jeff1988

I can't help you with the academic decision, but I just want to point out that you will be perfectly safe (crime-wise) no matter what grad school you attend. While of course idyllic suburban college campuses are safer than urban campuses, in reality you are so extraordinarily unlikely to be a victim of a crime at any school that it's not even worth considering. Any urban environment will come with the occasional crazy panhandler or stolen bike, but given an ounce of street smarts you do not have to worry about much. You'll effectively never be in neighborhoods where there is a real threat of violence. College campuses aren't gang territory - Hyde Park is full of Starbucks and organic grocery stores.

Go to Harvard. WWS is fantastic, but Princeton is a very boring bubble in the suburbs and not someplace I would want to live in my 20/30s were it not for educational opportunities with the university. Harvard is in Cambridge/Boston, a real city with many other schools and companies and restaurants and bars and a diverse set of people. Plus it arguably has better name recognition anyway. Given money isn't an issue that's a pretty clear choice to me.

I hadn't submitted yet, but my app was in-progress and I got the email. This is super frustrating - I don't know why they decided to make that call so late in the game. I was excited about Fels given I'm from the Philly area.