Why you chose Harvard over Yale?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>There is a thread like this in Yale, so I figured it would be interesting to see the different viewpoints.</p>

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<p>That’s so true! I was a huge fan of the mirror thread in the Yale forum and truly impressed by the points the OP there raised.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/187335-why-i-chose-yale-over-harvard-current-student.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/187335-why-i-chose-yale-over-harvard-current-student.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>However, I know that’s only 1 perspective, and perhaps a little bit dated (2006).</p>

<p>Can any Harvard cross-admits share some of your personal stories and shed light on your specific reasons for Why Harvard?</p>

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<p>I was a Harvard-Yale cross admit a while back…</p>

<p>Many of the reasons I chose Harvard were very circumstantial/coincidental (i.e. I got into Harvard EA (back when that existed) and really loved the other EA folks I met, had an amazing prefrosh weekend - but a schedule conflict for bulldog days, etc).</p>

<p>At the same time, there were a few really substantial factors that pulled me to Harvard:

  1. Location. New Haven is cooler and safer than people give it credit for. That said, it’s not in the same league as Cambridge/Boston. I didn’t cross the Charles as much as I would have liked, but I still managed my fair share of Red Sox games at Fenway, ice skating at the frog pond, restaurant week at l’espalier, brewery tours at harpoon, etc.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Attitude. I think the vast majority of Harvard/Yale students are very cool folk. At Harvard, the not-so-cool folk tend to be on the d-bag/arrogant/overconfident side. At Yale, I felt like the annoying folks were on the “chip on my shoulder”/“out to prove something” side. When forced to choose, I pick the Harvard kind of annoying.</p></li>
<li><p>Peers. I’d be crazy to argue that Harvard actually has a stronger/more interesting/more diverse student body than Yale. That said, as soon as I started to get to know my class at Harvard, I was entirely unable to fathom any group of folks more interesting/intelligent/accomplished out there. Maybe I would have said the same thing about the Elis if I had been Yale SCEA?</p></li>
</ol>