<p>Hey, what's the difference among Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton do you think of?</p>
<p>I think a lot of people apply just because everyone else does. It's certainly a popular and well known school, but it's also not for everyone. Many folks fail to really do enough research to truly find the best 'fit' for them. </p>
<p>If you want to go there just because "um duh, it's Harvard" then you could easily end up having a miserable four years... just something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>To G2COM: Harvard and Princeton offer a sense of intimacy, with students seeing each other on the central yards and houses/dorms. Stanford has a huge, beautiful campus where it seems students buzz by each other at high speeds on bikes to make it to classes. (But the palms, fragrant eucalyptus, flowers and perfect weather are strong pulls.) Princeton has a quiet, safe suburban setting where security is not really an issue. Social life centers around Prospect Street with the eating clubs' parties. Cambridge is grittier, with more street life and so students must stay alert (there is an occasional mugging or stranger wandering in a dorm. See HUPD website). Plenty to do in Cambridge and Boston, parties are spread out in the H houses, final clubs (where freshmen boys are not generally welcomed), and the new pub on campus.</p>
<p>Yale freshmen live together, but are already assigned houses. Harvard freshmen live together, but get put in houses (randomly) in the spring. They can apply in groups which guarantee that they can be with a bunch of friends. Princeton, I believe has a much less favorable rooming situation. My son's best friend liked Princeton's smaller size relative to H and Y.</p>
<p>Harvard is the one of the most respected university in the USA.But there are many students who choose Princeton and Stanford over Harvard.But you can't compare Cornell with Harvard because Harvard is far superior.Universities that are considered to be in the same level as Harvard are Stanford,Prineton,Yale,MIT.But there are many students who find Harvard very expensive.In that case you can try in Berkeley aswell.And if you don't mind going out of USA,then you can try in Cambridge,Oxford or LSE aswell.
Best of luck.
Study hard.</p>
<p>The above is perhaps the stupidest answer i've ever heard. </p>
<p>You can't compare cornell with harvard because harvard is far superior? hmm... Cornell actually has many more resources for my (admittedly very specific) academic interests than harvard. While that's anecdotal, i don't think there's much questioning that your assertion isn't grounded in fact at all. </p>
<p>If you find private schools too expensive then you can go to berkeley? Is berkeley the only reputable public school? You make it sound as if there's an equation for choosing colleges... if you don't have the money (note: the private schools you mention have huge endowments and correspondingly huge financial aid) to pay for private school, then you simply go to UC Berkeley. Hmm again... </p>
<p>And while i personally prefer a university environment (I did choose yale, over harvard mind you), the names you mention suggest an assumption that universities are intrinsically more valuable educational institutions than small colleges. Why? </p>
<p>I know for me the most important features of a college were location (preferably in a small city), personality (if it even makes sense that a personality can be attributed to a college...), size and volume of academic and extracurricular resources. Consequently i did a lot of research on the schools to which i applied (Cornell, Yale, and Harvard), spent time on the campuses, and chose the college where i was most comfortable. While everyone is certainly entitled to choose a college for their own reasons, i think my approach has worked out very well for me; i'm loving yale, more than i think i would have enjoyed cornell or harvard. I hope that others will consider taking a similar approach, if only for their own happiness.</p>
<p>I have to disagree, My D was accepted to both but for an OOS student Berkeley was 5 times more expensive than H taking into account financial aid.</p>
<p>If you want to run a hotel Cornell is far superior to Harvard.</p>