<p>Bob - Don't know about a critical mass of happiness, but Harvard certainly has a critical mass of Brits. My D is in a singing group that has eight guys in it and three are from England. She went to London last summer and hung out with a number of Harvard friends. If having an ample supply of college friends from your side of the Pond would be appealing, that would be a selling point for Harvard. If you're looking for more of an American immersion experience, then perhaps Stanford.</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard kids work significantly more than kids at other top tier schools.</li>
</ol>
<p>I go to Princeton, and I can assure you that this is definitely not true.</p>
<p>^^I don't see how this question can be authoritatively answered one way or the other based on personal experience. Everybody goes to one school at a time. Almost nobody gets their undergrad education at more than one top tier school. Harvard kids can tell you whether they work hard but not whether they work "harder" than then they would have worked at other schools.</p>
<p>piccolojunior, guitars101, you'llsee...</p>
<p>i dont drink either =P</p>
<p>I'm really happy here at Harvard. But I'm still not sure how to answer your question. What magical evidence could we give you that would show which school "had the most smiles"?</p>
<p>I see smiles everywhere, particularly today! It's 87 degrees, the sun is shining, people are hanging out in the Yard and outside the Science Center just sunbathing, sitting, chatting, eating ice cream and generally enjoying life. It's a beautiful, joyful day and everyone I've seen is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, <em>happy</em>. Today, I chose to eat lunch with my friends outside the Greenhouse Cafe when 2 out of the 3 of us were supposed to be in class, and I'd bet that many of the people I've seen outside were scheduled to be somewhere else too - this entire day at Harvard flies in the face of the "unhappy, serious, and too consumed with work" stereotypes, and possibly several others. And before anyone asks: No, people here aren't only happy on sunny days, this particular day is just a really shining example of how wrong people are about Harvard.</p>
<p>To the OP and any other worried admitted students, it's important to remember that if YOU were admitted to Harvard and consider yourself fun, normal, and interested in happiness, it's highly unlikely that you're the only such person ever accepted here or that you'd be in the minority if you came. Many (if not most) people who are at Harvard now had many of the same concerns you did before we came here and were pleasantly surprised upon arrival to find plenty of other normal people like ourselves.</p>
<p>It IS kind of an awesome day today. I'm thinking about leaving work early...</p>
<p>It's true..what I always tell people is that you have to remember that good grades alone don't cut it to get into a school like Harvard these days. You need leadership, extracurriculars, etc, plus in many cases you have an interview where you have to be at least somewhat outgoing and friendly (not to mention, to be leaders in these extracurriculars, you pretty much need to be outgoing and friendly). I don't think I've met one person here who dislikes Harvard, but I could name an neverending list of people who are genuinely happy here (myself included). I think, like people above said, that Harvard is such a big name and has such a reputation that people nitpick and blow any fault out of proportion. And I second what caramelkisses06 said about worried admitted students...people here are just like people at other schools...</p>
<p>ps today rocks...the weather is so nice that one of my sections let out early and my friends and I went to get Berryline..yumm!</p>
<p>So glad to hear this. My D seems to be finally committing her heart to Harvard.</p>
<p>^^Congratulations to your daughter. I'm sure she'll love it, as mine has.</p>
<p>After she sends in her response accepting Harvard's offer, have her read Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney's poem about Harvard. I really like it. In the final verse he speaks directly to Harvard students:</p>
<p>Villanelle for an Anniversary</p>
<p>A spirit moved. John Harvard walked the yard,
The atom lay unsplit, the west unwon,
The books stood open and the gates unbarred.</p>
<p>The maps dreamt on like moondust. Nothing stirred.
The future was a verb in hibernation.
A spirit moved, John Harvard walked the yard.</p>
<p>Before the classic style, before the clapboard,
All through the small hours of an origin,
The books stood open and the gate unbarred.</p>
<p>Night passage of a migratory bird.
Wingflap. Gownflap. Like a homing pigeon
A spirit moved, John Harvard walked the yard.</p>
<p>Was that his soul (look) sped to its reward
By grace or works? A shooting star? An omen?
The books stood open and the gate unbarred.</p>
<p>Begin again where frosts and tests were hard.
