<p>However, the 3/100 stat does not consider the numerous Brown applicants who did not apply to Harvard. Brown and Harvard are fundamentally different; I am always surprised to see both schools on the same list.</p>
<p>Byerly:</p>
<p>I read the NYT article this Septeber 14 that discussed Harvard's plan to eliminate early action. My memory of that article is that in every 100 cross admits between Harvard and Brown, Harvard wins 89 students and Brown wins 11. This is still a big win for Harvard, but it's a better win ratio than the 3:97 that you suggest. Please provide a url source to verify your 3:97 cross admit win ratio.</p>
<p>DocT, while I am glad your daughter is happy, I wish she had given Brown more of a look. Clearly, she didn't take us too seriously which is a shame-- we may have had something to offer her she was unaware of and she may have had something to offer our community. That said, as long as she's happy.</p>
<p>Visiting really isn't a very good indicator of anything, in my opinion (even though I visited 16 schools, and four of them twice). I hated some places on the first visit that I loved on the second (ie Yale) and liked some places when I visited that I know I wouldn't like if I attended them (ie Dartmouth). Most places end up being what you make of them. That said, if one is willing to make a judgment about a school without even seeing it (assuming it meets basic criteria, like size, reputation, etc), he/she probably isn't a good fit for that school, anyway. Keeping an open mind is really the key to getting the most out of any situation or opportunity.</p>
<p>My daughter turned down Harvard for Brown and she hasn't looked back (yet!). Her main reasons for not choosing Harvard were 1) she didn't care for Harvard's core curriculum (this is currently undergoing review), 2) she didn't care for what she perceived as the Finals Clubs' social hierarchy, and 3) she got the sense that at Harvard it would be much harder to get to know her professors and to get a chance to work closely with them. This was why she chose Brown over Harvard, but not every student is looking for the same thing from the undergraduate experience. I think that you need first to examine what you feel your needs are (academically, socially, etc.) and then to see where you think that these needs can best be met. No school is perfect, and what you need from a school may even change over the course of your four years as you change and grow. This is not an exact science and there are no absolute wrong or right choices.</p>
<p>I'm confused: your daughter "turned down" Harvard in what sense? By not applying? Or did she apply, against her better judgement, get admitted, and THEN turn it down because of all the horrible things she learned about it? </p>
<p>If the latter is true, its certainly a shame she didn't find out how terrible the place was before visiting, writing the essays, filling out the application, paying the fee, going through the alumni interview, and getting admitted!</p>
<p>If the latter is true. It's certainly also a shame that she had also caused the Harvard yield rate to drop by 0.1%.</p>
<p>Many people get accepted into multiple schools and then turn down a bunch for a single choice. Considering admission into neither Harvard nor Brown is a sure thing, I am sure she was quite surprised, flattered, and elated to discover she received offers to attend both. In the end, she made the decision that she felt was best for her.</p>
<p>Byerly, I'm calling you out on that one. What a vile, disgusting, stupid post. It's time for you to go into your hole in the backyard and stay there until you get so lonely that you crave some actual human interaction rather than the kind you get by coming here and being the resident troll.</p>
<p>People apply to multiple schools not knowing which ones they will get in to. Choosing one school over another is difficult and requires a choice between sets of pros and cons. If you can't understand that, then you do not belong here, trying to interact with rational, sensible human beings. So, go away.</p>
<p>Oh, and I just figured out who you remind me of: Bill O'Reilly.</p>
<p>I'd still like to hear from "shelf-life" rather than the partisan kibbitzers making personal attacks.</p>
<p>i'd definitely turn harvard down for PLME, for just regular brown undergrad...hmm...it's hard to say...</p>
<p>My attacks were not personal, they targeted the irrationality of your arguement, doing so in the same forceful way (albeit less subtle) that you make your claims. Come on, Bill, don't deflect the criticism, respond to it. I know you act like this on TV, but this is not TV.</p>
<p>And your reply better not be “what do your parents think of what you’re doing?”</p>
<p>Byerly, I don't know how to reply to someone who so willfully misinterprets what I wrote. I think my post made it clear that she did apply and get accepted by Harvard. She did not apply to Harvard "against her better judgment.' My post does not state or imply that she learned "horrible things" about Harvard or found out "what a terrible place" it is. I simply listed the factors that tipped the scales against Harvard for this one student. I don't understand why you seem to feel that she should regret applying or consider it a waste of her time and money. Instead she very much enjoyed meeting her alumni interviewer and she enjoyed her accepted student visit. I don't believe that my post was inflammatory in any way so I am having a hard time understanding your response. I don't think that your response was offered in the same spirit that I made my post.</p>
<p>Don't mind Byerly -- he likes to poke his head around other forums, putting down other schools and puting in shameless plugs for Harvard. Just take it with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>While I'm not averse to the shameless Brown plugs, I tend to stay positive -- Harvard is a great school but it's not great for everyone and it certainly wouldn't've been great for me. I also don't bother going to other schools' forums and talking up my school (or putting down theirs).</p>
<p>Ok people, seriously thanks a lot for all of your advice.
I never visited Brown cause I'm international student and it would be pretty hard to go to the states, but I did visit Harvard, it was ok.
and someone posted something about it being stupid to go to a school just because of its prestige, but seriously most of the people that go to harvard go to it for its prestige. And if I get in, prestige would one of the main factors of my decision. Especially the fact that I live in a country where everyone knows schools like Harvard, Princeton, MIT and a couple of others. So its pretty important to me to go to a well known school, cause ppl here really wouldnt know the diffrence between Brown and arizona state.
And don't get me wrong, I'm dying to go to Brown, but the fact of turning down Harvard is just a thing I would eventually regret.
So, im still contemplating what to do.</p>
<p>If you're not 100% willing to go to Brown, then ED is a bad choice. </p>
<p>Good luck with Harvard and its 6% RD admit rate. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>lol...I dont know I just seem optimistic for this unknown reason. I mean I think Ill have a chance at Harvard, and get rejected at Brown I dont know.
warblersrule86 - its 9% :P</p>
<p>I don't mean that considering prestige as a factor in your decision is unimportant or stupid. I mean that going to a certain place entirely because that school is the most prestigious is stupid. Certainly the prestige thing makes a difference for you (with regard to harvard vs brown) because you live in a different environment, whereas here there isn't really a huge difference prestige-wise. In the long run, you should go where you'll think you'll be happier. If the prestige factor will ruin your happiness at one place, you shouldn't go there. Keep in mind, however, that prestige and quality do not always correlate (esp when you consider how each school will serve your own individual desires and goals). If you think you might regret your choice to go to Brown and not apply to harvard, do not apply ED to brown.</p>
<p>
[quote]
warblersrule86 - its 9% :P
[/quote]
Nope. 9% is the overall (EA & RD combined) admit rate. See here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=251358%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=251358</a></p>