Anonymous wrote:Harvard actually is not that good of an undergraduate institution. I'd probably choose it over Haverford -- for the name -- but the education is not great. I discouraged my daughter from even looking there. Who wants to pay all that $$ to be taught by TAs?

I went to Harvard as an undergrad. Got taught by faculty, a number of whom I got to know quite well. I also really appreciated the presence of grad students -- more people to talk to and learn from! For me, it was a great place to go to college.

Anonymous wrote:^^^Oh for pete's sake. Just go to a school that fits your needs, academically and socially. This is just not that complicated.

I agree that "how does this school compare to Harvard?" is usually the wrong question to be asking (unless you're actually in a position where you have to choose between Harvard and the other school). But I think that finding a school that meets "your" needs is pretty complicated -- not only because both the kid and the parents are in the mix, but also because there's a lot of decision making under uncertainty (of various kinds) and the information people rely on is really bizarre. IME, the more you know, the more complicated it gets.

Harvard actually is not that good of an undergraduate institution. I'd probably choose it over Haverford -- for the name -- but the education is not great. I discouraged my daughter from even looking there. Who wants to pay all that $$ to be taught by TAs?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^Oh for pete's sake. Just go to a school that fits your needs, academically and socially. This is just not that complicated.

This, a thousand times this.

I mean, I know several schlubs who graduated from Harvard in my year, and I know millionaires who went to podunk schools.

I wish parents would stop mindfucking their kids' college prospects to death. It must suck to be one of those kids.

Except, of course, that you felt the need to mention that you "went to school in Boston."

Sorry. "In my year" meant "in my graduation year." I went to school in a different state, at a different school. I'm talking about my friends, not co-students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^Oh for pete's sake. Just go to a school that fits your needs, academically and socially. This is just not that complicated.

This, a thousand times this.

I mean, I know several schlubs who graduated from Harvard in my year, and I know millionaires who went to podunk schools.

I wish parents would stop mindfucking their kids' college prospects to death. It must suck to be one of those kids.

Except, of course, that you felt the need to mention that you "went to school in Boston."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^Oh for pete's sake. Just go to a school that fits your needs, academically and socially. This is just not that complicated.

This, a thousand times this.

I mean, I know several schlubs who graduated from Harvard in my year, and I know millionaires who went to podunk schools.

I wish parents would stop mindfucking their kids' college prospects to death. It must suck to be one of those kids.

+ a zillion!!

Anonymous wrote:^^^Oh for pete's sake. Just go to a school that fits your needs, academically and socially. This is just not that complicated.

This, a thousand times this.

I mean, I know several schlubs who graduated from Harvard in my year, and I know millionaires who went to podunk schools.

I wish parents would stop mindfucking their kids' college prospects to death. It must suck to be one of those kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With threads discussing the excellent academics of Strathmore, Haverford, and others, the link elaborates on qualities of non-Harvard schools taking nothing away from Harvard.

http://m.theintell.com/blogs/college-transitions/colleges-that-are-probably-better-than-harvard/article_03bd17e8-7e48-5c02-ba2e-3bf7d0f14fc8.html?mode=jqm

Amherst and Williams are just as good.

Amherst and Williams are noted in that article as being as good. No worries.

As a professor and parent, I hope that my children will attend SLACs and then go onto a larger researcher universities for graduate school. It is so important as an undergraduate to form close relationships with the faculty. I also would reassure parents who are not that familiar with academia to rest assured that if your child is in a place where s/he is seriously looking at a school like Harvard, then chances are that their future employer or graduate adviser will not just know about, but look very favorably upon the prestigious liberal arts colleges.

Would you give the same advice if physics is the intended major?

Absolutely:
http://www.swarthmore.edu/institutional-research/doctorates-awarded

^^^Oh for pete's sake. Just go to a school that fits your needs, academically and socially. This is just not that complicated.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With threads discussing the excellent academics of Strathmore, Haverford, and others, the link elaborates on qualities of non-Harvard schools taking nothing away from Harvard.

http://m.theintell.com/blogs/college-transitions/colleges-that-are-probably-better-than-harvard/article_03bd17e8-7e48-5c02-ba2e-3bf7d0f14fc8.html?mode=jqm

Amherst and Williams are just as good.

Amherst and Williams are noted in that article as being as good. No worries.

As a professor and parent, I hope that my children will attend SLACs and then go onto a larger researcher universities for graduate school. It is so important as an undergraduate to form close relationships with the faculty. I also would reassure parents who are not that familiar with academia to rest assured that if your child is in a place where s/he is seriously looking at a school like Harvard, then chances are that their future employer or graduate adviser will not just know about, but look very favorably upon the prestigious liberal arts colleges.

Would you give the same advice if physics is the intended major?

Getting to the subject as schools actually comparable to Harvard, there is an excellent school in China I read an article about recently. Anyone applying from the U.S.?

People want/expect different things from college -- grad school admissions, jobs and networks, friends and life partners, good times, an education. Which schools are comparable depend on what you're looking for.

The upper middle class has decided that SLACs are comparable to (some?) Ivies because they can provide similar access to professional schools and an affluent cohort. From an educational standpoint, it's a harder case to make given the vast differences in resources, but most kids aren't looking for a great education (and those who are can usually find it if they're highly motivated) and affluent parents, especially those who have already shelled out beaucoup dollars for pre-collegiate private schooling, are eager to believe that smaller is better, especially when the school has name recognition among their peers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haverford is NOT comparable at all to Harvard. Stanford, MIT are impressive especially for STEM. Haverford is a teeny tiny nothing that someone will mistake for Frostburg. Get over yourself.

You need to get over yourself. Of course Haverford is not comparable to Harvard, duh. But there are other excellent options, and many rejected from HYP DO choose Swarthmore, etc.

There is no way, no how anyone here would believe you are HYP. Calling a school a "teeny tiny nothing" says more about your mindset than Haverford.

For other options, Swarthmore yes, Haverford no. As for me, I attended a public state school and I am a one percenter. Yes, my mind set is that 49k per year for Haverford is a waste of money. It's not Harvard and a public university can provide a better education for significantly less money.

You chose to attend a public university but consider others beneath you who decide to make choices that befit them. Yes, you are a one percenter in far more ways than one.

Ouch. Nastiness. I know a kid that attended Haverford. They came home at Christmas wearing a Penn State sweatshirt and the highlight of their week was driving to Penn States campus for football weekend games. Penn State had a strong program in their major, Haverford didn't but it cost twice as much for a school smaller than their high school.

To PP's point, I'm sure it's highly discipline-specific. My sister was scared away by Amherst's grade deflation relative to other peers (admissions rep said average GPA had historically been around 3.1). Three out of the top five students in my Harvard law school class hailed from SLACS- Amherst (2) and Pomona (1).

It seems that learning how to think critically is emphasized across the board at these schools, but the skillset certainly lends itself better to some disciplines- say History or English, where you're coming up with your own analyses and arguments within potentially smaller class settings - than other more quant-focused subjects where there are right and wrong answers, like Math or Chemistry, for instance.

Anonymous wrote:Strathmore?

Yes, and it's only a hop, skip and a jump on the Red Line! Georgetown Prep definitely has a feeder advantage, though.