<p>Some thoughts from a Harvard grad - </p>
<p>Honestly, I haven’t visited Yale or Princeton (though I’ve driven through New Haven), so I can’t really say much about them, other than that Yale and Harvard have similar housing systems (Harvard’s residential “Houses” are for 3 years, not 4) and that was one of the best features of my time in college. Yes, we do have nasty little creatures on occasion, but nothing too bad, thank God.</p>
<p>I can’t tell you too much about the econ/chem/premed programs, but I can tell you that several of my close friends were premed and are now at Yale and Harvard Medical Schools, as well as several more at Ann Arbor (U Michigan), and one of my former roommates had a year-long internship at NIH in Maryland. </p>
<p>We also had some fantastic classes, such as Digging the Glyphs (in which we actually learned to solve the Rosetta Stone, decipher the Sindarin script from Lord of the Rings, etc.)
and the nice thing was that they were actually serious classes. One of the ostensibly more serious classes, such as Ec 10 (Social Analysis 10, the introductory economics class), had hysterically funny exam questions (Im not joking, pardon the semi-pun). There was a huge breadth of interesting courses to take. I have to say that Harvard is an extremely self-directed place, with very little in the way of advising (it has somewhat improved since I graduated, thank God it was pretty bad before). Its very much sink-or-swim. That said, you can make it as academically rigorous as you want, and there is guidance if you know where to look for it. </p>
<p>Professors may or may not be accessible, but usually they are more so than you expect them to be. Some of my closest friends and yes, I mean friends were my professors/House Masters. I helped one of them move furniture to her beach house and spent a fantastic afternoon driving around Swansea, MA. This probably isnt typical, of course, but in general I found that my professors were very approachable if I made the effort. Also, the star-struck feeling goes away after your first year/semester, generally speaking. Again, I cant speak for your particular majors. </p>
<p>Career planning is excellent at Harvard
again, if you take the time to go after it. Harvards the type of place where you have to go after everything very little is pointed out to you or handed to you. Actually, I work at a relatively big state school now and they seem to have fantastic advising services its harder to slip through the cracks here than it was at Harvard, which is kind of sad. </p>
<p>I cant really comment on study abroad. I can comment on financial aid at Harvard I was a student recruiter for the Harvard Financial Aid Initiative, which is wonderful. I, too, was given free tickets etc. They also have something called the Student Events Board, which gives out free tickets to HFAI recipients throughout the semester
which is really nice because I wasnt able to easily afford a lot of the on-campus events without them. </p>
<p>Atmosphere: I wont lie Harvard can be a very stressful place. If you have a core support group, it can be great
even if the culture is often one of asking about each others homework and complaining about exams (haha its better than it sounds). I loved it. I was stressed out of my mind some of the time, but I would not trade my experience there (especially Lowell House and the wonderful community there) for any other undergraduate experience. That said, it really can take a toll on you. I dont think its lack of friendliness
Bostons kind of like that in general, and people are great once they let their guard down. (I lived in the Greater Boston area for a year after college, which was a similar experience.) Wow Im making this sound terrible. Basically its stressful, its amazing, its the kind of intellectual experience that I wanted very badly, its in Cambridge (which only adds to the experience) and Boston is very close by. Its its own little world (the Harvard bubble) and you can get <em>so</em> much out of it if you know what youre doing/whom to ask/what to look for. I agree that you should visit on non-prefrosh-weekend days because youll see what the atmosphere is really like. Talk to real students (they arrange hosted visits through the admissions office). Accept the fact that it rains a lot. Wander around campus (especially the Science Center) and see if you can visit the Houses. I had a terrible prefrosh experience because everyone was trying to impress each other and ended up acting kind of like arrogant jerks
but I actually talked to the students who were hosting me and figured that if thats what the students who had lived/gone to school there were like, it would probably be fine. Visit a campus before you decide to go there it can make a huge difference. </p>
<p>I agree re: the lack of school spirit
except on H-Y game day. Of course, I hate football, and dont really care much for other sports, so it could just be me
we do get into Housing Day and anti-Yale stuff, though, so were not entirely lacking in school spirit. I guess it depends on how you define it, and what you compare it to
were definitely not a Pac-10 school, but we have our pride. ECs: yes. </p>
<p>Harvards social scene
what can I say? The partying involves a surprising amount of drinking, mostly hard liquor (which means quite a few hospitalizations), and in-room parties. I generally liked to do other stuff. You can go into Boston, for one thing, and we generally managed to have a good time when we werent studying. I for one knew most of the people in my House, but Im probably somewhat of an exception. </p>
<p>Food: it was decent, it was institutional
and, on Harvards meal plan, you can eat as much of it as you want, which is great (thank God I didnt have to think about points or numbers of meals per week or any of that). You also get BoardPlus, which is ~$50/semester to use around campus at the coffee carts etc. Also, as mentioned, theres the Square and Boston if you really want good food
and Haymarket farmers market for those who actually want to cook.</p>
<p>Running: Im not a runner, but I did do quite a bit of long-distance walking. The Charles River has some nice trails, and you can bike out to Walden Pond or go on the Minuteman Trail out to Alewife
theres a great trail that runs out to Watertown, etc. Also, the gym system was great (and free). </p>
<p>Housing basically, yup. I spent most of my time in Lowell’s dining hall, and it was honestly a home away from home for 3 years. I miss it even now, 3 years out. </p>
<p>Congrats all who got in I of course am biased toward Harvard, but I think you can have a great experience at any of those three schools. Dont go just for the name make sure you feel comfortable on campus, because youll be living there for the next four years!</p>
<p>~lb</p>