I’d love to help answer some of the questions you may have!
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone may ask or answer questions in this thread, but this is not the place to ask for chances.
Asides from tuition and housing, what are the costs of attending Harvard (ex. personal living expenses)? I heard from someone who got a full ride that they spend around $200+ a year.
And do you know if those costs are similar at other universities that offer full-ride need-based financial aid, like some Ivies and Stanford?
Also, how does financial aid work for Harvard grad school? Because I’m assuming it’s different than the “make less than $65,000 and it’s free” type of financial aid in undergrad.
After attending Harvard undergrad, does it increase the chances of being accepted into a Harvard grad school or a top-tier grad school (like Stanford, Ivies, etc) compared to going to a lesser-known university for undergrad?
It depends on the level of financial aid. I know that if you are on 100% aid, Harvard will even give you a stipend to purchase winter clothing. They are incredibly generous.
Have you played with the Net Price Calculator yet? https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator
All housing and dining is included in the room and board portion of the cost (usually about $17,000) and your financial aid (again, depending on the level) will cover this too. There’s no additional meal plan or anything. All students are put on the same unlimited meal plan (which is really great and you can eat 3 dinners if you want).
With respect to other costs:
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Books and course materials (depending on the courses, this can get really expensive, about ~$200 per text book, but not all courses require books and most students find old editions)
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All of your food is covered for the campus dining halls, but if you ever want to get coffee at Starbucks or go out to dinner, obviously you have to pay for that. I would say students usually spent around $50-$150 per week on food and drinks if they dined off campus.
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Travel to and from Boston (holidays, summer, etc.)
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Formal clothing needed for events (interview clothes, black tie attire, etc.). I had to spent a lot of money here because I had zero formal attire.
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Social events, concerts, skiing, renting a car for the weekend, etc.
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Furniture and decorations (normal dorm room things like futons)
A lot of students had on campus jobs to help pay for these things. I worked as a TA for an Econ class to make some extra money.
I hope this helps! I think most Ivies and Stanford are probably very similar.
With respect to your second question, the graduate programs are completely different. Many PhD programs are completely free, while getting an MBA can cost you $200,000+.
I think top-tier grad schools look for high performers and a lot of high performers happen to also go to top-tier undergraduate institutions. This does not mean that the grad schools only accept Harvard undergrads, that’s ridiculous! I knew tons of grad students that came from huge state schools or international programs!
PhD programs are not just free, you also get paid a stipend and usually teach.
Dorms are being renovated and now have some standardized furniture which may cut down on costs.
Very true! My brother is in a PhD program now and the stipend is generous, but he still has to use his own money to help cover rent and some other living expenses.
Dorm rooms are much nicer now, so you definitely don’t have to buy any furniture, but my roommates and I wanted a futon for out of town guests, so we all pitched in and bought one for the common room!
Thanks for volunteering to answer questions. I will ask about the things that bothered us about Harvard and I apologize in advance if questions seem provocative.
We recently toured a bunch of college campuses and Harvard to me seemed the most elusive. The Harvard mystique hangs over the place like thick fog and makes it hard for outsider get a clear impression of the place. My son (a high-stat, high-performing but low-hubris midwestern kid) was turned off by it. I am wondering whether I should urge him to reconsider.
- Can modest kids thrive and not feel like they're constantly jockeying for status? Harvard has a reputation for social competition. How much one-upmanship is there?
- Does it feel like you have a campus that belongs to students? Harvard Yard seems so overrun by tour groups and wannabee tourists in Harvard T-shirts that we imagined the students would feel almost besieged by outsiders. My son said "it's like a tourist site." How does it feel to be freshman in HY? I suspect the upperclass houses feel more secluded--true?
- Do most students seem to have some outlier talent or extreme devotion to EC? Steven Pinker once wrote about lecturing to half-empty classes because students were so overextended with non-academic pursuits. We are wondering if a well-rounded mortal is an endangered species these days at places like Harvard. (For context my kid has near-perfect test scores and grades in challenging curriculum, likely val or sal, multi-sport varsity captain...no slouch, but he STILL thinks he doesn't have that special "spike" to have a chance...another effect of Harvard mystique). This is not a "chance me" question about admissions, but a sincere inquiry about whether the well-rounded applicant remains viable in current climate, absent proverbial hooks or spectacular achievements at state or national level. This is frequent topic of speculation on this board and I would love hear whether your Harvard experience supports this. Did many of your friends fit profile of outlier achievers in something outside academics?
Thanks!
Did you tour during the summer? It’s much better the rest of the year in terms of tourists though the occasional tourist may ask to take a Harvard student’s picture! Honestly, it’s not that bad and Harvard Square in general is better during the school year.
Modest kids can certainly thrive at Harvard. It doesn’t have to be competitive either.
There are many factors to admission, and “character” is one, very elusive, but a modest kid most likely has it 
Sorry didn’t mean to answer questions when someone else so kindly offered!
Does harvard look down upon an upward trend? Obviously students who maintained good grades and took rigorous courses are better, but if someone has an upward trend, would they be in the automatic “no” pile?
