<p>Probably the most overrated school in the country.</p>
<p>Then don't go. I will.</p>
<p>Well Put!!
:)</p>
<p>overrated. i wonder why...</p>
<p>He probably didn't get in. I agree, it is a little overrated, but no need to start a thread exclaiming to the world!</p>
<p>Collegekid12, why don't you explain why you feel it's overrated?</p>
<p>Harvard is certainly an amazing school, but you're ****ting yourself if you dont think it's overrated.</p>
<p>Overrated by whom? Business recruiters? or some random person on the street?</p>
<p>Just in general.</p>
<p>I agree that it's overrated as well (and before I get lambasted for being "a Harvard reject" I'll just say that I didn't apply to Harvard and never had any intention of applying there). It's a fantastic school, no denying that, but it's definitely not the ultimate college from an academic standpoint. Example: I have a friend who goes there who's a current sophomore. She absolutely loves it but is the first one to admit that there are other schools where you could get an equally good or superior education, particularly at the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>True...doesn't mean it's bad...it's still terrific. Duh?</p>
<p>I agree b4nnd20... Harvard is a fantastic place. I just feel that's it overrated in that everyone sees it as "the number one school BY FAR" (at least at my "colllege prep" school).</p>
<p>No, Harvard's not the best school... "best" is subjective but even objectively depends on what you value. It's not the best for, say, Engineering. Or English. Or Visual and Environmental Studies (Art). It's the best for Government (PoliSci), though, and pretty close for everything else I care for, so that's where I'm going. </p>
<p>Overrated by whom? I don't think Harvard students are blind to its shortcomings. If anything, they're (we're) pretty critical. Yalies, on the other hand... ;)</p>
<p>Haha i'll reaffirm the stereotype :). I, personally, was impressed by many features of harvard. The course selection and offering of majors in the life sciences were promising, it seemed as if you could get any money you wanted to do anything, and the location is a nice benefit, even if it's a bit too overpriced for a college budget. With that said, i turned harvard down because of a lot of its deficiencies. Visiting each university to which i was accepted, i asked people why they chose that school above other schools. I was surprised at how many of the students at harvard i met said "i chose it because my parents pressured me to" or "i probably would have liked (insert school here) better." I think that's an unfortunate consequence of harvard's brand name. I also didn't feel the same sense of community and spirit at harvard. As my former classmate who's now a freshman put it, "people aren't very rah-rah at harvard." This may seem silly to some of you, but the food was just plain bad when i visited, and i met a decent number of people that were legitimately unhappy, although that number was less than the number of people who were enjoying their experience. So, in that the general public seems to think harvard is the world's best university in every way, i'd say yes it is overrated. While i was very impressed by its academic programs (although not so thrilled with the core, which students seemed to endure more than enjoy), i thought the quality of life was lesser at harvard than at other schools i visited. So i chose yale!</p>
<p>Boola boola!
~kwijiborjt</p>
<p>Harvard is not overrated. It is clearly one of the greatest universities in the world. The Times of London calls it one of "the two greatest universities in the world" along with Yale.</p>
<p>There are no particular reasons to choose Harvard over other top-notch schools, however, seeing that the undergraduate student body there isn't any more selective than them these days (it used to be more selective, but in terms of relative standing has fallen dramatically in the past 5-10 years), the food certainly isn't better, the social scene isn't more vibrant, and in fact other top schools (Caltech, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth) are somewhat objectively stronger for undergraduate education in many fields. (the University's HMS, HSPH or HBS, though, I would choose over probably any other programs)</p>
<p>Someone wrote: "It's the best for Government (PoliSci), though"</p>
<p>Gourman Report Political Science Department ranking:</p>
<ol>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>U Michigan</li>
<li>UC Berkeley</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>Princeton</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>U Wisconsin</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
</ol>
<p>Gourman Report undergraduate ranking in Political Science:</p>
<ol>
<li>Yale</li>
<li>Harvard</li>
<li>Berkeley</li>
<li>Michigan</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>MIT</li>
<li>Stanford</li>
<li>Wisconsin</li>
<li>Minnesota</li>
<li>Cornell</li>
</ol>
<p>its human nature to be in awe of anything that is the "best." its like the prestige that a school has grows exponentially as its numerical ranking gets smaller (meaning the school gets better)</p>
<p>like think about the difference in prestige between the #50 ranked school and the #40 ranked school. its not nearly as great as the difference in prestige between the #11 ranked school and the #1 ranked school.</p>
<p>the truth is that most of the schools in the top 10 are very similar in terms of academics and opportunities. it is very silly to go off of rankings that arbitrarily assign weight to certain factors, especially when different people have different priorities and expect different things out of college.</p>
<p>as a harvard sophomore, i can honestly say that there is nothing overrated about it. it is just as amazing as everyone says</p>
<p>Harvard's known solely for it's grad schools. Go Brown, Princeton, Dartmouth for undergrad (you want quality right?) and Harvard for grad.</p>
<p>I had to choose between yale 2011 and harvard 2011. I chose harvard for a number of reasons, but also in spite of some reasons as well. One of the things that was almost a deal-breaker for me was what kwiborjt was talking about - a huge number of kids at Harvard there solely to appease their parents. And people go on and on about how Harvard is overrated and how that "i didn't want to come here" mentality is really par for the course in terms of student attitudes. But in reality, that sort of thing occurs at any elite institution. Harvard is no more overrated than yale or princeton or oxford or cambridge or what have you. Virtually everyone I met on campus recommended harvard unconditionally, and I can't help but fall more in love with the school every day. Some of you might have grievances with the school or its admissions committee, and that's your business. But please do not denigrate a great great school just to make yourself feel better, because those of us who are actually attending don't appreciate it. And even if you don't have any personal beefs with harvard, I would recommend spending a few days on campus before passing judgment.</p>
<p>When anything, any place or any person is constantly held to as the gold standard, it is inevitably not going to live up to that ideal.</p>
<p>Harvard has flaws like any other school (Yale included, Poster X) so when it's constantly viewed as the gold standard of schools, it's inevitably going to fall short. With that said, it is a fine school indeed along with other institutions such as Yale and Princeton and Duke etc. etc.</p>