<p>Since when is Boston a world-class urban center????</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Short of H coming after P or Y in a new alphabet, no. The only reason Harvard jumps to mind first is b/c it comes first in our ABC's.<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>No, I think Harvard's strengths are a lot more than just alphabetical.</p>
<p>A big part of Harvard's achievement is having sustained its high reputation for such a long time. It's 369 years old. It was widely regarded as the top college in the US in the 17th century, the 18th century, the 19th century, the 20th century, and it's off to a pretty good start in the 21st century. It's hard to keep up a charade that long. If there weren't some real excellence behind the reputation, Harvard would have sunk in the public's estimation long ago.</p>
<p>And viewed in that context, any given issue for the school, such as President Summers' current term, and however (un)successful it turns out to be, is but a small blip on a very big screen.</p>
<p>Not that I think Harvard is perfect. It is certainly not above criticism. But part of its strength is having the resources and will to to improve the areas that do need to be addressed. Witness the $50 million initiative to promote women faculty and students in science - announced just today.</p>
<p>Even though it is sometimes regarded as such, I am not convinced that Harvard actually is or ever was The Best School in the World, because I don't think such a thing can even be accurately defined, much less measured. </p>
<p>What I can say is that it does many, many things very well. And the usual few dissenters notwithstanding, the large majority of the students there are very pleased with the education they are getting. But because its reputation has been so good for so long, some people are automatically going to resent it for that fact alone. And there is nothing much you can do to change their minds. And why bother? The school will get along just fine without them.</p>
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Since when is Boston a world-class urban center????
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<p>in comparison to durham (duke) and new haven (yale) it sure is!</p>
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<p>its yield, while still highest is down 9 percent </p>
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<p>??? Harvard's yield has been holding steady around 80% for many years. I can't attest to Harvard's yield in 1651, but I know for sure that in the last 35 years, at least, it has never approached 90%, so this 9 percent drop you refer to is either fictional or occurred more than a generation ago.</p>
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<p>The only reason Harvard jumps to mind first is b/c it comes first in our ABC's.</p>
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<p>I don't think that's true. It has a special place in the cultural lexicon. The reason I don't think that will change in our lifetimes is that cultural lexicons are not sensitive to small relative shifts in stature among peers. They're more akin to snowballs rolling down hills. It's rather like Shakespeare's role as an iconic great writer or Einstein's as an iconic genius. When it comes to the lexicon, it really doesn't matter whether there's a good argument to be made that Dryden wrote better plays or Feynman was a greater scientist. They just don't have the same meaning in the culture.</p>
<p>I definently think Stanford is making its way to becoming the top school. It combines world class academics in an amazing location and is also the place of rising technology in this very technology centered world. As admission gets tougher and tougher and kids are seeing the advantages of a laid back california education it will rocket to the top. I chose it because I believe it is the best school in the country. No school offers such amazing social life options and such great academics at the same time.
Stanford '09!!!!!!!!!</p>