<p>wow........so much drama on this post. Don't worry, in two weeks I'm sure we'll forget that Byerly even exists.</p>
<p>Mmm, back to the original post, i was wondering how is Yale's attention to undergrad vs. Harvard? In what way is Yale more focused on undergrad? If it's just a gut feeling, that's ok too (please note it though). If you have specific evidence, I'm interested in that as well.</p>
<p>There are really a lot of reasons why Yale is an awesome undergrad experience. Most of which deal with the residential colleges. The masters throw parties for everyone and host master's teas... things like that.</p>
<p>Here is a quote from Harvard President Lawrence Summers said about the undergrad attention at harvard (thanks to sakky for info)</p>
<p>"Here is my favorite (indirect) quote, reported to Bradley by a student who met with Summers during office hours. The student told Summers "he was disappointed by how little contact he'd had with most of his professors." In reply, Summers "basically said that at Harvard, we choose to go only for the best scholars, and that if you wanted somewhere that focused on undergraduate teaching, you should go to a place like Amherst or Swarthmore." "
<a href="http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2004/12/16/harvard_tell_all_booktells_little/%5B/url%5D">http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2004/12/16/harvard_tell_all_booktells_little/</a></p>
<p>That is no "quote" -direct or indirect - but the invention of a thoroughly discredited attack "journalist" with an axe to grind. His last book was an exploitation potboiler about JFK, Jr. after he died in a plane crash.</p>
<p>Pretty interesting that this is all you can come up with.</p>
<p>Oh, and not to burst your bubble, newt, but Harvard has "houses" (the Yale "colleges" were slavish copies of them, in buildings donated by the same philanthropist) and - amazingly, I know - the House Masters have been known to "throw parties" and "host masters teas" !!!!!!!</p>
<p>interesting thread. ;)</p>
<p>I forgot to note how typical it was to find the manufactured slander of President Summers quoted so deliciously in the column of Globe writer Alex Beam - a Yalie who has carved out a niche in Boston (endearing himself to certain elements) as a relentless tormenter and critic of Harvard - which he sneeringly and constantly refers to as "the WGU" (Worlds Greatest University.)</p>
<p>The point - before you spread a slander that appeals to you, consider the source!</p>
<p>all the yale pppl I've met are happy</p>
<p>all the harvard people are either depressed or angry</p>
<p>seems this way on CC too....</p>
<p><em>edit</em></p>
<p>except for Conan O Brien</p>
<p>i love that guy</p>
<p>omg.......does anyone really care about harvard anymore at this point? I joined this forum because I want to talk about Yale and ONLY Yale. Let's end this shall we...</p>
<p>lol Byerly - the Yalies here really have no need to strain themselves to justify their liking the yale atmosphere better, through your arrogant ramblings, you've done it for them.</p>
<p>(most likely I'm not going to either school, though I have enough respect for them both ;))</p>
<p>Threads such as this one, where Yale admits or aspirants strain to argue that it is "better than Harvard" are quite common. </p>
<p>There is never a counterpart thread in which Harvard admits or aspirants feel the need to justify their choice by putting down "the competition."</p>
<p>That's b/c prestige-wise, Harvard wins. Have some common sense, Byerly. If you're the "best", naturally you wouldn't feel the need to defend your school's prestige so rampantly. It's a natural phenomenon - when you're "second best" you would take jabs occasionally at the reigning prestige-champ in lighthearted jest. If you go to a school liek Yale, there's absolutely little to no chance of you feeling "inferior" to anyone, so please, take the comments as they are - jokes - and let the harmless rivalry alone. There's no need to emphasize inferiority because that's not the issue at hand. It's a matter of personal preference. What Yalies love about Yale is exactly what they despise in Harvard (be it student body, environment, whatever), so naturally some tension would result. If Harvard were second to Yale in terms of prestige, your precious Harvard boards would be bursting with "why Harvard is better than Yale" threads as well.</p>
<p>For that matter, there really arent very many threads where Princeton, Stanford or MIT admits desperately compare themselves to Harvard.<br>
However, i think because all these colleges are great, threads like this are justified. Why youd pick one over the other is a pretty interesting question imo. Nevertheless, threads or posts that proclaim superiority are just plan stupid.</p>
<p>So you see it as sort of a "man bites dog" thing ... ie, it is hardly newsworthy - or justification for creating a bragging thread - if a student prefers Harvard to Yale, whereas Yalies would feel the need to justify their choice?</p>
<p>Why don't Princeton, MIT or Stanford admits create Yale-style bragging threads putting down the "competition?" Are they more secure about their choice for some reason?</p>
<p>byerly: surely, you have something better to do?</p>
<p>answer to question 1) No, I don't. It's not about justifying choice, it's a matter of personal preference. When I said Harvard was "best", I clarified that it was best in terms of prestige. Its name rings. Yale's name rings as well, just not as loudly. Whether that classifies the school as better overall is absolutely up to the personal preference of the student. Personally, I would go to Yale over Harvard, though I acknowledge Harvard as the "more prestigious school", but prestige is something that I do not happen to care about so much. But then again, it's entirely preference. If you have a choice between Harvard and Yale, it's very unlikely that any choice could be a "wrong" one.</p>
<p>Answer to question 2) MIT and Harvard, despite locations, are as different as they come. They offer absolutely no competition to each other, and are rarely ever mentioned in the same sentence even. Princeton has very recently risen to high prestigious heights, so to the general public, it's also rarely mentioned in the same breath as Yale and Harvard. I just don't know enough about Stanford to make any sort of a comment, but I'd imagine that being all the way on the west coast and not a part of the ivy league would separate the school quite a bit from Harvard/Yale.</p>
<p>I mean, what is more important than spreading LUX .... ET VERITAS?</p>
<p>They are eachother's strongest competitors for top science and math students. Harvard's edge over MIT for cross admits is always much narrower than its edge over Stanford, Princeton and Yale.</p>
<p>It is also worth noting that Stanford and Harvard generally have a larger cross admit pool than do Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>As for Princeton, it has almost always rated higher than Yale - and on a few occasions higher than Harvard - in the 20 years of USNews rankings, so I think it may have at least an equal claim to what you call "prestige". For the past 5 years it has been #1, or tied for #1, in these rankings.</p>
<p>The science and math talent that choose MIT and/or Harvard are not the ones beaming with school pride, that's for sure. Most of my friends who applied to both did not even take into account the environment or student body, they're into the academics. They'll have little or no part in this rivalry. </p>
<p>By competition, I did not mean the schools' competition for students (that really should have no effect on the moral of the students), I meant the students competition with each other.</p>
<p>And I'm never wrong about MIT ;)</p>
<p>EDIT IN RESPONSE TO YOUR EDIT:</p>
<p>Rankings have little to no effect on public or world opinion. It takes years to build "prestige", not just some opinions of random magazines that were worth nothing until they started ranking colleges.</p>
<p>Well you are quite wrong in this claim about MIT and Harvard. They are both fairly prideful and self confident - even the science-minded students - although of course neither group is as much given to boasting and dissing "rivals" as are the Yalies on this site. </p>
<p>Harvard and MIT are quite competitive and are well aware of each others existence. In fact, there is a large and growing group of people who are cross-enrolled.</p>
<p>Also, you are quite wrong when you assert that "rankings have no affect on public opinion. " Many studies have shown that rankings can have can have a profound affect. Many schools admit that a rise or drop in the rankings can have a very real impact on the number and quality of their applicants, and on the willingness of admits to enroll. That's why so many schools resent and denounce the "impact" of USNews.</p>