<p>Dartmouth and Harvard really do have different feels, and radically different settings. Dartmouth is really the biggest, shiniest rural liberal arts college. It has Nature. It has Fun. It has Frats. It isn’t surprising at all that someone would feel more comfortable at Dartmouth than at Harvard, even if other, equally intelligent people preferred Harvard. </p>
<p>Harvard is certainly a better brand name than Dartmouth, but among People That Matter Dartmouth has oodles of respect, and will work just fine as a certification of how great you are just to have been allowed to go there. </p>
<p>Dartmouth has an awesome track record of alumni success. I would venture to guess that Dartmouth grads are measurably happier than Harvard grads, and I KNOW they feel better about their alma mater. Dartmouth may not – does not – offer as many paths to success as Harvard does. But one student can’t take advantage of 100,000 opportunities; at best, you can pursue 4 or 5. So the difference between 100,000 opportunities and 70,000 opportunities means practically nothing at the individual level. Anyone who thinks Dartmouth students are deprived relative to Harvard students doesn’t know what he is talking about.</p>
<p>Now, all of that couldn’t make me, or either of my kids, choose Dartmouth over Harvard in a million years. But we are not you. I know a number of people over the years who made the choice you are making, and not one of them regrets it. The majority of people with this choice choose Harvard, but that doesn’t make it the right choice for you. You are the one who has to live your life, and if Dartmouth makes you feel happier, more comfortable, and more inspired than Harvard, you will learn more and have greater success at Dartmouth (and after Dartmouth) than you would if you went to Harvard.</p>
<p>One final word of caution: If you go to Dartmouth, get the most out of it. How the heck can you know that Harvard’s Social Studies concentration is “more suitable” for you than Government/Public Policy at Dartmouth? Wherever you go, one of the first orders of business is figuring out which majors and which teachers are great there. And follow them. Don’t stick yourself into a slot because one thing sounds better on paper to you than another. Either college will have tons of things that could interest and inspire you, but they won’t always have exactly the labels you expect in advance. Keep an open mind!</p>