Harvard or Stanford?

Ailey
Tue, 22 Apr 2008 03:34:27 +0000

I’ll chime in on the Stanford-Harvard debate as a mom who has 1 daughter at Harvard and one who has just decided on Stanford. We also live 10 miles from Stanford.

I don’t think you could go wrong at either, given both colleges offer the concentration you want, but for applied science, Stanford has the stronger reputation by far. But at the undergraduate level, I am sure either would make you happy, so decide on some other criteria.

One comment - I would stay away from generalizations like “Stanford students are more book-smart but Harvard students are more intellectual”. I know a lot of students at both, and I couldn’t agree less. In both schools, there is a mix of abilities, talents, dedication to learning vs grades, and smarts vs intellecual depth.