Son Admitted From Harvard Waitlist. Need Help Deciding

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Law school aside, the A cap at Harvard will lead to more competition and less collaboration among students. Study groups, sharing tips, etc., will be out of the window for many students. I wouldn't go, honestly. Not now.

This is my line of thinking, I worry more about what it’ll do to the student culture with high achievers almost more than the gpa concerns.

I think the first couple of years will be rough.

[Anonymous]

Harvards grade policy isn’t even a grade deflation policy- it’s a grade compression one. There’s no limits on A- grades.

[Anonymous]

Harvard for sure. It is a much stronger brand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard for sure. It is a much stronger brand.

Brand for what? They’re pre law, not going into consulting.

[Anonymous]

I’m not one that says go for highest rank, I say choose on fit. If you’re not happy and in a place you feel comfortable, you won’t be at the top of heap anyway so marginal prestige bump is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your son is more likely to get in to a top law school if he is from Harvard or Yale or Stanford, assuming the grades are top and the LSAT scores are over 170.
--law prof

I was going to say something similar and I’m not a law prof.

Harvard!

But that’s me, a stranger on the internet. Has your son visited both, OP? Which school did he connect with more (they do have differences, especially the open curriculum at Brown).

Go with fit, I wouldn’t stress about the A cap - that could change after one year.

[Anonymous]

I say go to Harvard. But your son could be like my brother. He went to Stanford but wishes he’d gone to Berkeley. It was just a better fit for him socially. But he admits he would have been less unique at Berkeley. He was notable in his class at Stanford.

[Anonymous]

Law schools care about his LSAT. Not much else. This is only slightly exaggerating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your son is more likely to get in to a top law school if he is from Harvard or Yale or Stanford, assuming the grades are top and the LSAT scores are over 170.
--law prof

But OPs whole point was that her kid doesn’t think he can get top grades now that Harvard isn’t handing them out like candy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Law schools care about his LSAT. Not much else. This is only slightly exaggerating.

Law schools absolutely care about GPA because they have to report the GPA medians and it affects their rankings.

[Anonymous]

So strange. Your kid is asking strangers to give input? You’re going to relay the opinions of strangers to your kid on this issue?

Is this fake?

[Anonymous]

I have a a kid at one of these, at this level they should have a pretty darn good read on their abilities, preferences, and risk tolerance. I’d trust their gut over internet strangers.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get why people are so invested in this. Choose wherever feels right. Don’t think about academic policies that won’t last a few years, just ask “when I’m on Harvard yard, is that where I wanna go?” It’s that easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So strange. Your kid is asking strangers to give input? You’re going to relay the opinions of strangers to your kid on this issue?

Is this fake?

I find it odd too. Mine was deciding between a couple ivies and knew the pros and cons. Strangers input wasn’t going to tell us anything we didn’t already know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Law school aside, the A cap at Harvard will lead to more competition and less collaboration among students. Study groups, sharing tips, etc., will be out of the window for many students. I wouldn't go, honestly. Not now.

Maybe read about what happened to Princeton to get an idea of what happened during the few years after they instituted the cap. Their cap was a bit more generous with 35% for undergrad classes, and I believe 55% for independent upper coursework.