<p>A lot of the cross-admits I talked to last year (at both Harvard and Yale) seemed to have more specific reasons why they liked Yale (residential colleges, percieved better undergrad focus, no exams after winter break, Yale seemed more fun, etc.). Their reasoning for considering Harvard (and mine too to a large extent, although around April 1st last year I was still a little frustrated with Yale for deferring me and I had been recieving hints from local Harvard alums all March that I was going to be accepted so I was happier with them) weremainly “It’s Harvard! How can you say no to HARVARD!?” and “New Haven sucks.” So I see the reasoning in claiming that people just choose Harvard as the default because it is very hard to say no. Most of those people, even the most pro-Yale among them ended up defaulting to Harvard. I didn’t think it would be difficult to choose as I had just applied to Harvard on a whim after Yale deferred me, but when May 1st came around and even when I knew in my heart that Yale was the place for me, sending in the reply form saying no to Harvard was very difficult.</p>
<p>I also think Harvard plays a fairly dirty trick having their preview days so late, because all of them are fun, but if someone forced me to choose a school the day after I left one of the admitted students weekends at the colleges I had visited last year I probably would have gone to whatever that college was. April is a very stressful time when trying to make a college decision and Harvard is just taking advantage of the manipulability of teenagers.</p>