more prestige. Also, your son would have more fun at Harvard, since they party more often and with more intensity. If it was me, I would choose Harvard, but I am sort of the person who treat the rankings list as a Bible.</p>
<p>Now that is a truly hard decsion. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>OP:</p>
<p>since your S is out of the country, perhaps you/he could write/e-mail the adcoms at both and ask for an extension of the May 1 reply date. Typically, schools grant an automatic ten day extension so he could visit, meet with profs, etc., and get a sense for fit.</p>
<p>I can't speak the undergrad experience at either, but I'm a big proponent of going to school OOS if possible, for maturity and growth. Boston is a great college town, and H has massive grade inflation to boot ('Lake Wobegone" students, where everyone is above average).</p>
<p>My son made this choice last year (though he didn't end up choosing either Harvard or U of Chicago), so I'll add some of what I think made him like Chicago better than Harvard. Like your son, he didn't know what he wanted to study because he is interested in so many things. One drawback of Harvard for him was that you need to choose a major at the end of the first year. Of course you can change, but for him this seemed to add pressure to make up his mind and he didn't think he'd be ready at the end of the first year. (As, in fact, he's not.) He really liked the core curriculum at Chicago. Also, it seemed to offer much more faculty attention as well as advising. He spent time with a freshman there who was designing her own major and who had been e-mailed by a professor offering to help her come up with coursework, for example.
When he visited both places for the second time, he thought the Chicago students worked much harder (a plus in his eyes) and seemed more intellectually engaged than the Harvard students he met. Of course, this is entirely based on the students he happened to meet. But it seemed to him, and us, that it would be impossible not to get a great education at Chicago. There is clearly also a great education to be gotten at Harvard, but not every student there goes out of his or her way to find it and it doesn't necessarily find them. Hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>A friend of mine went to Northwestern University in Evanston. From a NU student's perspective (this, of course, is probably bias), u of c students are hard core, study-all-the-time students. Although both institutions' (U of C and Harvard) academics are solid, I believe Harvard has a more social atmosphere. Boston is the college city. Although Chicago is also entertaining, I believe Boston is a good place to grow in all aspects.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for all your thoughts and comments.</p>
<p>After spending two days and nights on Harvard's campus last week, my son decided on Harvard. Among other things, Harvard offers him something that the U of C simply can't provide to someone who has lived all his life in the Chicago area: the chance to go away to college.</p>