<p>In terms of overlapping applicants and cross-admits, which college does Harvard compete with the most?</p>
<p>Statistically and reputation-wise, it's Stanford, as this article seems to support:</p>
<p>I would actually disagree and say Yale is Harvard's biggest competitor. That isn't to say that Yale is necesarily better than Stanford (Or Harvard is better than either of them) but for most students, whether it be the East coast location or whatever, choose Yale next after Harvard. I remember seeing a pie chart of cross admits between top schools, They went to Harvard first and Yale second. In fact, Stanford even said that they lose out on cross admits. But honestly, does any of this even matter? :)</p>
<p>I'm going to have to vote Yale also.
The two Harvard admits at my school this past school year were cross-admits with Yale, and both will be in New Haven this fall. :)</p>
<p>But yeah... i think honestly it's just whichever is a better fit for you... For me, from what I know about each, Harvard is obviously a better fit or else I wouldn't be posting here, but schools aren't like duking it out for US News rankings... at least not overtly.</p>
<p>This article seems to indicate otherwise: "As the YAM reported, Yale has recently "begun to lose more Stanford common admits than it wins." In the past, Harvard has typically won most students admitted to both Yale and Harvard, but Yale has historically won common admit battles with other colleges like Princeton and MIT. As Shaw told the magazine, "the dot-com world is a big part of the draw for Stanford."
<a href="http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxx/2000.11.16/features/front.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/xxx/2000.11.16/features/front.html</a></p>
<p>That pie chart of cross-admits that you saw, interestingly enough, was probably one published by Stanford:
<a href="http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2004/october6/decline-106.html%5B/url%5D">http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2004/october6/decline-106.html</a></p>
<p>And then there's also the "86.7% ocachoy" statistic.</p>
<p>Well whatever, revealed preference charts put Yale in front of Stanford. <em>Shrugs</em> I'm applying to all three, all the better. :)</p>
<p>well saw this in the "new posts" thing and couldn't help but state the my extensive, world renound research shows that...STANFORD owns both yale and harvard. go cardinal! :)</p>
<p>Yes, Yale ranks higher in the revealed preference ranking. But Harvard dominates Yale in cross-admits like nothing else. 86.7% of them take Cambridge over New Haven, after all. It is my impression that in terms of relations to only Harvard, Stanford performs better than Yale. Yale does very well against schools like Princeton and Penn, while Stanford doesn't do quite as well.</p>
<p>Yale, definitely!!!
I chose it over Harvard!</p>
<p>mariela86:</p>
<p>Sorry, but the personal anecdote is rather poor support for your statement. About 85% of the students who are accepted into both schools and attend one choose Harvard over Yale. Yale only has a Law and Politics program that could be compared to any prestigious university, let alone Harvard. </p>
<p>Yale doesn't even have any science programs to speak of. </p>
<p>Mentioning Stanford is also incorrect, as Stanford's (relative) weakness in the exact sciences is a huge flaw.</p>
<p>No, the REAL competitor, and one that hasn't even been mentioned yet, is MIT. </p>
<p>It's probably the only school with a science/math department equatable to Harvard which also has other programs sufficiently strong enough (unlike Caltech, for instance) to compete with Harvard University.</p>
<p>MIT does best vs. Harvard where common admits are concerned.</p>
<p>Traditionally, that is true, including the Class of 2008 when about 2/3 chose Harvard over MIT. It remains true that three quarters of common admits to Harvard and to MIT, Stanford, Yale and Princeton choose Harvard.</p>
<p>That does not necessarily make MIT Harvard's "biggest competitor" however. Generally the largest cross-admit pool has been with Stanford in recent years, although the Harvard/Yale cross admit pool was larger for the Class of 2008.</p>
<p>nearly all of harvard's peer schools are strong competitors for applicants interested in engineering. 2005 u.s. news undergraduate engineering rankings:</p>
<ol>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>stanford</li>
<li>caltech</li>
<li>princeton</li>
<li>HARVARD</li>
<li>yale</li>
</ol>
<p>For 2008, Harvard whipped Princeton in the cross admit battle by a wider margin that any HYPSM rival, whereas previously the widest margin had been vs Yale.</p>
<p>What exactly (excuse the slight pun) are we talking about, the "exact sciences?" Are we talking about things like math and physics?</p>
<p>I don't think Stanford is "relatively weak" in those programs at all.</p>
<p>Why should tech schools like MIT and CalTech be strong competitors for Harvard? Yes, they are incredibly strong in math and applied sciences, but Harvard has a more renowned broader range of subjects, such as economics, pure sciences, business, language, etc. I'd think Stanford is a stronger competitor, especially since they are receiving so much money for programs such as stem cell research, and Yale. However, Harvard recently established the new Stem Cell Research Center.</p>
<p>
<p>I don't think Stanford is "relatively weak" in those programs at all.
</p>
<p>Compared to Princeton, Harvard, Caltech, and MIT, they are.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Why should tech schools like MIT and CalTech be strong competitors for Harvard?
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Overall, Caltech certainly is not, as I mentioned in my last post. MIT, however, has a very strong and developing humanities department, one that isn't much worse than Harvard's.</p>
<p>I don't know about that. Tied for third with Harvard and Princeton in Physics (according to USNEWS)? Tied for second with H & P in math? Third in geology? The NRC ranks them third in Chemistry moreover.</p>
<br>
<p>Why should tech schools like MIT and CalTech be strong competitors for Harvard?</p>
<br>
<p>Because a number of applicants are deeply interested in the sciences and engineering and don't care as much about liberal arts in general. Harvard's strengths in economics and art history may not mean much to a student who lives in the physics lab. Students apply to both Harvard-type and MIT-type schools because they aren't certain how focused they want their college experience to be, and they may choose a tech school in the end when they conclude that they want science front and center.</p>
<p>I would have guessed Princeton since it is the number one ranked undergraduate school, and is (arguably) the hardest ivy to get into.</p>
<p>Sources:</p>
<p>U.S. News: Harvard, Princeton tied for number one.
Princeton Review: MIT hardest to get into, followed by Princeton.</p>