<p>You will receive just as good an education at a top Liberal Arts College (Williams, Pomona, Middlebury, Bowdoin, Swarthmore, etc) as you would at Harvard. If you are lucky enough to be accepted to Harvard and a top LAC, you might choose Harvard because:</p>
<ol>
<li>Cambridge and Boston might be more appealing than the towns of a LAC.<br></li>
<li>Harvard’s endowment allows them to provide better financial aid than most LAC’s.</li>
<li>The H-bomb effect is real; it does open doors. After all, what employer has not heard of the difficulty of getting into Harvard? So, when faced with a stack of 500-700 resumes for a job opening, an employer might go “Well, she graduated from Harvard. Let’s call her in and see if we can see what they saw in her.” But, then it’s up to the student to prove their competence in the interview. And the H-bomb effect is really only good for your first job, as your 2nd employer will be looking at your track record from your first job and not focusing on the college you attended.</li>
</ol>
<p>And, FWIW: [Harvard</a> University Professor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University_Professor]Harvard”>List of University Professors at Harvard University - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>While Harvard’s professors are top notch, the vast majority of them did not attend Harvard College – some even attended top LAC’s.</p>