Top dream college - Harvard back on the top

[Anonymous]

Harvard sucks. It traded its glory for the PC crowd and the DEI blackhole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stanford is real competition now and may fully eclipse Harvard in the near future. Both are great in nearly every field for both undergrad and grad. Stanford has been better in most STEM fields and actually has a larger overall endowment when real estate is included. Stanford has also become the biggest name in modern Asia given the Silicon Valley connection and accessible West Coast location. Harvard is still unrivaled in Europe though, where Yale is the next biggest name.

On the east coast, Yale and Stanford are second tier.

What are you smoking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard sucks. It traded its glory for the PC crowd and the DEI blackhole.

Maybe, but if you think Stanford or Princeton are any better on that front, I have a bridge to sell you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard sucks. It traded its glory for the PC crowd and the DEI blackhole.

Maybe, but if you think Stanford or Princeton are any better on that front, I have a bridge to sell you.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stanford is real competition now and may fully eclipse Harvard in the near future. Both are great in nearly every field for both undergrad and grad. Stanford has been better in most STEM fields and actually has a larger overall endowment when real estate is included. Stanford has also become the biggest name in modern Asia given the Silicon Valley connection and accessible West Coast location. Harvard is still unrivaled in Europe though, where Yale is the next biggest name.

On the east coast, Yale and Stanford are second tier.

BS. I'm an insane Harvard booster but this is delusional (at least for Stanford).

MIT, Princeton, and Harvard are well above Stanford

Stanford is as good or better than MIT in even MIT's best areas and MIT's other offerings are not close to Stanford's.
Princeton hardly tries to be a serious research university. It will continue lag behind HYS in name recognition too. Princeton and Dartmouth may provide the best undergrad educational experience among these top universities but they are just not in the same non-sports league as Harvard (or Stanford).
Stanford's rise is a prime example of how things have changed in the US (west and east) and in the world (east and west).

[Anonymous]

I'd pick Stanford over Harvard any day. Many others feel the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:East coaster, in my opinion for east coast people:

Harvard > MIT/Princeton > Stanford > Yale

The name and easy A's make it really hard to resist the allure of Harvard. Sky high gpa from the world's most respected university, sign me up.

Second this, but would add that "east coast" is a close synonym in this context to old school/WASPy/preppy. Rankings might be different for, eg the east coast Asian CS crowd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.princetonreview.com/press/college-hopes-worries-press-release-2024

There is margin of error as schools like UT Austin are huge and seem more attainable and in-state affordable, hence that's how high majority of survey takers can dream.

As far as Cornell goes, being large and having affordable and easier to get accepted NY quota, hence more people dream of it instead of college they really want to attend.

[Anonymous]

Also depends on population surveyed, if you more aid eligible newyorkers, you'll see different statistics than with affluent Texans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Despite turmoil, Harvard is the No. 1 'dream' school, Princeton Review poll says

Interesting

Uhh no definitely not for most people I know. If they are looking at Ivies - Harvard is not at the top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Despite turmoil, Harvard is the No. 1 'dream' school, Princeton Review poll says

Interesting

Uhh no definitely not for most people I know. If they are looking at Ivies - Harvard is not at the top.

Then what is? I have senior twins at 2 different privates, and Harvard is still the name that people get most excited about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also depends on population surveyed, if you more aid eligible newyorkers, you'll see different statistics than with affluent Texans.

Agreed. Including international populations would especially help Harvard, Stanford, and Yale.

Lay prestige is what most people care about when dreaming (not metrics like first job placement and/or grad school placement).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s something faintly sad about Harvard people taking such comfort from a survey directed to such a decidedly middle-of-the-road group of respondents.

One could say the same about those of you who are butt hurt about your school not being named.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard will always have the brand name. Everyone in the world recognizes it. If you ask the average person anywhere on Earth what's the best university in the world they will likely respond with Harvard.

But for top students and well-educated professionals, Harvard undergrad doesn't have the same cachet that it's had in decades past. Everyone is aware that the majority of Harvard undergrads are hooked in some way - legacy, VIP, rich, DEI, athlete, related to faculty, etc - and that there are very, very few seats available to the genuine best and brightest. Harvard has never been a true meritocracy. But increasingly it seems more like an exclusive club for the privileged with some diversity thrown in for the optics. The academics are not challenging. The average GPA of a Harvard student is 3.7, which is absurd. And while there's no way to measure this, many do seem to think that recent Harvard grads are not particularly impressive.

Personally, I think MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, and Stanford are significantly better universities for undergraduates.

No school is. No job is. Nothing in America is.

[Anonymous]

Harvard offers the best liberal arts education in social science, economics, humanities, etc. It also has the best STEM programs in the Ivy. Harvard consistently ranks #2 in college math competition behind MIT. If you want to experience MIT's engineering/cs, you could take classes there. Having a top business school, public policy, law, and medical schools also gives undergrads a lot of opportunities for research. If the grade inflation stuff is true, that will be another bonus. And there are a lot you can do in Boston.