Find yourself or founder. Here, imagine
A spirit moves, John Harvard walks the yard,
The books stand open and the gates unbarred.</p>
<p>-- Seamus Heaney</p>
<p>Mammall: Congratulations to your daughter. Is she visiting this weekend?</p>
<p>To the OP FWIW Re: Happiness at Harvard/Princeton/Stanford</p>
<p>My son did not apply to Stanford, nor did we visit. Not a good fit for his passion (music). We did visit Princeton (which was a good fit for music - probably the best of the Ivies) and he HATED it. At that point we had only seen two other colleges (Johns Hopkins and Penn) and were curious about his vehemence against Princeton. Part of it was that he did not see the hustle and bustle that he had seen at Penn, which he liked. (We think it reminded him of his HS where the halls are crammed every time the bell rings between classes.) We explained that Penn had perhaps twice the number of students as Princeton crammed into a few city blocks of Philadelphia vs. Princeton's thousands of acres. But he also had watched the students as they went between classes at Princeton and he felt that they weren't connecting with each other, no laughing in groups or talking. Mostly just with their books under their arms or in backpacks, seemingly trudging off to the next class or back to the dorms. That's what killed it for him. Call it "happiness" or whatever, but it was something he wanted and it wasn't there. It was there sufficiently at Harvard that he is very excited about going there.</p>
<p>In fairness to Princeton, he may not have seen Princeton in its best light. We arrived in time for an 11:00 a.m. group session followed by a tour and then he went to sit in on a class (music I believe) while my wife and I ate lunch. By the time he was out of his class it was probably 1:30 p.m. or so and the class population was probably lower. Nonetheless, he would not go back and revisit even when we visited by in-laws about an hour away.</p>
<p>Coreur - I appreciate you sharing this beautiful poem. Have printed and shared it with daughter and her proud father. I have really been helped by your thoughtful posts about Harvard and your daughter's experiences there.</p>
<p>You're welcome.</p>
<br>
<p>The books stand open and the gates unbarred.</p>
<br>
<p>I sometimes recall this line when I walk into the Yard through Johnston Gate. And in about 6 weeks I plan to take a picture of my daughter coming <em>out</em> through Johnston Gate wearing her cap and gown.</p>
<p>Dexter gate (Mass Ave + Plympton St.) has an inscription that I've always liked:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Enter to grow in wisdom, Depart to better serve thy country and thy kind
[/quote]
</p>
<p>^ Oh, now I'm getting ridiculous. That one got me tearing up, just<em>forget</em>me.</p>
<p>As you enter Johnston Gate, Massachusetts Hall is on the right. John Adams lived in the first room you encounter on the ground floor corner, from 1751-1755. Later in life, he'd say that those four years were the happiest of his life. There was a faculty of seven at the time. The professor to whom he was closest would take John across the walkway to Harvard Hall on clear nights where they'd climb to the roof and spend hours observing the heavens through a telescope. Adams arrived to study theology, became passionate there about law, and ultimately delegated the writing of the Declaration of Independence to Jefferson. Every time I walk into the Yard I look into that window and imagine that John may still drop in from time to time since it was the one place on Earth that he loved best. I look at the Yard and wonder where the discussion took place during which he decided that the law was his true calling. This fall, once again, there will be a freshman living in John's room, since Massachusetts Hall is again going to house students. My daughter got JFK's freshman room in Weld; Mammall, perhaps yours will wind up in Adams'?</p>
<p>That's the sense I get when I look up at the incredible stained glass windows in Mem Hall...like that kaleidoscope of colors is the story of America, and I get to be one shiny piece.</p>
<p>I've told this story before, but when I was a senior, I saw Tom Stoppard's "Invention of Love" with my parents. The main character dies and has to cross the River Styx to Elysium, which turns out to be...Oxford. My father leaned over to me in the theater and whispered, "Just like you!"</p>
<p>Massauchusetts Hall was my daughter's freshman dorm, and she thought it was wonderful. Since the university president's office is down on the first floor, the kids would sometimes peer out their dorm room windows and see various world leaders, celebrities, and other distingusihed visitors heading in or out of the presidents office. And they would rush down into the yard to "accidently" bump into them and say "Hi."</p>
<p>In addition to John Adams (and my daughter), other Mass Hall residents have included founding fathers John Hancock, Samuel Adams, Elbridge Gerry, and James Otis. Plus George Washington quartered some of his Continental Army troops in Mass Hall during the Revolutionary War. There is a story about how once a snowball fight broke out among these troops in the yard in outside of Mass Hall: Virginians vs. Massauchsetts men that soon turned into a real fight. Gen. Washington rode up and broke up the fight - angrily picking some of the men up by their collars and shaking them like they were kids.</p>
<p>GADad: That's the room that I was hoping my daughter would get! How cool for your daughter. </p>
<p>My daughter's freshman room housed no one famous, but she was the first female ever to live in that room. </p>
<p>I love your story about John Adams and did not know that was his room. I will take a special look next time I am on campus. I was just priviliged to see the Adams letters on display at another great college. What a remarkable man.</p>