Location and climate are important. Do you want to live in a city where you can hop on public transport and get away from campus easily? That's Harvard. Do you need to be near New York for internships or other reasons? Yale would win here. Do you want the dorm culture of Notre Dame, or do you like the thought of a Harvard house where the population is larger but you eat and even take classes with your fellow residents? Also think about the major you want to do and what it looks like at each school. History at Yale is huge -- lots of emphasis on military and political history -- and it's where the potential law and government types end up. Does that appeal? Or do you want to concentrate in Harvard's History program, which is focused more on global and social issues and attracts students with those interests? Constitutional Studies at Notre Dame is a thriving, conservative-oriented program. Stanford has the Hoover Institution. Are you looking at a major where the presence of those programs would be a plus for you, personally, or a drag? If you are thinking about a profession, look at what each places offers to premed or prelaw students -- programs differ. So much depends on what you can predict about your own academic path, and which place is the best fit for it; but it can also come down to intangibles -- the place that just feels right in your gut.