<p>To be fair...I am a fan of Harvard and believe it is unfairly maligned on these boards (as though Harvard needs me to defend it lol). However, a few students I know who have attended who arrived believing that they were, perhaps, God's gift to the intellectual world, did find the place to be a battle. In class they would find themselves sitting beside the smartest kid in the state of Missouri, etc. Or several students who were international math competitors. Suddenly they did not feel quite so golden.</p>
<p>This is true at HYP in general, and at similar schools. If you go there thinking you are unusually brilliant, you are going to be humbled by being around a whole bunch of other very bright and brilliant people, and a visible minority who are downright world-class geniuses. </p>
<p>In this case, it's not a question of H vs. Y. It's about recognizing that it's time shift from worrying about whom you are smarter than to considering who you actually are and how you want to grow. </p>
<p>I am not saying the OP has an attitude like this, but I do think some of the grousing comes from students who would prefer an experience that is less humbling.</p>