<p>
[quote]
This has been a very reassuring thread - my D is leaning toward Harvard and I have been very worried she will be miserable there, especially after visiting Stanford and drinking jamba juice beneath a palm tree. I know what I'd choose, but I'm not my daughter.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Harvard is lacking in Jamba... the closest one is in the BU student center, and it's subpar (I get the impression that it's run by Sodexho or the like, and not a true Jamba franchise). We did just get a Chipotle, though!</p>
<p>At 52, Jamba Juice under a palm tree sounds pretty darned good - Mammall, I'll join you under that tree and the Jamba's on me. But at 18, hangin' with the world's creativity all-star team in the quintessential college town 11 minutes by T to downtown Boston would have trumped anything.</p>
<p>^ We can always dream of Stanford for our kids for graduate school. I'll look a little pathetic getting in line for my jamba juice with my walker but heck.</p>
<p>This is a good example of the kind of thread that has me (as a Harvard parent) returning to this board less and less often.</p>
<p>Bob:</p>
<p>--If you were in fact accepted at Harvard, don't go. Go someplace where you don't feel as though you have to be "convinced" by others - indeed, anonymous strangers - that it's the right place for you. </p>
<p>--All of the bad things that you have heard about Harvard are true (at least for someone) - as are all of the good things.</p>
<p>--Before you start your freshman year, wherever you wind up, get out a dictionary and look up the word "gist" (so that, as here, you don't use "just" when you mean "gist").</p>
<p>Based on the questions he asked, specially 3 and 5, maybe you guys should not convince him to go to Harvard if you love Harvard. Send him to Stanford.</p>
<p>Woah, since when did the grammar police crack down on asking for advice? Is that the force's new initiative? </p>
<p>But NEVER MIND because 'All of the bad things that you have heard about Harvard are true (at least for someone) - as are all of the good things' is all of the guidance i need when making one of the most important decisions of my life. That completely cleared things up for me about which school to go to. Thanks.</p>
<p>"Happy" is a funny word. And in any event, I think that one's "happiness" usually has far more to do with the particular individual - and with his or her talent for happiness - than it does with any particular set of circumstances. </p>
<p>That said, let me put it this way. Harvard has offered my son an amazingly rich array of experiences (such as, for instance, taking a poetry class from perhaps the finest poetry critic in the country [Helen Vendler]; spending three weeks one summer with a group of Harvard students in Shanghai, teaching seminars to talented Chinese high school students; writing for what is perhaps the finest college newspaper in the country, etc.) - and he's had a terrific time in the process. Could he have had some amazing experiences and a terrific time at any number of other schools? No doubt.</p>
<p>P.S. to Bob: "Epistrophy" (as spelled here) is the name of a classic Thelonious Monk composition (which you can see performed, if you're interested, on YouTube).</p>
<p>Alright, I concede defeat. My grammar is shameful and my jazz knowledge is even worserer. </p>
<p>The thing is, Princeton and Stanford can also offer me 'an amazingly rich array of experiences' AND they claim to teach among the happiest students in America. Is there a big happiness gap between Harvard and the others? You say happiness has a lot to do with the individual. Maybe, but it also has a lot to do with the happiness of those around you. Is there the same critical mass of happiness at harvard that there appears to be at princeton and stanford?</p>
<p>Bob- Have you visited the campuses? Why don't you spend an overnight at each and see if you feel "happy" there? No one on these boards can convince you that you will be happy anywhere.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Is there the same critical mass of happiness at harvard that there appears to be at princeton and stanford?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>--This question, like so many others, is impossible to answer in any meaningful way. </p>
<p>--And in any event, I'm not sure it's the right question. After all, are you more concerned about which school has the largest "critical mass of happiness," or the school where you are likely to be "happiest"?</p>
<p>I don't have a chance to visit any (except Harvard's - which I have spent a lot of time on), I live in England. Forget about my happiness, I just want to know if the current students there are happy (or much less happy than at Princeton and Stanford).</p>
<p>Which school has the largest critical mass of happiness, and it doesn't have to be answered perfectly. It can fairly easily be answered meaningfully, which school has most smiles?</p>
<p>I can only tell you that my D is very happy at Harvard. Might she have been two percentage points happier at another school? That is quite possible. But who will ever know? And would that extra happiness be cancelled out by the fact that she gave up a chance to attend Harvard over it? Very likely, imo.</p>
<p>I can tell you my S would not be happy at Stanford. He decided against attending because it has no snow. For lots of other people, that would be a reason for wanting to attend Stanford. In other words, happy depends on who you are.</p>
<p>There is no doubt in my mind that my son is happier at Harvard than he would be at Stanford or Princeton, but as others have said, it's an individual choice. Re the OP's list, 1, 2, 6 and 7 are false. 3 is true as official policy for students under 21, but my son (who is now "legal") has had no trouble getting access to alcohol since he first arrived. Of course, as a parent I have mixed feelings about this, but so far as I can tell, he's responsible about it. 4 and 5 depends. My son and his friends venture into Boston regularly, but some students don't. My son works pretty hard, but not constantly, and a lot of his work is non-academic.</p>
<p>All that said, I have no desire to "convince" anyone to attend Harvard. If you think you'd be happier or have a better experience elsewhere, go elsewhere. There will be someone on the waiting list with none of your hesitation who will be very grateful.</p>
<p>My D is just wrapping-up her freshman year at H. She seems very happy and is involved in a lot of EC's. Would she be happier at Princeton - who knows? A school like H only has hardworking bright students, so they probably party less than your average state school. If they weren't the studious type they wouldn't get in to begin with. The reality is H is generally believed to be the top university in the US if not the world, and every body loves to knock the big guy. Think of H as the Man U of the education world! If you don't think you can be happy at H then don't go... There are thousands of kids willing to take your place!</p>
<p>Bob - Since you are accepted by the top schools, I believe you are smart enough to know what kind response you are going to get by starting this thread on the Harvard board. Did you make a bet with someone to prove you are right?</p>