Would you ever turn down an acceptance to Harvard? - Page 3

torinoway · 08-25-2009, 03:49 PM

Oh! I can't BELIEVE I forgot! My sister turned down Harvard for a full ride UVA scholarship. That was her reason though; money, and in my posed hypothetical situation, money is no issue.

Anyway, for those people that wouldn't choose another school over an ivy:
why wouldn't you?

torinoway · 08-25-2009, 03:50 PM

Oh! I can't BELIEVE I forgot! My sister turned down Harvard for a full ride UVA scholarship. That was her reason though; money, and in my posed hypothetical situation, money is no issue.

Anyway, for those people that wouldn't choose another school over an ivy:
why wouldn't you?

baller4lyfe · 08-25-2009, 04:13 PM

For grad school, if NYU or Duke or Chicago gave me a full ride, yes, otherwise no

Schmaltz · 08-28-2009, 08:14 PM

There was a thread like this a few months back. I tried to point out that from what I've seen, Harvard is far from a one-size-fits-all college...but nobody understood what I meant and I got shouted down.

What I meant was that there seems to me a TON of reasons that Harvard wouldn't be a good choice for some people, and that people who turn it down shouldn't be considered odd or stupid. It's like saying actress/model X is generally considered the most famous and beautiful woman on earth...but that doesn't mean she'd be just right for EVERYBODY.

Places I could EASILY understand people picking over Harvard:

Notre Dame, Georgetown, Michigan, Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Berkeley, Pomona, Chicago, Northwestern, Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Oxford, Cambridge, McGill, Toronto, Virginia, UNC, Dartmouth, Brown, Naval Academy, West Point, Rice, Texas, U of Hawaii, Wellesley, Smith, Barnard,

In other words, there are dozens of criteria that have varying importance to different people...not everybody is obsessed with going to the most famous college in the country in one of the most pretentious cities on earth (Cambridge).

eternitygoddess · 08-29-2009, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Places I could EASILY understand people picking over Harvard:

Notre Dame, Georgetown, Michigan, Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Stanford, USC, UCLA, Berkeley, Pomona, Chicago, Northwestern, Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Oxford, Cambridge, McGill, Toronto, Virginia, UNC, Dartmouth, Brown, Naval Academy, West Point, Rice, Texas, U of Hawaii , Wellesley, Smith, Barnard

You have GOT to be kidding me.

No one would turn down Harvard for U of Hawaii.

Do you have ANY idea how crappy U of Hawaii is?

Xargon42 · 08-29-2009, 02:33 AM

I would choose Stanford over Harvard, but thats about it

YouserName · 08-29-2009, 02:53 AM

I would chose MIT over Harvard in a heartbeat.

Over other schools, probably not. Part of me would like to say I would since there is no chance of me getting into Harvard I want to reject them, like I expect them to reject me, but I would totally go if I got in full ride. Plus they have great grade inflation which is good for med school

coteee · 08-29-2009, 11:27 PM

Yea.. I applied ED and got into my school, but if I had applied RD and gotten into Harvard, I probably would have turned it down. Fit matters so much more than ranking..
And.. I know plenty of people that have turned down Ivies for non-Ivies. I know people at Williams, Bowdoin, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and Swarthmore that did that.. it's not a big deal. Just because a college is 3rd in the rankings or whatever doesn't make it the school for you, unless that's the only thing that matters to you.
That said, I wouldn't cross out any school judged on stereotypes. Like, I wouldn't turn down the Ivy League because they may or may not be elitist, or a LAC because they're too crunchy, etc. Do what's best for you.

PBush · 08-30-2009, 12:57 AM

Only for Princeton, Yale, Swarthmore, or U Chicago.

UCSDJake12 · 08-30-2009, 01:45 AM

I'd choose MIT, Stanford, Chicago, and Princeton over Harvard.

BaddyCaddy09 · 08-30-2009, 02:07 AM

Call me crazy, but I'd turn down a school like Harvard for a school like UVA. I'm more into the traditional college experience.

Heck, I'd probably even turn down Harvard for a school like USC, UCLA, or UC Berkeley.

lolcats4 · 08-30-2009, 03:53 AM

Quote:

In terms of what a student experiences on a day-to-day basis, what does this mean?

How about having to share your advisor with only 3 other freshmen?

It would have been very hard for me to decide between Pomona and Harvard, as I would really like either place. At this point though, after starting at Pomona, I know I'm going to the best college for me that I can.

u§ername · 08-30-2009, 04:29 AM

Quote:

You have GOT to be kidding me.

No one would turn down Harvard for U of Hawaii.

Do you have ANY idea how crappy U of Hawaii is?

There may be people who would go to U of Hawaii rather than harvard.

Problem is, they probably won't apply to harvard.

I don't see anyone turning down harvard for toronto though.

also also also

a few years back there was a IMO medalist who got in harvard full ride, but decided to go to SFU (not even tops in Canada... barely fit to be called a University).

torinoway · 08-30-2009, 05:13 AM

I would turn down harvard for usc.

hell, at this point, i'd turn down harvard for the state school (u-dub)

harvard is just not an experience that i see myself wanting, or having and enjoying. rankings and silver-spoon future be dammned, there's just so much more to life than money and comfort.

u§ername · 08-30-2009, 09:30 AM

harvard's not all about money and rankings though. IMO boston and cambridge are beautiful cities.