<p>Nixon was actually admitted to Harvard, and given a full scholarship. However, his family couldn’t even come up with train fare, and Harvard wouldn’t extend his aid to cover transportation. He ended up matriculating to Whittier with a huge prejudice against Harvard. We all know what that led to. Think how different American history and current-day politics might have been if just one financial aid officer had been a little more generous. Wouldn’t that make an excellent Harvard application essay? :D</p>
<p>The REAL academic world could not care less about USNWR or what everyday people think of HYPS. They care about the specific academic ranking of each college IN THEIR FIELD which may or may not have any correspondence to USNWR rankings. </p>
<p>Awhile back Y would have been a nightmare if you ended up there for your PhD in our field as they decimated the department during that period. And if you did came out with your PhD from H also during that time, you were at a disadvantage, for a variety of reasons related to the orientation of their training and research (or lack thereof, as we thought of it) of their department. H then bought a lot of talented faculty, changed their focus, and now produce very successful, award winning PhD applicants IN OUR FIELD. Yale is great now too. But my point being, it entirely depends on the field and specifics of research specialization, something that those not doing research in that field can appreciate. No one sits on a faculty hiring committee (at least not at research intensive top schools), going “ooh they went to HYPS!” the would be saying “ooh, look at what research they produced and with whom!” (which could be at a HUGE range of schools, even publics, depending upon one’s area of specialization).</p>
<p>Interesting perspective, SlitheyTove. I would love to talk with you over a beer on this subject. This is not the right place for topic like this, However.</p>
<p>Hopkins is a terrific school, one of the best in the USA, and a world class institution - and esp strong in IR.</p>
<p>One does NOT have to be a HYP basher, or a follower of the CC “prestige/ranking don’t matter crowd” to say that Hopkins is great, and a free ride there is excellent. Quite frankly lots of people who are in love with prestige would love to go to Hopkins. Its a name that will add strength to any resume.</p>
<p>oh, it’s boston blue blood insider thing/joke. a lot of harvard grads, especially the ones who grew up in boston will say when asked where they went to school: “a small college in boston” and never say harvard.</p>
<p>kind of a harvard is such an H bomb that they would never be so crude as to say it out loud. that and it’s understated code for an alum to say “small college in boston”</p>
<p>In 1998, George HW Bush (Andover, Yale) tagged Michael Dukakis, the son of Greek immigrants, as having views that were “born in Harvard Yard.” It wasn’t meant as an admiring compliment. It was meant as an attempt to paint Dukakis as uppity and elite, which was a BAD thing. </p>
<p>And in 2004, George Bush (Yale, Harvard) tagged John Kerry as being elitist as well. He did a really good job positioning himself as Mr. Man-on-The-Texas-Range-Clearing-Brush that you want to have a beer with and Kerry as being the elitist, effete snob. </p>
<p>So it’s a little bit naive to suggest the American public gasps with excitement over the thought that a candidate went to HYP.</p>
<p>I honestly think this disucssion has reached point that no more minds will be changed at least for this thread. If someone is convinced that not going HYP is the end of the world, nothing else that is to be said will change their mind.</p>
<p>OP has two choices before her: Go to JHU eager to embrace, learn and move forward or go to JHU with a lingering resentment and feeling that “I did not get the best”.</p>
<p>I personally think that the OP has got a wonderful school and wonderful deal, but ultimately OP needs to come terms with her decision.</p>
<p>pacheight - did you go to Harvard College? Because I have hung out with a lot of Harvard College alums (having married one and all) and have NEvER heard any of them refer to having gone to “a small college in Boston.”</p>
<p>That may be a term favored by some of the so-called Boston Brahmin, where it is meant to be a bit ironic or tongue-in-cheek. Actual Brahmins typically detest showiness, so people who use this term in all seriousness must be pretentious wanna-bes.</p>
<p>This only shows that there is a well-greased pipeline between the Ivy League and the political machine of Mexico. Scions of well-connected families only have to be picked by their friends. The rubber-stamping of the applications at the Ivy League is mostly trivial. From the list pinned above, President Vicente Fox might have been the exception as his connection was mostly commercial (Coca Cola) and he ran as the PAN candidate who broke more than 60 years of PRI dominance. </p>
<p>And, by the way, it also shows that having a reasonable command of our language is not a requisite for graduating at our most prestigious schools: </p>
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<p>He’ll be better prepared this June when he will be the commencement speaker for students graduating from Stanford University! Perhaps, he’ll get tips from the teleprompter-reader-in-chief. :)</p>
<p>Again, it’s ironic that people are using the HYP roots of Mexican politicians as a sign of how HYP can help their graduates do great things. Being a scion of a VIP or ruling family in a foreign country is a ticket to HYP.</p>
Think how different American history and current-day politics might have been if just one financial aid officer had been a little more generous. Wouldn’t that make an excellent Harvard application essay? :D</p>
:D</p>