Harvard, Yale, Princeton, or Stanford?

One major difference is location. The east coast and the west coast have very different vibes, especially California vs. New England. With Stanford, you’d be closer to beaches and it would be a lot warmer, but you wouldn’t experience the same kind of classic fall that you would in New England.

The settings are also different. Harvard is in a much more urban setting than the others; Cambridge is pretty big and is also very much a part of the Boston metropolitan area. New Haven is a medium sized city, but not nearly as big as Boston. Stanford and Princeton are both small towns, but Stanford is much closer to San Francisco and San Jose than Princeton is to New York. So Princeton is probably the most isolated.

I must second other posters in saying that you should also start thinking about other more realistic options. No matter how qualified you are, you really can’t expect to get into any of these schools ED. It’s a toss-up for anyone.