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Reply to "Harvard vs. Williams (Tyng Scholarship) vs. Yale vs. Washington and Lee (Johnson Scholarship)"
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My opinion, FWIW: I see some misinformation in these pros and cons. Williams has a top-notch student body and faculty and doesn't suffer from lack of resources. For a student who plans to go to grad school, "not well known to the general public" is immaterial. Williams is extremely well-known by grad programs nationwide. And the notion that Yale doesn't have as strong a name brand as Harvard is, well, crazy. I think the Harvard experience is materially different from that of Williams and W&L, and not in a good way. Personally, I know several people who went to Harvard undergrad and none of them loved it; few of them even liked it all that much. (By contrast, I also know several people who went to Harvard for grad school, and all speak well of the experience.) I wouldn't encourage one of my kids to go there for undergrad. Given a choice between Yale and Harvard for undergrad, I think Yale wins every day and twice on Sunday. Just reading the words written above and taking them at face value, it sounds like the student wants to go to Williams or Yale and that Harvard is still on the list because it's Harvard and W&L is still on the list because it's a free ride. I've said what I think about Harvard. Regarding W&L, I don't think free ride is enough to overcome the fact that it isn't a good cultural fit at all. I'd take it off the table. So I'd narrow it down to Yale and Williams and then I'd make the decision based on whether student prefers rural SLAC or larger, urban environment. The rest are distinctions without differences.[/quote] Thanks for the detailed explanation. You hit the nail on the head, basically. His top choices are W and Y. He perceives H to have a bigger name brand to the general public, but he knows Y is right up there. He's keeping the Johnson scholarship under consideration because it is an unbeatable package, and he's still not sure if paying 40K more against one of the best LACs in the country is worth the economic cost. What he means by the comment about Williams is that the brightest students in the country are generally not going to the LACs but rather the Ivies. He knows that the average W student is as intelligent as the average H/Y student, but the top universities attract the future Nobel prize winners/politicians/etc, have Nobel laureate faculty, etc. He feels that there will be a difference in the connections he makes, and if he wants to switch from graduate school, Williams could hurt him. He wonders if the concerns about Harvard U not being great are over-exaggerated by people who don't attend the school, [b]because according to cross-admit battles, Harvard wins against Yale 62% to 38%. Do you think there's a reason for this? Is there something H has that Y does not?[/b] He wasn't turned off by William's rural nature and loved the community there more than any other school he visited, but he'd prefer access to a city if possible. Not a big deal breaker, but he thinks it'd be nice to get out of campus too. [/quote] I think the reason H wins is because other students think like he does--that Harvard conveys some advantage and so they choose it. That doesn't mean that Harvard does actually convey an advantage. It is perception, but not necessarily reality. I think the reality is that there are no bad choices here. He shouldn't choose Harvard just because he thinks he "should" when the alternatives are Yale and Williams. Regarding $40k--I think that's a pittance for a college education, but it really matters what you/he think. Is this money available? How will it be paid?[/quote]
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