What is the environment at Harvard? Is it introverted, extrovert, professional, etc?
Thanks compmom. No apologies necessary–I appreciate answer! You are mom of student, yes? To answer your question, we visited in April when school was in session.
I didn’t mean to turn this into discussion about how to get into Harvard. Already enough of those on this board! Mostly i was curious about how ultra competitive admissions, and Harvard’s obvious attractiveness to strivers, translates into student culture.
Hopefully OP will provide some insight. I’d welcome input from other students, alums and parents too.
Hello @oldschooldad, I’m a current student so hopefully I can chip in a little if @TheHarvardBlonde doesn’t mind! Hopefully this is helpful and feel free to let us know if you have any more questions!
- I think the admissions office really strives to find kids who have a hunger for learning and seem easy-going and would fit in well. In terms of status, something like 60% of kids are on financial aid there (I'm on almost 100%!) - you get a great number of really down to earth, real kids from all kinds of backgrounds. Plenty of my friends are the kind who often worked part time during high school, and continue to do so during college to make ends meet - it's certainly far from the image of the snooty, rich kids that's often portrayed. And in terms of one-upmanship, it's often that you find yourself late at night working collaboratively with my friends on problem sets, or together in extra-curriculars. I think it depends significantly on the kind of people your son would surround himself with. Not to point fingers but there are definitely a percentage of people who are that kind (looking at you, type A finance people/rich legacy kids!) but the school is large enough that you can easily avoid those groups if you like.
- I think the yard isn't necessarily a good measure of student life - precisely because of how tourist overrun it gets. It can definitely get annoying at first during freshman year, but you quickly get used to it. On the other hand, it is quite neat to be right there in the heart of the whole campus your first year and live/walk past all these corners of the Yard with cool bits of history (the gate built by the Porcellian, the secret garden, etc.). After freshman year, student life really becomes all about the dorms and your House becomes your extended family - and there's huge rivalries between them. Take a look at Housing Day to get a real feel for how fun/great student life really is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWUpAs1pKP0
- I think there's definitely a significant proportion of 'outlier' or 'spikey' students at campus, and your son will definitely run into them on campus. But Dean Fitzsimmons', the dean of admissions, had a very good comment (https://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/harvarddean-part3/) I read when I was applying which I think can answer your question:
@Telluric thanks for gracious reply.
Sorry for the delayed response! Quite the busy weekend
With respect to the touring, I completely understand. I actually toured Harvard and didn’t like it at all. The tour doesn’t do it justice and the summers aren’t representative of the rest of the year. I really don’t think it’s a good idea to judge a school by a campus tour.
To answer your direct questions:
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Yes, absolutely. I would consider myself a modest kid and so were all of my roommates. We all did fine
You have to remember that Harvard has a fairly large class size (~1,600 students), so you can find all types of people! -
The tourists are SO BAD during the summer. It’s not like that all the time. The Yard experience is great, but the Harvard house life is incredible. I doubt you were able to experience any of that on the tour. It’s what makes Harvard so unique!
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It is very true that Harvard kids are incredibly involved in ECs. Many people prioritize ECs over coursework, but almost everyone manages to do both!
I knew many people that had incredible “spikes” in their applications, but once they got to Harvard, they explored different concentrations and because “well-rounded” again.
In response to TN034154’s questions:
Harvard does not look down on an upward trend! Progress and dedication over time is important!
There is no “Harvard environment,” which is why Harvard is so great. There’s a little bit of everything! I would say out of my 6 roommates, 2 were huge introverts, 2 were extreme extroverts, and 2 were somewhere in the middle (I’m in this category).
There is definitely a professional atmosphere for people who are recruiting for jobs at banks, consulting firms, and other similar positions, but this does not apply to the whole campus.
^^ Correct. That said, in a recent freshman survey, 54% of Harvard admits had a 4.0 GPA in high school – meaning that most accepted students were pretty high achievers from the start and maintained those grades throughout their 4 year’s of high school. So, while having an upward trend is admirable, and it certainly doesn’t disqualify a student, it also doesn’t put them in the top half of the admit pile.
Thanks for reply. Your enthusiasm certainly comes through!
If you are not sick of answering questions, let me ask an open-ended one: what are biggest misconceptions about Harvard? Was there any conventional wisdom about Harvard that you discovered to be untrue?
Based solely on stereotype & hearsay, it seems like Harvard is a more competitive environment than I hear about some of its contemporaries. For a student interested in the creative arts, and whose application clearly reflects that, why Harvard?
I think the biggest misconception about Harvard is that it’s a place for only hyper-competitive, elite prep school students.
Before I went to Harvard, I was a bit nervous that I wouldn’t really fit it. I had this idea in my head that everyone came from elite prep schools in NYC, and as a student coming from Austin, I really didn’t know if I would have anything in common with my classmates.
Of course, this is completely false. Harvard is a wonderfully diverse place filled with amazing people. I loved having peers with such interesting backgrounds. I honestly feel like I learned more from my friends and classmates than the professors. I cherish the friendships and connections that I made during my time at Harvard and I look forward to staying close with those people for life!