<p>Harvard may have the best NAME in the country, I don't think it's the best SCHOOL. Big difference there.</p>
<p>No matter which of these schools you attend, you will encounter more world-class professors, more brilliant students, more enjoyable ECs, and more internships and research grants than you can possibly take advantage of in four short years.</p>
<p>I don't think the undergraduate education at Harvard is any better than at SYP.</p>
<p>I agree. And logically and statistically it makes sense. If you are a top top top student, attend the one that feels right.</p>
<p>Most common admits - who are top students and the most sought-after applicants - pick Harvard overwhelmingly as the best place for their undergraduate education.</p>
<p>ok so what's your point, Byerly?
are you insinuating that Harvard is, in fact, the best out of them all, or are you just bringing up a point that has no real bearing to this discussion?</p>
<p>Byerly, it's a sign of intelligence not to repeat oneself incessantly.</p>
<p>Its not what I think that is at issue, but what the top high school graduates think - when the choice is open to them.</p>
<p>Obviously, as Alumother says, you should visit any school to which you are admitted - if possible - and "attend the one that feels right".</p>
<p>We have repeatedly discussed the fact that in this time of too much info and high anxiety people faced with a choice will often go to the brand name rather than choosing the place that is right for them and their own educational experience.</p>
<p>Princeton has the highest alumni loyalty of all selective colleges, both in terms of donations and reunion attendance. That reflects the fact that those who chose Princeton loved it.</p>
<p>Most productive 62 year old men are not so profligate as to spend endless hours preaching for one school over another.</p>
<p>Byerly, your argument falls short of the topic at hand. We're not discussing, as you always seem to want to, whether Harvard is the most popular college to attend, or whatever. Instead, we're comparing undergraduate educations...it's quite different. </p>
<p>I have a friend attending Harvard, and he chose it partially based on name. He was also accepted to Stanford and Princeton, and says that the undergraduate education itself is not any better. He still picked Harvard. You're right Byerly, students tend to pick Harvard. But the name is OFTEN the main appeal--too many students go EA to their dream school (Yale, Stanford, MIT, Chicago, whatever) and end up going to Harvard, because they "can't say no to H-bomb."</p>
<p>Just because they pick Harvard doesn't mean the actual education is any better, or that the experience is better. How come students regularly rate Harvard lower in terms of student satisfaction?</p>
<p>Too many questionable points there to deal with, so I won't bother.</p>
<p>But it is interesting that you put forth that tired cliche that "Harvard students only pick it for the name" Oh? And the far less shallow Princeton, Yale, Stanford etc. students ignore their school's total lack of reputation to pick it for noble reasons?</p>
<p>Give me a break.</p>
<p>EVERY student picks his or her school largely on the basis of its reputation. </p>
<p>Like Harvard - Stanford, Princeton, MIT and Yale, among others, have excellent reputations ... good "names", if you will ... which is why students apply to them in such numbers.</p>
<p>Some students may actually visit a school and let their own gut temper the "reputation". I actually think that the percentage of students picking largely on reputation is nothing like 100%. They may pick where to apply based on reputation, but when choosing where to spend 4 years between several places I just can't imagine it's largely reputation for 100% of the students. Perhaps it is true for 100% of Harvard students, hence the reported degree of discontent once the "reputation" meets reality.</p>
<p>ALUMOTHER: There you go, Alumother ... don't tempt me to question the consistency of your views under the circumstances. Do indeed tell us why Princeton is good, or even great, but under the circumstances your sneering at Harvard rings a little false.</p>
<p>SEMPITERN: <a href="http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/10/07/news/10999.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2004/10/07/news/10999.shtml</a></p>
<p>[Rapelye, on the recent yield drop at Princeton]
"We knew we were taking a group of students who had, on paper, a slightly better profile [than in previous years] and we also knew by doing that, they would have more choices. That happens at any school," Rapelye said. "We knew that our yield would be slightly lower because of that, and it was."</p>
<pre><code>As the quality of a college's accepted-students pool increases, so does the number of "cross-admits," or students admitted to other schools.
An individual college's yield may drop under such circumstances as it competes with other schools for the best students. ...
Comparatively, the University's yield is similar to that of Yale and higher than those of MIT and Stanford. The University's number has consistently been lower than that of Harvard, which hit an all-time high of 79 percent this year. ...
Based on information obtained from students admitted to the University who chose not to attend, Rapelye confirmed that most of Princeton's cross-admits choose Harvard, Yale, Stanford or MIT over Old Nassau.
Losing students to Harvard is nothing new, said Chris Avery, a professor at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government who researches the college admissions process.
In a 2000 study of 3,000 highly-qualified students admitted to the nation's most selective colleges, Avery found that in head-to-head battles, schools almost invariably lost out to Harvard.
"We found [that] essentially Harvard was winning most of the competitions for students," Avery said in an interview."
</code></pre>
<p>Byerly, you often state things that are true and interesting, but in your Johnny One Note insistence on reiterating the cross-admit stats, you drag down the conversation level here. We are trying to help kids look at things a little more thoughtfully, rather than to equate Most Famous with Best. I don't think there is a Best college. I don't see on what grounds anyone could claim that there was. It's just a silly idea. </p>
<p>Furthermore, this is a board where people come to talk about Princeton. There is another board for people who wish to mention Harvard in every post. </p>
<p>It's too bad that by repeating yourself so much, you are driving down your own credibility. Pity, because you have a lot to contribute.</p>
<p>Just because this is the "Princeton Board," aparent, does not mean posters have licence here to dump on Harvard by reiterating cliches about how Harvard student are all shallow "prestige" seekers with no worthy rationale for their choice, etc etc. and other negative stuff.</p>
<p>It is this negativity and hostility that, in my mind, "drags down the conversation level here."</p>
<p>When such sentiments are expressed, I will respond by reiterating that the majority of cross admits - top students sought by BOTH Harvard and Princeton, I emphasize - choose Harvard, and have done so for years. </p>
<p>When the discussion focusses, in a positive way, on the glories of Princeton you will be free to warble to your heart's content.</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>Byerly, I just reviewed the first four posts on this thread. The OP said he was considering Harvard and Princeton and asked his chances for Princeton ED. Several of us addressed that question. NO ONE RESPONDING TO HIS QUESTION MENTIONED HARVARD until you posted with your usual cross-admit info. No one had said a single negative thing about Harvard. Nothing about prestige seeking, shallowness, lack of worthy rational...nothing. Nada. Rien. </p>
<p>Given that this student had also posted on the Harvard board -- where you offered him appropriate encouragement, and where nobody from the Princeton board felt the need to chime in -- you had your chance there. With no provocation from anyone here, though, you insisted on coming here and banging your usual drum.</p>
<p>Princeton has just as a prestigious name as Harvard. If it didn't, then Batman Begins would not feature that school. ;)</p>
<p>Ask the Joe Blows what Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are... and they will know.</p>
<p>If that is so, then is not just as likely that (to borrow a phrase from Alumother) "100% of Princeton admits chose it for its prestige?"</p>
<p>I don't think they did so. They chose Princeton, in most cases, because they were admitted and wanted to go there.</p>
<p>The same is true of matriculants at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT and most elite colleges.</p>
<p>aparent5 is right Byerly, look at the thread carefully.</p>