<p>Yale. If Yale doesn’t take me and Harvard does, I don’t know what I’ll do. It’ll be a huge tossup.</p>
<p>@higheredaspirer: Oxbridge do have some mysterious magic, don’t they? I’m going to the US for undergrad because I really love the idea of liberal arts, but i’m considering Oxbridge for masters and phd because I feel like I have to go there at some point. There’s an inexplicable romantic element in my desire to go to Oxbridge. It’s like a spell’s been cast on me. ;)</p>
<p>So it seems Yale really is Harvard’s biggest rival ;p</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Same, except switch Caltech and MIT. Also put Duke in there somewhere (around Brown)</p>
<p>What’s so romantic in mouldy buildings, professors with this “oh my god don’t talk to me, you noob” attitude, and mega depressing weather? Not to mention the “terrific” accommodation which rarely includes such a luxury as a less-than-70-year-old, worn-off bath with a tap that actually mixes hot and cold water…</p>
<p>I find it revolting.
Visited, disliked, regretted applying. Would never go in a million years…</p>
<p>PS: I was referring to the inexplicable admiration for Oxbridge and its modern educational techniques and up-to-minute resources dating somewhere in the early 11th century…</p>
<p>Wharton School, if I wanted to major in business.</p>
<p>Johns Hopkins, if I wanted to be a doctor</p>
<p>MIT or Caltech, if I wanted to be an engineer</p>
<p>University of Alabama, if I wanted to be a halfback in the NFL</p>
<p>Kentucky or Duke, if I wanted to play in the NBA (Jeremy Lynn notwithstanding)</p>
<p>Know people who have turned Harvard down for MIT, Stanford, Yale, Princeton and US Naval Academy.
Know people who have turned Princeton down for Harvard, MIT, Stanford and Yale.
Know people who have turned down Yale for Harvard, Princeton, Stanford or MIT.
Know people who have turned down Stanford for Harvard, Yale Princeton or MIT.
Know people at MIT who have turned down Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Stanford.
See a pattern here, you are likely to have good choices and everyone chooses which is right for them individually.</p>
<p>Don’t know anyone who took MIT over HYP</p>
<p>if i were lucky enough to make this decision, i’d take yale over harvard.</p>
<p>it’s nice to see that almost half the people who’ve posted think the same :)</p>
<p>S2 said his choices are as follows:</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Stanford (brother is there)</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>UPenn</li>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>MIT (accepted)</li>
<li>Columbia (likely)</li>
<li>Dartmouth (likely)</li>
<li>Cornell (likely)</li>
</ol>
<p>If I have any say in the matter (which I might not), he’ll end up at Stanford if accepted.</p>
<p>@shootastar: Yeah, I’ve definitely decided to apply abroad for graduate school, and do my undergrad in the U.S., even though I got into a couple of other UK schools. I absolutely love gothic architecture, and that coupled with the brilliant yet down to earth tutors and the whole academic atmosphere would just make my learning experience. :D</p>
<p>I agree with the lovely architecture and history that the UK uni’s have. My son would choose Cambridge over Oxford but ended up not applying to either since he’s uncertain about his major and the UK uni’s require you to declare your course of study. He’s considering grad school there also but that’s still at least another 4 years away so one step at a time.</p>
<p>He always thought he’d want Harvard as his first choice but after visiting most of the Ivies, Stanford and MIT, Harvard fell below Stanford (which he’s been accepted to) and Princeton too. Yale is starting to move upward on his list too but he will need to visit again any universities he’s admitted to just to compare them in the same year since he visited the East coast school a year before the West and Midwest schools.</p>
<p>Stanford, maybe Princeton & Columbia :)</p>
<p>The historic percentages hold that between 76-78% of you who are accepted will decide to attend Harvard. Doesn’t vary much any particular year–and has been slightly trending up in recent years–not by much.</p>
<p>To the poster who doesn’t care much for Oxbridge–and thinks the dons (very few hold the title professor btw) don’t want to speak with students hasn’t ever been in a tutorial session. Also as for the atmosphere-- 4 words: “Trinity (Cambridge) May Ball” if you want to understand, just Google it–you’ll see what I mean-- they spent over £2,500,000 on the party last year which was free for Trinity students and faculty and their guests. Most incredible party one could ever attend anywhere. Decadent?, yes, waste of money?, probably-- fun?, absolutely</p>
<p>I am a college counselor at a high school in the Boston area that sends a lot of kids to Ivies each, inclusing, generally, a few to Harvard. Last year we had an unusually large number of kids who had the Harvard vs Yale choice - 3. Interestingly enough, all three ended up choosing Yale. Because of our location we have a lot of students whose families have connections to Harvard, a number of parents teach at Harvard/MIT.</p>
<p>What I find is – on the broadest level – Harvard’s big brand may give it a 75% matriculation rate overall. But if you look at kids from families with Ivy background, who really know these schools well and have exposure to them – Harvard does less well. Yes, the “educated consumer” does think a little differently. We have a lot of parents who are affiliated with Harvard and MIT’s research facilities, often as faculty members. I find they tend to encourage their kids to look more at Yale/Princeton/Stanford or go the Williams/Amherst/Swarthmore route for undergraduate experience based on their own experience at these institutions.</p>
<p>Just my penny’s worth based on a few decades of observation.</p>
<p>Possibly Georgetown, and that’s it for me. I’m a government & language major–that’s why.</p>
<p>@borodino-- Isn’t a factor as well that as Bostonians, Harvard will not feel like “going away to college”? Part of the separation process that is becoming a collegian is to make mistakes, get into a bit of trouble, but being unable to run quickly to Mum and Dad for assistance? Much tougher to do that when one is merely several T stops away–even if in reality the stepping through the college threshold does that, the family may not understand that, esp in the Spring of their senior year of high school.</p>
<p>Dartmouth!</p>
<p>Yale! (I know…a very dangerous thing to say on this thread) LOL.</p>
<p>etondad – I think you are right to a degree. Some of these kids are anxious to get away from home and familiarity breeds a bit of contempt – hard to be wowed by Harvard if you’ve been hanging out in Harvard square since you were 14.</p>
<p>But also, based on many, many conversations with parents who have studied at Harvard, or now work there – there is a relatively common feeling that Harvard does not the strongest undergraduate experience one can find.</p>