<p>It was the right choice for my son, but a computer science nerd with more wide-ranging interests, and perhaps with more entrepreneurial ambitions, would probably do very well at Harvard. Harvard comp sci majors do fine with job placement. But I don’t think my kid would have been as happy there - or at least he would have missed out on all the parts of Harvard that it really excels at.</p>
<p>It always makes me sad when students choose Y over H for the residential college system. H invented the residential college system! There are differences between the way they run it of course and there are both pluses and minuses to H’s decision to create a cohesive freshman class by essentially making the Yard a first year residential college. Since I attended H at a time when freshman could choose to live in a Radcliffe House or live in the Yard, I’m pretty aware of what those differences are.</p>