Are all Harvard students preppy?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>I'm in the process of choosing colleges right now, and I wonder whether Harvard is full of highly competitive overachievers who are preppy and not friendly? I mean I prefer people who are competitive with themselves, rather than with other people. And I don't want to spend my college years with rich kids who just want to stick to their own groups while looking down at other people. Of course they are the brightest kids all over the world coming to Harvard, but I'm not sure whether they are friendly and willing to get out of the comfort zone/bubble?</p>

2

<ol>
<li><p>If all Harvard students are preppy, and you’re not, then you have nothing to worry about. You won’t be a Harvard student, so you won’t have to put up with them.</p></li>
<li><p>If you ARE admitted to Harvard, what are the chances that you are the ONLY non-prep they admit? (Hint: pretty small.) </p></li>
<li><p>Who is having trouble getting out of the comfort zone/bubble here? Why are you insecure about rich people looking down at other people?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>(The one-word answer to your question is No. If you do a teeny-weeny bit of research first, you can avoid asking patently silly questions, and you may get better answers.)</p>

3

<p>^Good logical reasoning skills used. I’m guessing you did well on the SAT :).</p>

4

<p>You should probably wait until you get IN Harvard first before buying clothes.</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>You are so weird.</p>

6

<p>No. Some are, most aren’t.
And #3 on JHS’s list rings true to me in this situation.</p>

7

<p>Does Charlie Daniels play a mean fiddle?</p>

8

<p>NSR - I think it’s normal to have preconceived elitist notions of Harvard before visiting there. Actually, having two kids there over the past four years, it’s my impression that it’s as diverse and welcoming a university as you can find. It should be, since all colleges seek diversity within their student bodies and Harvard has something close to first pick among the pool of prospective students. There are certainly wealthy prepsters and there are also a surprising number of students from resource-poor backgrounds who’ve achieved despite barriers. On CC and elsewhere in college discussions, Harvard’s legendary for the generosity of its financial aid program and 70% of its students receive aid. That should indicate something about the socioeconomic diversity of the school.</p>

<p>And yes, Charlie Daniels plays a mean fiddle - just don’t let him borrow your bow!</p>

9

<p>They certainly don’t dress preppy:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/02.09/photos/09-admissions1.jpg[/url]”>http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2006/02.09/photos/09-admissions1.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

10

<p>Tom Morello - probably the preppiest, most elitist alum Harvard has to offer.</p>

<p>[Tom</a> Morello - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Morello]Tom”>Tom Morello - Wikipedia)</p>

11

<p>Typical Harvard gear: <a href=“http://seseo.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2009/01/designer_clothes2.jpg[/url]”>http://seseo.files.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2009/01/designer_clothes2.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

12

<p>DUDE. I LOVE TOM MORELLO.
Because I love Audioslave and Rage Against The Machine. Great music. Great guitar work.</p>

13

<p>Noitaraperp, there is something very funny about that photo. The way they all look like dolls. I love it.</p>

14

<p>Im not in Harvard but judging from the pictures of students currently attending I can deduce that they may be intelligent but most lack a sense of style and fashion, plenty of them just dress so bad and in no way preppy.</p>

15

<p>@ Mustafah–^You are so weird.</p>

<p>I was being sarcastic. The OP asked a valid question and the next guy was acting all smartypants on him.</p>

16

<p>The OP’s question was not valid at all. What basis is there for thinking that Harvard might be full of people “who are preppy and not friendly” and “rich kids who just want to stick to their own groups while looking down at other people”?</p>

17

<p>Harvard has a mix of people like any other college but overall I would say it’s pretty preppy. I was actually disappointed at the lack of real progressive or leftist students when I visited. It was mostly a very trendy liberal school that not even Tom Morello would want to visit again; very pro-establishment and wannabe wonks everywhere. It’s no Berkeley, UT-Austin, Brown or Columbia.</p>

18

<p>^ I agree. If we’re talking about political attitudes and modes of thought, Harvard students tend to be pretty conventional and pro-establishment. This isn’t the New School for Social Research, after all.</p>

<p>If we’re talking about social habits and styles of dress, I’d say that preps constitute a significant minority on campus (hopefully I’ve correctly inferred your definition of ‘preppy’). But I take issue with your assumption that they “look down” on others just because they tend to have exclusive social circles. Many groups stick to their own kind, like math geeks or hipsters or athletes. In fact, I’d say that hipsters are more judgmental than preps – and certainly more superficial.</p>

19

<p>For what it’s worth, Texassoccer, the most left-activist student I have met over the past few years – someone who deliberately got arrested at an anti-war protest when he was still in high school – is currently a Harvard undergraduate.</p>

20

<p>Well I did meet some leftist students on campus, mostly volunteering at PBHA, but the rest of the population on campus seemed desperate to be a part of the establishment. I just didn’t get that whole free thinking, creative solutions to the system vibe. At best I found a really trendy liberal student body that tried to find solutions to the excesses of globalization without challenging the system itself. And this is the school that produced Tom Morello, Amy Goodman and Monthly Review founder and Marxist economist Paul Sweezy. </p>

<p>IDK, I came from a very progressive and leftist campus so I a tend to nitpick</p>