I've been fortunate to receive offers from both schools, but I'm having a little trouble deciding between the two schools so I wanted to hear whether anyone had strong opinions on this topic.

As background, I am interested in teaching, which is Yale's focus, but I can do that from both schools. The Harvard brand is more recognized where I am from, but I am personally ambivalent between the two - both exceptional institutions.

That said, I would really value the intimacy of Yale's small class size, and it seems like access to some of the best faculty in the world would be a huge opportunity, especially since the focus is on understand how and why laws are made rather than application of such laws.

Ultimately, I think both schools give me a pathway to what I want to do. I wonder if it will come down to financial aid: which school decides to give more?

Anyone have any thoughts that they would like to throw in?

I am in the same position and totally feel you. From what I gathered, Yale financial aid is much more generous and easier to pay off. Harvard’s loan portion is known to be larger than the grant portion; and the grant portion is usually less than what Yale offers. Other than this, I think there is also the possibility of NY Bar admission at Harvard whereas at Yale, the program is not designed for such thing. This is what I have in mind so far in addition to your thoughts. I’ll be discussing next week with other people once the financial aid decisions are announced. 

Well, of course it depends on many factors, including your career plans, both schools´ recognition and prestige in and outside your country, financial aid, as well as your personal interests in both of those programs.

However, even though Harvard´s offer is awesome, Yale is more selective and hard to get into. As a Yale offer holder (I didn´t apply to Harvard), I would not turn down Yale´s offer.

[Edited by Gößling on Mar 18, 2022]