Harvard vs Yale vs Stanford Forum

[purplepen55]

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[purplepen55]

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[clovis]

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[Tls2016]

How much does each cost.
You must hav some preference as to location. Which is it.

We can't compare Ruby without knowing other cost. Do you get need based aid?

[nerd1]

Rubenstein!
UChi should be ok for clerking too. You will regret not having taken it if you decide to go to HYS instead. You will man. You will.

[purplepen55]

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[Tls2016]

Can't you go visit?

Do you completely have no clue where to live?

Just do Ruby then and have no money worries or stress.

[fliptrip]

Geez...OP scrammed and no one even said anything untoward to him/her...

[4thand9]

disappointed in OP, this thread could have held so much promise

[purplepen55]

Realized this probably wasn't the right forum. Just wanted a general discussion of the three (perceptions, anecdotes, and experiences) but this is for people's particular decisions it seems.

I'm choosing between them but don't want to have the convo revolve around my interests. Just wanted more info before visiting.

Can still have that convo if people want.

[fliptrip]

Well...I've had exposure to all three personally so let me share one man's opinion. The first thing is that Harvard is pretty different from Yale and Stanford. So, I've come to see it as Y/S vs. H.

Harvard is big, more institutional, and much more structured and formal. They have extensive rules and procedures and there's a distance between faculty and teachers. They also have the myriad benefits of scale...there's just a ton of shit going on there...clinics, affinity groups, guest speakers, and the like. It's hard to say there's a typical student in a school so large, but I honestly did not really care for the HLS students I encountered, but that's obviously just a personal preference thing.

Yale (especially) and Stanford are smaller, more intimate, more personalized, and less formal. Developing relationships with faculty is encouraged and those relationships are more collegial than hierarchical. Yale is a remarkable land of freedom...there's really not a whole lot you "have to do" and you're strongly encouraged to develop your ideas and follow your passions. Freedom freaks some people out, I'm sure, but if you like the idea of charting your own course, Yale is the place to do it. Stanford has a reputation for being laid back, and I suppose to a certain extent that matches what I experienced, but there's a pretty clear intensity to the work folks are doing. The collegiality that defines Yale definitely shows up at Stanford as well. Also, Stanford is more formal than Yale but less formal than Harvard. Now, small size has its drawbacks...Yale's building feels like a middle school and some of the things students were saying about each other to me (some rando admitted student) were straight out of middle school. I still liked the YLS and SLS students I met far more than the HLS ones I encountered.

For what it's worth, when I was at Yale, the only school they talked about, literally, was Stanford. Harvard never came up. There just seemed to be an acknowledgement that the place is very different.