DD had this choice. She chose Yale. She is currently a junior, and I have never heard of a kid having a better college experience. The residential college system is fantastic. I think Yale has thought long and hard about how to make undergrads happy.

Yale. H close second. Never P, too conservative.

I'd go for Princeton.

Then again, snobs have never bothered me. I am one.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn't apply to Harvard, but I chose Yale over Princeton in part because of the exclusionary feel of having to "pledge" the dining clubs just to eat lunch. Maybe they have changed it since my day, and I know there are some "admit anyone" clubs.

I loved Yale. I'd advise my kid to go there in a minute if it seemed like the right atmosphere for her. Bright, happy kids in a fun, supportive environment. Sadly it's so much harder to get in than it was in my day, and I was a first generation college student so I would have had that going for me in the admissions office.

Gag!

It's Princeton that has the eating clubs. The PP chose Yale because she didn't like that aspect of Princeton.

Hands down, I'd pick Yale. ITA about the country club aspect of Princeton, and the undergrad experience at Harvard is not great.

Now, for grad school? Harvard, no question.

Anonymous wrote:I didn't apply to Harvard, but I chose Yale over Princeton in part because of the exclusionary feel of having to "pledge" the dining clubs just to eat lunch. Maybe they have changed it since my day, and I know there are some "admit anyone" clubs.

I loved Yale. I'd advise my kid to go there in a minute if it seemed like the right atmosphere for her. Bright, happy kids in a fun, supportive environment. Sadly it's so much harder to get in than it was in my day, and I was a first generation college student so I would have had that going for me in the admissions office.

Gag!

I chose Princeton over one of the others. The deciding factors for me were size and setting - I liked the smaller college experience and small town setting. Yale, where a sib went, strikes me as having a different feel and somewhat different student population - maybe more outwardly intellectual and less emphasis on appearance (to stereotype). A greater % of Yale undergrads go onto PhDs in the humanities compared to Princeton.

When I stayed at Harvard as a high schooler, I was struck by the number of international students in the dorms - not sure if this is comparable to the others.

Harvard

I went to Harvard and I would choose Yale for a better undergrad experience (academically, not in terms of location).

I would choose the undergrad experience and teaching at Princeton and Yale over Harvard. Yale has many strengths, but safety and security surrounding its New Haven campus remain a problem, despite modest improvement over the years. I don't know what it is about Connecticut, which generally is pretty safe, but Trinity faces a similar crime problem around its Hartford campus.

DS got into Harvard & Yale. We spent a long weekend in both New Haven and Cambridge so he could get a feel for both, and I thought he'd choose Cambridge. Ultimately, he decided on neither, and instead chose Stanford, surprising us greatly. Not because he turned down those two, but because he was such a mama's boy who loved being home among family we were shocked he'd want to go so far. But Stanford was much less pressure while still giving academic intensity and he really thrived there.

Anonymous wrote:I didn't apply to Harvard, but I chose Yale over Princeton in part because of the exclusionary feel of having to "pledge" the dining clubs just to eat lunch. Maybe they have changed it since my day, and I know there are some "admit anyone" clubs.

I loved Yale. I'd advise my kid to go there in a minute if it seemed like the right atmosphere for her. Bright, happy kids in a fun, supportive environment. Sadly it's so much harder to get in than it was in my day, and I was a first generation college student so I would have had that going for me in the admissions office.

Unless, your "day" was the 1940s, yes, there are alternatives to the eating clubs. Moreover, since the 1970s about half the clubs re lottery sign in admissions

I didn't apply to Harvard, but I chose Yale over Princeton in part because of the exclusionary feel of having to "pledge" the dining clubs just to eat lunch. Maybe they have changed it since my day, and I know there are some "admit anyone" clubs.

I loved Yale. I'd advise my kid to go there in a minute if it seemed like the right atmosphere for her. Bright, happy kids in a fun, supportive environment. Sadly it's so much harder to get in than it was in my day, and I was a first generation college student so I would have had that going for me in the admissions office.

Yale
Better for undergrads than Harvard. People like it more. Princeton doesn't have the same cache as Harvard or Yale and has kind of a country club rep - wouldn't turn down Harvard or Yale for princeton

Princeton, no question.

It just seems more cosmopolitan, more glamorous, more artistic than the other schools to me.

Plus F. Scott Fitzgerald went there and that's pretty much the match point.

OK, the odds of hitting the trifecta, or even having a choice among two, are long - - but if a DD or DS were to face a choice, which of Harvard, Princeton or Yale would you choose, and why?