<p>Getting back to the question of the OP, I think one way of looking at the situation is to ask yourself whether you would really be able to walk away from a Harvard admission letter (should you get one) with peace of mind. Maybe you would, maybe you wouldn't, but I think that's the real way of looking at the situation. </p>
<p>The way I see it is you don't ever want to be putting yourself in a position where you'd be asking yourself 'what if' for the rest of your life. 'What if' is a question that will gnaw at your psyche, and possibly destroy it. You don't want to get admitted to Harvard, turn it down, and then 20 years later, be asking yourself what would have happened had you taken it. </p>
<p>Let me give you an example. Let's say that the Boston Red Sox were to give me a tryout to be their next pitcher. Would I turn it down? I would not. I would not, even knowing that I would probably make a complete fool out of myself during the tryout, and I'd probably be laughed at and thrown out of the ballpark. I would go anyway, because I know that if I didn't go, then for the rest of my life, I would always be asking myself 'what if I had gone'. So I would go, and I would probably fail miserably and completely embarrass myself. But at least I would then know what would have happened, so I'd be able to sleep at night. </p>
<p>Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that you should automatically pick Harvard or that Harvard is automatically the best school for you or anybody else. I am saying that you should be able to make a decision to turn down Harvard (should you get the chance to make that decision) with a clear conscience. Would you be able to sleep at night when you're older knowing that you turned down Harvard? If you think you can, then, fair enough, you can turn down Harvard with a clean conscience. But if you don't think you can, then I think that's a pretty good reason to take the offer.</p>