While Harvard University and Yale University enjoy the biggest rivalry in the Ivy League (heck, their annual football match is just called “The Game,”), it’s not Yale that is Harvard’s biggest rival in the world of admissions these days. No, it’s Stanford University. Yes, when a student is admitted to Harvard in addition to another school and opts to attend that other school, chances are that school is Stanford, not Yale or Princeton. That being said, do most students choose Stanford over Harvard if they’re lucky enough to have earned admission to both? No, let’s not get carried away! While lots of folks like to suggest that most students choose Stanford over Harvard when admitted to both, the data does not back up this assertion.

The Data Doesn’t Lie: Harvard Edges Out Stanford for Most Students’ Top Choice

As Parchment spotlights, 62% of students admitted to both Harvard and Stanford choose Harvard. We didn’t happen to major in mathematics, but by our arithmetic, this means that 38% of students admitted to both Harvard and Stanford chose Stanford. While our own sampling pool is admittedly skewed, many more of Ivy Coach’s students who have been admitted to both Harvard and Stanford over the years have chosen Harvard. In fact, we hadn’t had a student choose Stanford over Harvard until very recently. In all the years prior, our students have always chosen Harvard by a pretty wide margin. And we need not even mention the data for the other top college matchups (although, just for fun, Parchment suggests that 65% of students choose Harvard over Yale, 75% choose Harvard over Princeton, 62% choose Yale over Princeton, 54% choose Yale over Stanford, and 74% choose Stanford over Princeton).

Why Stanford Is Gaining Ground on Harvard

But, hey, we’re Ivy Coach, and Stanford is not an Ivy League school (although, over the last three decades, we’ve enjoyed even more success helping students earn admission to Stanford than some Ivy League schools…because Stanford, unlike the Ivies, doesn’t have an Academic Index so they’ll often accept one of our compelling students in spite of certain grades or scores). It also sure doesn’t hurt that we have former Stanford admissions officer Jose Magaña on our team to guide our students through the admissions process.

Now, don’t get us wrong. Harvard has some intense competition on its hands. A couple of decades ago, a greater percentage of students admitted to both Harvard and Stanford chose Harvard. However, with the tech boom and Stanford being situated in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford has come on very strong over the last several years. It’s thus no longer a foregone conclusion that a student admitted to both institutions will choose Harvard. Yet, will the tide soon turn? Will more students choose Stanford over Harvard in the decades to come when admitted to both institutions? And how has Harvard’s last few years in the national spotlight, most recently punctuated by their high-profile legal battle with the Trump administration, impacted this rivalry?

Ivy Coach’s Assistance With Harvard and Stanford Admission

Only time will tell how this long-running face-off will turn out. In the meantime, put your child in a position to optimize their odds of admission to these schools with Ivy Coach’s expert assistance. Our 90% and 91% acceptance rates to Harvard and Stanford, respectively, over the last ten years for our package clients who applied in the Early rounds did not emerge out of a vacuum (and all of our students apply Early). Instead, our team of former elite college admissions officers has developed a tried-and-true method for admission that has earned proven results. By equipping your child with a powerful singular hook that sets them apart from the rest of the applicant pool, we will issue the following dare to all elite college admissions officers: we dare you not to admit our student!

To get started with us, simply fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch with an outline of our services.