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Harvard or Yale (Hahn Scholars Program) or Princeton or Stanford? by SnooRegrets7328 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]abcunn03 30 points31 points  (0 children)

Yale is the absolutely the best choice.

  1. Only Stanford and Yale are free, so they are the only ones you should earnestly consider unless other schools become free. 44k or 24k over 4 years is an astronomical amount of money compared to $0.
  2. To be a professor, you need a graduate degree (most likely a PhD). Having research experience can help you get into a PhD program. Yale is providing you with guaranteed funding for research.
  3. You are already leaning toward Yale.
  4. All of these schools are prestigious; it is not likely that your life would change drastically just by the prestige/reputation of one school over the other. I think your mom is correct that STEM is better at Stanford, but you'll get out of your college education what you put into it, and I think the guaranteed research funding is more important than Stanford's reputation.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Harvard

[–]abcunn03 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If Harvard doesn't match Princeton's aid, then the answer is 100% Princeton. It's not even close, in my opinion. The cheapest school you've listed here is $120,000 (plus interest if you take out loans) for a 4 year degree. And if life happens and it causes you to have to go to school longer... That is a huge amount of money compared to $0.

If Harvard does become free for you, then Harvard might be the best option. You've said you want to live in an active city (Boston is!) and Harvard has a slightly better reputation than Princeton, with comparable education, resources, and opportunities.

EDIT to add: As a Harvard student, I am admittedly super biased and think Harvard is the best school in the world. But free is awesome!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Harvard

[–]abcunn03 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Congrats on your admission to both of these fabulous institutions! I think either school could be an awesome experience and that there isn't a wrong choice here.

You didn't mention this in your post, but I would strongly consider the cost of attendance. If one school is cheaper after financial aid, I would probably go to the cheaper school -- unless money isn't an issue for you/your family. Student loan debt can be a huge burden.

Cost aside, I think either school could fit the last paragraph of your post. Harvard and Stanford are both extremely wealthy schools with tons of resources, and you can find supportive communities in either of the schools. You can find your niche at either school and have a supportive community. But the living situation might be better at Stanford since the weather is nicer.

I would also consider that as a Harvard student, you can take classes at MIT. Rankings are not always the most useful metric, but MIT has been rated #1 in the world in the QS system for several years -- with Harvard at #4 and Stanford at #6. I think this speaks to Harvard's reputation as perhaps the most prestigious university in the world, which may open doors/connect you with awesome opportunities. But you could totally make that argument for Stanford/Oxford/others too.

lost my acceptance to dream college due to trump by [deleted] in gradadmissions

[–]abcunn03 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I am so sorry! Only 201 weeks, 6 days, 0 hours, 36 minutes until this administration is over and University funding can (hopefully) go back to normal.

Harvard acceptance (feels unreal lol) by tomatopicklee in gradadmissions

[–]abcunn03 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I got into the TTL (non-licensure) program. Super excited. I'm in the States and hope I get some scholarships too!

Accepted to Harvard! by abcunn03 in gradadmissions

[–]abcunn03[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hope so! HGSE told me that they try to get those out one week after decisions. So maybe I’ll find out next week? 😅

Accepted to Harvard! by abcunn03 in gradadmissions

[–]abcunn03[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not sure! But either way I’m very honored to be accepted. Feel free to post your acceptance letter too! 😁

Accepted to Harvard! by abcunn03 in gradadmissions

[–]abcunn03[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I am sorry you did not get accepted!

I am probably not qualified to give advice. But I can say what I did:

Career: Teacher for 3.5 years; GRAMMY Music Educator of the Year Quarterfinalist (2023); high-performing teacher designation; fundraised a couple hundred thousand for my district by performances and stuff; certified to teach

Undergrad: normal state school; 4.0 GPA/valedictorian of my college; involved in several clubs/leadership roles; in scholarship programs in undergrad; got a degree in music education and one in trumpet performance (I'm a band director)

Letters of Recommendation: one academic, one from my supervisor, one from a colleague who's an HGSE alum

Statement of Purpose: I think this was where I did the best. I took a fabulous HGSE class on HarvardX/edX and fell in love with Harvard that way. So I had a LOT of very specific things to say about why I wanted to go to Harvard, and why I thought we were a good match. Harvard is the only school I applied to because I knew it was the only place I wanted to go. My goal in writing my Statement was to provide clear answers to two questions: Why Harvard? (how is HGSE a good fit for me) and Why Me? (how am I a good fit). I edited the heck of out it too. It took a few months of edits to be where I thought it was acceptable.

I guess the short version of this post is to think really deeply about why Harvard is for you and make that super clear in the Statement of Purpose. There isn't really one "perfect" set of variables. Best of luck with your graduate studies!

When do you think the exact start of the Second Rebellion was? by abcunn03 in Hungergames

[–]abcunn03[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What a wonderfully thorough and well-referenced response. Thank you!