You’re certainly not going to go wrong with Harvard. The value of college is much more in the people you will meet than anything else, and Harvard’s quality of student body is as high as anywhere.
When I applied to college I judged schools based on the quality of their economics department because I was convinced I would become an academic economist. Turned out to be very wrong. I think the chances you end up working on alignment research are low — maybe 20% — so don’t over-index on that.
Of course you can take advanced courses in whatever you want! Information is free these days. Don’t let the school’s curriculum dictate what you pursue. It’s OK to optimize to some degree for easy classes so long as you are doing something valuable with the free time you are gaining.
My advice:
You’re certainly not going to go wrong with Harvard. The value of college is much more in the people you will meet than anything else, and Harvard’s quality of student body is as high as anywhere.
When I applied to college I judged schools based on the quality of their economics department because I was convinced I would become an academic economist. Turned out to be very wrong. I think the chances you end up working on alignment research are low — maybe 20% — so don’t over-index on that.
Of course you can take advanced courses in whatever you want! Information is free these days. Don’t let the school’s curriculum dictate what you pursue. It’s OK to optimize to some degree for easy classes so long as you are doing something valuable with the free time you are gaining.