<p>Well, the library is THE BEST ACADEMIC LIBRARY IN THE WORLD, the proffesors ar THE BEST and the students are the MOST EXTRAORDINARY AND DIVERSE AMALGAM OF STUDENTS U WILL EVER FIND. I mean, if these arent reasons to go to Harvard, then what else is left?</p>
<p>The campus is beautiful.
Cambridge is awesome.
Amazing academics.
If you're poor like me, the fact that you can go for free.</p>
<p>wait....... i thought kerry had higher grades then bush</p>
<p>*than, excuse me, both for the typo and the double post</p>
<p>I challenge you to find me one person in this country</p>
<p>just one</p>
<p>who hasn't heard of Harvard</p>
<p>regardless of education, intelligence, whatever walk of life</p>
<p>EVERYBODY has heard of Harvard</p>
<p>you tell someone you're going to Harvard, and they know...</p>
<p>True that everyone has heard of Harvard, but they either underestimate it or overestimate it.</p>
<p>I have friends that are ranked 500/600 who've failed half their classes who haven't taken the SAT tell me they were thinking about applying to Harvard...
Excuse me, but HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA :]</p>
<p>And then there are lots of smart people who are actually dying to get into Harvard, but they can't tell me a good reason why they actually want to go there.</p>
<p>Everybody's heard of McDonald's too.</p>
<p>er, clever rebuke. i think his point was its hard to beat the name recognition of Harvard ( but then again that is in the name of the thread), Yale, Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Caltech. Unless this thread is exclusively Harvard. ASIDE from the name recognition, who really cares?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Unless this thread is exclusively Harvard. ASIDE from the name recognition, who really cares?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, I think the answer is implicit in the question. Name-recognition is the source of the many of the other benefits of Harvard. Namely:</p>
<p>*The networking. </p>
<p>Surely we've all heard of the phrase "It's not what you know, it's WHO you know". Whether we like it or not, we live in a world in which success is often times determined by just happening to know the right people. By extension, that means that you would rationally prefer going to a place that will have a high average level of future successful people. Harvard has a lot of students who will go on to do great things in their lives, and you benefit by associating yourself with these people. </p>
<p>As a case in point, do you really think Steve Ballmer would really be the billionaire CEO of Microsoft if he just didn't happen to be Bill Gates's old poker-playing buddy at Currier House? Would he have even been hired into Microsoft at all? </p>
<p>Now of course, nobody is contending that you can't do high networking at othe schools. Of course you can. But you can do so at least as well, and almost certainly better at Harvard. Harvard offers the best networking opportunity of any college in the country, probably the world. And that is contingent on its brand name. If the Harvard brand name wasn't so strong, then fewer top-quality people would want to come, which would erode the strength of the Harvard network.</p>
<ul>
<li>That name recognition gets you immediate notice from employers.</li>
</ul>
<p>I'll tell you a story I read about. A woman with a Harvard MBA took a few years off to have kids, and then was able to resume her career with little trouble by leveraging the Harvard Business School brand name. She said that perhaps it's not fair that she got to take time off to have kids and still jump right back into the workforce with a great job because she went to Harvard, whereas other woman who try to do the same thing (but don't have the Harvard brand name backing them) often times experience great difficulty - but hey, what is she going to do about it? She has a career advantage that others lack, and she's going to use it. </p>
<p>Now, granted, nobody is saying that the Harvard brand name will guarantee you a job. Far from it. All it might do is get your foot in the door. But hey, a lot of people don't even get that. For example, a lot of people won't even get an interview at all. Whether we like it or not, we live in a competitive world where every single edge counts. Why wouldn't you want to arm yourself with all the of the advantages that you can?</p>
<p>Well, they suck in the sciences...</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well, they suck in the sciences...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Oh really? Seems to me that you have a pretty high standard when it comes to 'suckage'. Harvard seems pretty darn strong in the sciences to me. </p>
<p>According to USNews, graduate edition, 2007</p>
<p>Biological Sciences:
1. Stanford University (CA) 4.9
2. ** Harvard University (MA) 4.8 **
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 4.8
University of California–Berkeley 4.8 </p>
<p>Chemistry</p>
<ol>
<li> Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.0
University of California–Berkeley 5.0 </li>
<li> California Institute of Technology 4.9
** Harvard University (MA) 4.9 **
Stanford University (CA) </li>
</ol>
<p>Physics
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 5.0
Stanford University (CA) 5.0
3. California Institute of Technology 4.9
4. ** Harvard University (MA) 4.8 **
Princeton University (NJ) 4.8
University of California–Berkeley 4.8</p>
<p>"Sucks" in the sciences? There are at least 4 Nobel Prize winners who are currently on Harvard's faculty in the sciences: <a href="http://www.hno.harvard.edu/guide/faculty/fac8.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.hno.harvard.edu/guide/faculty/fac8.html</a></p>
<p>its a decent school, earns you immediate respect, gains credibility for whoever hires you. they dig it, so what the problem is?</p>
<p>Since when does going to a school make you a smarter or better person? Does Harvard have a sort of pixie dust that it sprays over all of its students?</p>
<p>It is much more likely that the students who attend Harvard have their own pixie dust. Instead of the name of the school "getting" them a good job, or an acceptance to grad school, or what have you, it's their own resources and their own intelligence.</p>
<p>I would think that a student at Harvard would have a chance to be with other top students in the nation; would have a chance to interact with students in all sorts of financial situations; would have friends who are interesting and active and involved. Harvard is an excellent school and I'm sure one can have an excellent experience there, but also I'm sure it's not the only school that offers that same experience.</p>
<p>I think op (luckymint) is having a good laugh at all of you. He asked a very redundant question, and then left the topic to the vultures. Someone's trying to stir up trouble...</p>
<p>
[quote]
Since when does going to a school make you a smarter or better person? Does Harvard have a sort of pixie dust that it sprays over all of its students?</p>
<p>It is much more likely that the students who attend Harvard have their own pixie dust. Instead of the name of the school "getting" them a good job, or an acceptance to grad school, or what have you, it's their own resources and their own intelligence.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Well, that's a nice and idealistic thought. But the truth is, brand name matters. Marketing matters. There is a reason why industry is willing to pay billions of dollars to market themselves and build brand names. They're not just throwing money away, they're just taking advantage of the fact that customers are more likely to buy products that are backed by a strong brand name. </p>
<p>Think of it this way. When you walk into a Starbucks - ANY Starbucks, you know that you're going to get high quality (albeit expensive) coffee. Some no-name coffee shop nearby might offer even better coffee. But the problem is, as a regular customer, how would you know that? You just don't have that information. Sure, maybe if you're a local, you can try out all the shops in the area and figure out which really does serve the best coffee. But what if you're just passing through? Would you really take a chance at the unknown place? What if you did - and it turned out to be terrible? Then, not only did you just waste your money, you now have to waste time in going back to Starbucks to get the good coffee that you originally wanted. The branded choice is the risk-averse choice, because at the very least, you know what you're getting. </p>
<p>So, sure, I agree that there are strong students at no-name schools. The problem is, how would employers know that they're strong? You have to expend search costs to find out. Like it or not, Harvard gives you branding power which reduces search costs.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree with the above... except for the fact that Starbucks coffee tastes like dirt water (i think THAT is the irony -- for as much as it charges, Starbucks coffee is actually pretty shiat -- Coffee Bean's is much better tasting).</p>