Type: Private
State: New Jersey
Website: www.princeton.edu

Princeton seeks to achieve the highest levels of distinction in the discovery and transmission of knowledge and understanding.

Quick Overview:
Students are happy, great facilities, the campus feels safe




The word from: the Students

Princeton is well known for its history, high academic profile and their excellent financial aid policies. Studying here will be quite an experience and its network will change lives. Its undergrad focus gives students tremendous resources, they not only have the access to classes but also to a scholarly community. The school can fund students' own researches and that is very gratifying, this can be done because it has one of the nation's largest endowments. Princeton helps students with almost everything from studying abroad to working abroad as well as class trips. Its rigorous admission process brings some of the top young minds in America to one place and so the school has high expectations making you work hard and thus succeed.
Professors are very down-to-earth and love to interact with students, talk about ideas and goals but they have to be sought at.
The school's administration is very cooperative and does an excellent job in incorporating students opinions in various decisions they make.

At Princeton there's a very present logic among students, work hard, play hard. Academic discipline is very present but everyday there are so many interesting events going, either by students or the university that everyone is kept very busy going from one to another and studying in between. There is of course plenty of time on weekends for fun, sometimes though, sacrificing studying or sleeping. It has a small beautiful campus and so everyone lives close to each other. There is never a dull moment with lots of concerts, sporting events, performances and movies to attend.


Everyone has a nerd side in them at Princeton and some are even hyper ambitious who spend all their time studying. It's a friendly environment and people always ready to have fun. Students come from all over, different ethnicities, beliefs, passions and priorities but all very focused on their future careers. Most come from different backgrounds and have different pursuits in life. The small campus makes it so that everyone seems interconnected and at the same time it's size is enough to keep meeting new people.

Type: Private
State: Massachusetts
Website: www.harvard.edu

Harvard is known for global leadership in education, and the Harvard faculty is composed of men and women who are world-class scholars.

Quick Overview:
Great library, labs and computer facilities, diverse students on campus, student activism and publications are very common.




The word from: the Students

Harvard is a beautiful, historic college. Those who attend Harvard, find a dynamic universe which can either inspire and intimidate, later to find a enormous amount of opportunities to be taken advantage of. It can be very hard academically but it has a very good support structure to help freshmen with extensive advising programs. Those who do not participate in the schools life and go after what they want in consequence, don't gain access to the university's vast resources available.
The great concentration of highly intelligent and working people tends to generate a dormant competitiveness, even in clubs and partying, but it's a good thing as it keeps students highly motivated to work and study and exceed themselves. As in any college, some professors stand out more than others.
Overall though, they do an excellent job teaching and it's an incredible experience, the level of achievement is fantastic.
The administration is can be out of touch with students, most of the times, and resilient to changes but they do their job well and have the students' interests first of anything.

Students have a firm idea of what their study habits are when they come to Harvard. studying is part of the campus vibrant life and the surrounding community. The cities of Cambridge and Boston offer so many things to do, from watching a play to concerts, parties, movies or dine out, there's so much variety of what can be done for entertainment. There's also a pub on campus, an excellent place to hang and meet people.
Drinking is present on weekends at parties and Harvard's finals clubs but never a social must do. School-sponsored events include panels and movie screenings and there are also tremendous amounts of student organizations. Simply put, there is no boredom at Harvard, there's so many opportunities and so many passionate people here to do them with, for example, during freshman year the school organizes a lot of holiday/special events for people to get to know each other and conversations are always meaningful either debating a topic or interest.

A typical student can be defined by a common interest, the need and want to achieve. In general people here work a lot, don't sleep much and participate in a ton of extra curricular activities. They think highly of one another and everyone is great for one thing or another. All very down-to-earth, a lot of well-rounded people that aren't geniuses but still very good in most things. Diversity in campus is maintained thanks to the policy of admitting the best of the best, a lot of tolerance and acceptance for every kind of religion, race and social-economic background.

Type: Private
State: New York
Website: www.cornell.edu

the most educationally diverse member of the Ivy League

Quick Overview:
Good computer facilities, great library, campus food is nice, frats and sororities are popular.




The word from: the Students

Cornell University is a large diverse university with a wide array of majors from where to choose from. All its programs are well planned and resources will never be amiss. Standing out in numerous fields with their majors it is still possible to design our very own. Opportunities in Cornell are plenty. It's not easy studying at Cornell, it's an university meant for people with a strong sense of what they want, courses are quite intense from the very start. It's said to be the easiest from the Ivy Leaguers to get into but the hardest to get out of.
easiest to get into in the Ivy league but hardest to get out of.
Helping students on their work and academic path is something that is done a lot at Cornell, offering resources so that everyone gets a very deserving grade for their effort. Professors are very helpful and will gladly support whoever needs them and have great availability. Administration wise the university does a great job to keep it running without problems and make themselves easy to reach. Job finding is easy thanks to the effort put into building a good alumni network and the career services office.

The remote location of the campus provides opportunity to practice a lot of out door activities, the great majority involving nature so there's everything for everyone. Downside of it is that urban diversion is very limited. Students however get around that problem by staying on campus and work on their academics. During the weekend at least, people can forget school work and have fun going to bars in collegetown and house parties, attend concerts, activities and other initiatives all in campus led by students. Many of them participate in sports teams and activities inside the grounds. But some times not even all these activities can avoid the boredom of the lack of a big city around.

The diversity present at Cornell is not only ethnic or racial but rather because of the existence of so many courses there's bound to exist personality and interests that greatly vary, every day a huge variety of people sit down for lunch at the same place. Being half private and half public makes it so that the economic background differs from person to person.

Type: Private
Website: www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu



Quick Overview:
Great library, diverse student types on campus, location is great, good off-campus food, safe campus, students are satisfied.



The word from: the Students

Columbia University provides an excellent educational experience combining the rigor of the Ivy League and the chaotic ways of New York city. The course work can be very demanding at times and studying about the world is encouraged to be done in new and sometimes uncomfortable ways. With inspiring professors, many who are brilliant in their fields, Columbia can boast its excellent education. They're enthusiastic and sometimes obsessed with their subject, some even have the scholarly air of arrogance and be though graders too but those are the ones that teach best. The core curriculum at the university focus on western philosophy, literature and fine arts. The administration is accessible although a bit bureaucratic.

 Studying is hard during the week but so is partying on weekends. Since its located in NYC there is a ton of things that can be done for entertainment, things like shopping, going to the movies, concerts, museums, clubs among many other fun activities. A word of warning its not a cheap way of living, things like dining out can end up being expensive. There's also activity inside the campus like group activities and dorm parties, students often organize themselves for various kinds of meetings and other gatherings.

Columbia is just like the city its in, composed of a huge variety of people with all sorts of interests, backgrounds, religions, ethnicities and others. It's possible to find conversations about everything and anything. Generally smart and dedicated people many aren't very wordly but still friendly.