I have been admitted to Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, and UT Austin. I’m narrowing down my choices to the college with the most collaborative environment, is strongest in STEM (particularly chemical/biological engineering), and has easy access to internships and FGLI services. These colleges offer me great financial packages, so the cost of attending is not a factor when making my decision. As of now, I’m leaning towards Princeton, but I’m worried about the grade deflation there. Which of these colleges should I attend and why?
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[quote] "As of now, I’m leaning towards Princeton, but I’m worried about the grade deflation there. "
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Princeton ended its grade deflation policy about five years ago. In the 2019-2020 academic year, the average GPA was 3.52. I don’t know what the average GPAs were at the other schools, but surely they weren’t dramatically higher.
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you’re leaning the right way (I think)
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Choose the one you like best among the 3 Ivy options. You can’t go wrong with Princeton. Congrats!
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I’d choose among Princeton or Harvard and go with fit.
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Without going into huge detail I would say that Princeton and Columbia are going to have the higher workload and be more stressful overall especially for a BSE at Princeton.
What are you post graduation plans? If you plan to go to Grad School/PhD program then the GPA concerns are bigger and you’ll have a harder time at Princeton getting a very high GPA even if the official grade deflation policy has been gone for many years. If you plan to go into the workforce then I wouldn’t worry too much about the somewhat lower GPA you’ll probably get at Princeton and probably Columbia.
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On the other hand, grad school adcoms (in the US) aren’t robots. They’d know of Princeton’s rigor and a strong recommendation from a prof there means something. Outside of law school, GPA isn’t even the first thing they consider.
Now, in Europe, they are much more rigid about GPA cutoffs.
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Well I’m not an expert on grad admissions but I’d have to believe that a 3.8 from Harvard will have more success in general than a 3.6 from Princeton. I definitely feel that it’ll be much more successful as far as Fellowships and such that any student might attempt to land post graduation. It’s a known concern that a great majority of recipients of these honors at Princeton are Humanities Concentrators.
Let me just add that I’m not trying to discourage the OP from Princeton but they should be aware that Princeton is much more of a pressure cooker than the other schools from my limited experience especially BSE and Science Concentrators. My D17 has thoroughly enjoyed her time there but she was looking for that kind of rigor in a college. She isn’t BSE but did complete a very rigorous Frosh program (ISC) and AB in Astrophysics.
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My first reaction = Princeton University.
You should know whether or not you want New York City or Austin, Texas.
Since you are not predisposed to either NYC or Texas, the choice narrows to Princeton versus Harvard.
My impression is that Princeton University offers the better undergraduate experience & meets all of your wants as well.
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Vibes, campuses very different among all 4. UT huge with 90% in state students. It will be the full D1 sports/Greek life atmosphere, although the school is big enough that you can choose not to be part of that. The 3 Ivies will be much more diverse if this is something you care about. Academically, you can’t go wrong. For purposes of academic strengths, any differences are marginal and the academic experience is going to be driven by you anyways. Columbia has a Core Curriculum – is that for you? Some students like structure. Harvard and Princeton have more general and flexible distributional requirements. How do you feel living in an enclave of NYC vs middle of Cambridge vs quiet suburbia of Princeton? I assume you have not visited the campuses during the school year. You might want to read some student guides on how they feel about the non-academic aspects of their schools to see what is more likely to fit you. FWIW, both my public school suburban kids felt Princeton was a bit preppier/stuffier, but that was on the basis of a one day visit. However, that is consistent with Princeton’s rep. They both liked the vibe at Harvard. We did not visit Columbia.
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Princeton has about 1K less UGs than Columbia and about 1500 less than Harvard plus it’s overall Student population is much smaller. That’ll make things like preppiness more pronounced. There’s a big Preppy/Eating Club population but there are plenty that aren’t. I wouldn’t worry too much about that because it’s big enough to find your own scene for many.
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Are there any other FGLI students from your area at the ivy schools? You can ask the schools or your GC to put you in contact with some current students or recent graduates.
I know kids that attended all 3 schools as FGLI and all three schools do a good job of supporting FGLI these days. Make sure you join the group for FGLI and if you are URM the groups that support them. It is very important that you seek guidance and support so that you can have a successful college experience. Remember, You belong at these schools at they would not have accepted you if they didn’t believe you will be successful at their school.
Good luck!
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Does Harvard have what you want? They don’t offer a major in chemical engineering. They do offer a bioengineering track, but I don’t know if their approach is what you’re looking for. They probably provide the most collaborative environment and they do provide access to internships.
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Given that cost isn’t a deciding factor I would take UT out of the running straight away. You can’t go wrong with any of the other three, but I agree Princeton could be the best choice for you.
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Princeton offers the best undergraduate focus among the 4. And the campus is amazing. You can go to Harvard, Columbia, or UT for grad school.
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Another vote for Princeton undergrad + another school for grad.
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If cost truly is not an issue, and you aren’t going to bed or waking up thinking “Hook 'em, Horns!”, I would choose from Columbia, Princeton, and Harvard. All three are among the elite colleges in the US and the world. You’re very lucky to have access to three of them; scores of kids would give their eye teeth for a chance to attend one.
Among them, I am a big fan of Princeton because they are the most undergrad-focused. Indeed, among HYPSM, and UChicago, and UPenn, and pretty much every other elite national U except maybe Dartmouth and Brown, Princeton caters to its undergrads the most.
So for undergrad focus, Princeton wins.
But as I said up above, they’re all great. So then we move to Fit:
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academic fit (courses, majors, curriculum – Columbia has a core all students must take, and everyone at Princeton must do the senior thesis)
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Environmental fit: NYC vs. Boston vs. Princeton. urban, urban, small town/suburban.
To what degree do you need to be in a big city? If you crave a city, Columbia and Harvard are in big ones. If you like to see grass and trees, Princeton is better.
- Social fit: Princeton has eating clubs and Harvard has final clubs, and both are essentially Greek… in practice, if not oath. Columbia surely has such clubs too, but they aren’t really known for it. At all three you could join such clubs, or not, and you’d be fine either way.
All three offer top-notch faculty, resources, career support/connections.
Choose based on academic (scour the course catalogs and study the curricular demands) and socioenvironmental fit. If you choose based on fit, you can’t go wrong. Congrats on your acceptances, and good luck!
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Harvard has residential colleges, which are a special part of the Harvard experience.
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