<p>So many people assume Harvard's "the best". But I wonder if it's really the best in terms of getting a real education. </p>
<p>What other places might be better?</p>
<p>It’s not about the college, it’s what you do with it.</p>
<p>What is your career goal?</p>
<p>Where do you want to begin that career?</p>
<p>I can easily come up with a number of majors and careers where a Harvard degree would need to be followed by a full second bachelor’s degree elsewhere. Not everyone wants to spend their time and money that way.</p>
<p>But why then do people drool over Harvard so much?</p>
<p>Thanks for the input but what ever happened to getting an education and not just focusing on a career?</p>
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<p>Harvard is the oldest and richest college in America. It is also among the most selective.</p>
<p>It has the largest endowment, by far ([List</a> of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment]List”>List of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia) ; click-sort on the “2012” column)</p>
<p>It has the highest-paid full professors ([The</a> Highest-Paying Colleges: American Association of University Professors Study 2012](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>The Highest-Paying Colleges: American Association of University Professors Study 2012 | HuffPost College)).</p>
<p>Average entering student SAT scores are among the highest ([College</a> Rankings - Top 500 Ranked Colleges - Highest SAT 75th Percentile Scores - StateUniversity.com](<a href=“USA University College Directory - U.S. University Directory - State Universities and College Rankings”>http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/sat_75pctl_rank.html))</p>
<p>Its average class sizes are among the smallest (<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/708190-avg-class-size-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/708190-avg-class-size-4.html</a>, post #50).</p>
<p>Its admission decisions are need-blind; it claims to cover 100% of financial need; it has the highest average need-based aid amount (<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php;[/url]”>http://www.kiplinger.com/tool/college/T014-S001-kiplinger-s-best-values-in-private-colleges/index.php;</a> click-sort on “Avg need-based aid”)</p>
<p>It boasts one of the most impressive lists of distinguished alumni in many walks of life ([List</a> of Harvard University people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Harvard_University_people]List”>List of Harvard University people - Wikipedia) ; [Notable</a> Graduates | Harvard University](<a href=“http://www.harvard.edu/notable-graduates]Notable”>http://www.harvard.edu/notable-graduates)).</p>
<p>But does that make for a good education? Most kids I know there seem to only be looking for the next “best” thing rather than being engaged with their full time professors who are are incidentally off doing research and talks to make the big bucks. And most don’t seem particularly happy…except with the name they’ll be able to carry forward.</p>
<p>Wharton for business</p>
<p>for everything else: Kent State</p>
<p>Georgetown</p>
<p>“Better” for what? Dorm food? Greek Life? Varsity basketball?</p>
<p>If you mean academics, there’s no place , overall, that’s “better.” There are a few places that can match-it-or-better in specific areas. MIT beats Harvard in engineering. Yale beats Harvard in English and Comparative Literature. UChicago beats Harvard in economics. Stanford beats Harvard in computer science. </p>
<p>But “just.” Fact is (with the possible exception of MIT’s engineering edge), Harvard is barely bested by any of there institutions even in those areas of supposed relative “weakness.” </p>
<p>Bottom line: Havard is Harvard, which means “crazy good.”</p>
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<p>As with so many other questions on this board, the answer is “it depends”.
Many state universities have more robust engineering programs.
If you want consistently small classes taught by faculty (never by grad students), with a high degree of student-faculty engagement, quite a few small liberal arts colleges might be considered “better”. If you want an undergraduate business program, Harvard (like many other “elite” schools) does not have one.</p>
<p>So much depends on your own efforts and how well you take advantage of opportunities, wherever you wind up.</p>
<p>In terms of the quality of education, I suggest you are confusing reality with reputation, the latter no doubt placing Harvard in first place.</p>
<p>This awesome Tedx talk explains much about the difference.</p>
<p>[Designing</a> a university for the new millennium: David Helfand at TEDxWestVancouverED - YouTube](<a href=“Designing a university for the new millennium: David Helfand at TEDxWestVancouverED - YouTube”>Designing a university for the new millennium: David Helfand at TEDxWestVancouverED - YouTube)</p>
<p>Georgetown</p>
<p>Why Georgetown?</p>
<p>Is it different from the universities described in that Tedx talk?</p>
<p>It’s a big deal #hoyasaxa</p>
<p>Better than Harvard…hmmmm…most of the other schools out there likely. Between grade inflation and bad reps it has gotten, I would pick most schools over Harvard. Also, it has little character and most people admitted there have hooks, such as legacy, super rich, or athlete or a racial thing. If I were picking between HYP it would be Yale for sure. But, if I were picking from all the Ivy Leagues, Harvard would be at the bottom. And if I were picking from the top 200 universities listed on US News, Harvard would be on the bottom, and so on. Personally, I think that anyone obsessed with Harvard probably sees nothing more than the name. They probably know very little about the actual school. They just want the Harvard name.</p>
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It depends on what criteria, you use to evaluate universities. By many criteria Harvard is not even close to “the best”. For example, when I was looking at colleges, I was especially interested in engineering. At the time, Harvard did not offer specialized engineering degrees, such as electrical engineering or mechanical engineering. Instead you could just get a general engineering degree. The engineering program was very small and weaker than other schools I was looking at, so I did not apply and instead went to Stanford. Over the past 6 years or so, Harvard has tremendously improved their engineering program… increasing the size, facilities, number of professors, number of students, number of available majors, etc. However, it is still not yet into the top 20 USNWR rankings for engineering (I’m viewing grad school since free version of undergrad only lists to top 10). In contrast, some of the school’s biggest competitors do much better. For example, Stanford and MIT are ranked #1 and #2 for both undergrad and grad. </p>
<p>With other criteria, you’d come to different conclusions. An athlete who wants to go as far as possible in his sport might favor schools with superior athletic teams. Non-athletes who are generally into sports and school spirit might come to similar conclusions. A student who wants to go into government might favor Georgetown due to the proximity and connections to DC. Someone who favors small class sizes and more personal attention, might pick a LAC. There are countless more examples. Harvard is no doubt an outstanding school, but it is not “the best” for everyone.</p>
<p>Considering that Harvard has the biggest endowment of any university in the world, if it wanted to become a top engineering school, it could. But that’s not its goal. Harvard is not a trade school. Therefore, even the engineering program at Harvard is centered around a strong liberal arts tradition. If you want trade school, go elsewhere.</p>
<p>Harvard can be considered a trade school for investment banking and management consulting.</p>
<p>Engineering is a “trade”? So Engineers are like carpenters and plumbers eh? Someone should inform Cal, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia, Cornell, Michigan, MIT, Northwestern, Princeton, Rice, Stanford and other elite universities who value the liberal arts concept above all else about this riveting detail!</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is, Harvard’s endowment is fully stretched in funding the university’s generous financial aid program, medical school complex and research/faculty needs that it cannot extend to improving its engineering programs.</p>