<p>Sixty-three students and alumni produced the following Harvard assessment. How do you feel about the results? Accurate?</p>
<p>It's a voluntary response survey. Only people who have strong feelings about a school will respond. Small sample size.</p>
<p>I say: Completely unreliable.</p>
<p>any stats student will tell you that its a voluntary response and not an srs thus it in no way reflects the assessment of the population</p>
<p>Yes, I agree. Harvard is a great place for assertive, intense people who aren't looking for a warm fuzzy. It is a fabulous place for students with the intellectual and EC passions and confidence to pursue their unusual or eclectic interests without having faculty holding their hands and chasing after them.</p>
<p>It is a terrible place for shy students who want professors to take the time to personally reach out to the students as the students say nothing in class or refuse to use office hours. It's also a horrible place for students who long for traditional college activities such as tailgate parties, excitement around homecoming and the football team, Greek life, etc. </p>
<p>It's also a horrible place for students who hope to find in college the kind of friendliness that one finds in small town America. </p>
<p>It's a terrific place for students longing for the freedom and opportunities to run with their intellectual and EC passions, and to be around other students who are intensely involved with their own intellectual and EC passions.</p>
<p>IMO most students who apply to Harvard have not accurately assessed what Harvard has to offer. If instead of simply applying because of Harvard's name, they took the time to see what it's like being a Harvard student, they'd run in the opposite direction.</p>
<p>For my money, a year of reading CC is better for getting a sense of what Harvard is about than reading 63 anonymous posts to that Brand X Web site. College Confidential is also anonymous, and thus subject to people posting baloney information, but it is moderated, and more interactive among people who post, so over time most of the baloney gets identified as baloney. Post #4 to this thread by NorthStarMom sounds quite plausible to me, based on the Harvard alumni I have known (I am not one myself) and the Harvard faculty members I have met at business meetings on the Harvard campus. Harvard isn't for everyone--nor is any other school--and it can't admit everyone who meets minimal qualifications for going there, but it appears to be a worthwhile place to apply to for SOME students with specific interests and preparation.</p>
<p>So we should discard the opinion of 60 plus individuals because you don't like where H came out in the rankings V. other Ivies? The results are very telling when you click the IVY comparison chart request. The ratings seem to be quite consistent with what I have been reading here.</p>
<p>If I didn't agree with Harvard's rankings (regardless of whether I go or went there,) nothing could stop me from posting 60 negative or positive messages.</p>
<p>It's important to take note of posts #2 and #3 in this thread, which were evidently posted by young people with proper training in statistics.</p>
<p>hahahaha I just noticed something funny</p>
<p>on that ivy comparison, did you see Princeton's median standardized test scores? those darn smart Princeton kids!</p>
<p>another thing: why is the information in the chart different from the information found when you click on a school?</p>
<p>anothing thing: at the bottom of the chart is the following message:</p>
<p>Quote: "Take salary information with a grain of salt -- they are dependent upon lots of factors. * (This data is not statistically reliable)
Also, stats give a narrow picture -- make sure to read student comments."</p>
<p>Nonetheless, it is nice to be able to compare all eight ivies, plus MIT,on a single page. I actually have found many of the findings to be consistent with so many of the posts I have been reading here and elsewhere. The surveys confirm much.</p>