Harvard or Columbia - Where would you go?

[Anonymous]

Where does one go if not accepted to Harvard ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd probably go to Harvard. We can debate whether it should be true, but I've done enough hiring at this point to know that having that word on your resume is a huge difference maker.

Ditto. It's a leg up in life and is massively helpful if your son ever desires to work overseas. Instant credibility, even though it's not deserved IMHO. Columbia and Harvard are diametrically opposite experiences.

I've worked with and spent a lot of time around the Harvard crowd - my ex went there and I'm still close with much of their network, spent a lot of time around the Final Clubs crowd. Out of the hundreds of Harvard folks I've met, I'd say less than 20% really wowed me with their intellectual prowess. Harvard churns out a lot of grad with solid 'soft skills.' Most are wealthy kids who have successful parents and ride those connections into finance, law, politics, or med school. To be frank, the vast majority of Harvard grads are not any better than those who go to Duke, NYU, U of Michigan, or any other selective college. There also continues to be a vert strong tradition at Harvard that it's a "finishing school" for young wealthy women who intend to drop out of the work force by the time they are 30. Take that for what you will.

If your son wants a career in finance, he should absolutely go to Harvard. There is no reason for him to ever get an MBA after Harvard. All the individuals I know who went to Harvard undergrad and straight into finance did well and did not bother with MBAs. A few are partners at Goldman, but most end up at smaller boutique firms in leadership roles or running their family office. All are making high 6 figures or low 7 figures annually. The crowd I know graduated right after the tech downturn, so there are less of those folks in my network. I know that more recent classes do well at placing grads in established tech giants - Facebook, Amazon, Google, etc where soft skills now matter more than raw coding talent.

I'm consistently impressed with people who went to Yale, MIT, and Smith College. I've never met a slacker or dummy who came out of either of those schools. I can't say the same about Harvard undergrad.

You did not attend Harvard correct? Your ex wife was primarily in the final club circle correct? So basically you know some people from 5% of the student body and have generalized the whole place. What is wrong with you??? Is you goal to shit on your ex’s world?? That microcosm is not “Harvard”. Moreover,
Your access meant of people appears extreme.

My spouse also went to Harvard and I would agree with pretty much nothing first poster wrote. I’m sure someone who actually attended can provide far more valuable insight.

[Anonymous]

Please don't make this decision based on anything you read on an anonymous forum. Mine would chose columbia but so what. My DC is who he is and your dc should think about what he or she wants and chose accordingly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Columbia, then to Oxford for graduate work, and taught undergraduates at Oxford. While both are great universities, Columbia provided in my experience a better education with its combined structure and options for study.

Notwithstanding Oxford's vaunted tutorial method, Columbia invested more resources into providing for the education of its undergraduates, with about 80% of all classes being small classes of 22 students maximum across the faculties for undergraduates, and with the outstanding core courses.

I can't comment about Harvard, but it is not possible to duplicate the core course requirements which the entire freshman and sophomore classes take at Columbia. There is something unique and bonding about the entire entering freshman class taking the same required courses in small sections with a teacher who knows each student individually, and then promoting dialogue amongst the students over shared texts and issues, dissected and analyzed. One comes out of this training with the confidence that any book or article can be shredded to pieces and then re-assembled. This experience lasts a lifetime; the training remains useful in many ways in later life.

That core is what mine loved about Columbia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS is still trying to get over the shock of getting into both incredible schools. Commitment deadline is coming soon, and while the decision is his entirely, I was curious to see what insight people might give.

DS has flip-flopped between engineering and liberal arts for over a year now. If he goes to Columbia, he'll do engineering for sure (with a minor in humanities, probably). If he goes to Harvard, everything's up in the air.

Costs are very similar.

Is it not hard to complete engineering degree in time if you don't start out on that path. How does he do engineering degree at harvard if he does not declare it going in?

[Anonymous]

Harvard vs. Columbia.

False dilemma. I know someone who went to one as an undergrad and then to the other med school. They are interchangeable.

[Anonymous]

Harvard undergrad
Columbia grad
Or even better yet (not that you asked), Harvard grad and then UMich grad esp if in any kind of research. You can’t beat the power and resources of a huge state U

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is still trying to get over the shock of getting into both incredible schools. Commitment deadline is coming soon, and while the decision is his entirely, I was curious to see what insight people might give.

DS has flip-flopped between engineering and liberal arts for over a year now. If he goes to Columbia, he'll do engineering for sure (with a minor in humanities, probably). If he goes to Harvard, everything's up in the air.

Costs are very similar.

Is it not hard to complete engineering degree in time if you don't start out on that path. How does he do engineering degree at harvard if he does not declare it going in?

Columbia SEAS includes the core. If your kid changes his mind, he can easily transfer to Columbia College. Not sure how that works at H.

[Anonymous]

Try to get admitted into these colleges and then decide. If funding is an issue, I would probably go with the one which gives a greater scholarship if a quite notable saving. Harvard is not worth hundreds of thousands more in costs if Columbia offers a John Jay Scholarship or one of its other scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is still trying to get over the shock of getting into both incredible schools. Commitment deadline is coming soon, and while the decision is his entirely, I was curious to see what insight people might give.

DS has flip-flopped between engineering and liberal arts for over a year now. If he goes to Columbia, he'll do engineering for sure (with a minor in humanities, probably). If he goes to Harvard, everything's up in the air.

Costs are very similar.

Is it not hard to complete engineering degree in time if you don't start out on that path. How does he do engineering degree at harvard if he does not declare it going in?

Columbia SEAS includes the core. If your kid changes his mind, he can easily transfer to Columbia College. Not sure how that works at H.

Everyone at Harvard attends the college. SEAS is within that and you decide sophomore year what you want to do. It’s very easy to change your mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS is still trying to get over the shock of getting into both incredible schools. Commitment deadline is coming soon, and while the decision is his entirely, I was curious to see what insight people might give.

DS has flip-flopped between engineering and liberal arts for over a year now. If he goes to Columbia, he'll do engineering for sure (with a minor in humanities, probably). If he goes to Harvard, everything's up in the air.

Costs are very similar.

Is it not hard to complete engineering degree in time if you don't start out on that path. How does he do engineering degree at harvard if he does not declare it going in?

Columbia SEAS includes the core. If your kid changes his mind, he can easily transfer to Columbia College. Not sure how that works at H.

Everyone at Harvard attends the college. SEAS is within that and you decide sophomore year what you want to do. It’s very easy to change your mind.

For engineering, you need to plot courses from Day 1. That's not true at H?

[Anonymous]

If he knows he in interested in engineering that can simplify the choice - which one is stronger in the engineering discipline that interests hmi?

[Anonymous]

Harvard because I have no desire to be in NY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If he knows he in interested in engineering that can simplify the choice - which one is stronger in the engineering discipline that interests hmi?

Columbia SEAS, hands down. Harvard is not known for engineering.

[Anonymous]

For kids who are in one of these schools, they don't think in terms of us vs. them. They think about surviving through their engineering courses and program(s). To tell you the truth, most of them are focused on moving on to the next level in their life, on to post-college life, etc. Can't imagine one of them arguing H vs. C at their level. If anything, they want to forget their survival of basic training.