Can’t find one of these so it seems one should be started. Congratulations to all who were accepted~
Congratulations to all those who are accepted. Here is the alma mater “Fair Harvard.” This is what a college alma mater is supposed to sound like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApRmiBjnwyA
And to all those planning to enroll, here is some advice from a prior class:
Thanks, @Scipio. I’m surprised that accepted students have not connected yet.
Congratulations to all accepted!! On another note, does anyone know if financial aid is available for Visitas?
Hi everyone, and congratulations to everyone accepted! I was accepted (surprisingly, since I applied on a whim), and my top choice is still between Princeton and Brown. However, Harvard is obviously an amazing school, and my acceptance has led me to take a closer look at it. My biggest concern is that they are much more geared to their graduate population and less undergrad focused. It’s also an urban school, and I’m not sure how I feel about that setting. If any current students or people who have visited could tell me a bit more, that would be fantastic!
“My biggest concern is that they are much more geared to their graduate population and less undergrad focused.”
Harvard Medical School is very focused on the the medical students. Harvard Law School is very focused on the law students, and so on. But Harvard College is focused on the undergraduates. My daughter had no problem getting as much attention as she wanted from her professors and the institution in general. The undergraduates are the true Harvardians. I don’t think you have to worry about being given short shrift by the school.
It is an urban location, but the campus itself is still leafy and green. It’s located in Cambridge much the same way Brown is located in Providence. So if you will be okay with Brown you will do just fine with Harvard as well.
Go visit the campus, preferably when school is in session. See if it feels like “your people” are there. My daughter always thought she wanted to go to MIT, but after she visited Harvard it became her top choice. And she’s never regretted it. She loved her time at Harvard and cherishes all the great friends she made there.
Since my child was admitted to both Yale and Harvard, but is much more familiar with Yale, he will go to Visitas, but he could also go spend some time at Harvard during his spring break the week after next. Do you think it would be worth going there that week in addition to going for Visitas (just a train ride) and sitting in on classes? or meeting with department people? The thing about classes is that they’ll be at the end of the semester, so it might be tough to jump in and have a sense of what’s going on. And classes can also be extremely variable in size, style, so how would he even choose which class/es? Any other suggestions?
My daughter was also accepted to both Harvard and Yale and will be re-visting both, back-to-back, for Visitas and Bull Dog Days. If you look at the schedules, there seems ample opportunity to get to know the schools. I don’t think there is any benefit from going on additional days.
IMHO, the biggest difference between H and Y, at least from the perspective of my children, is “social tone.”
The “social tone” of a college results from decisions, large and small, made by the administration on issues such as physical space and its use, housing, how freshman are welcomed and integrated into campus life, what role upperclass students play as advisors and mentors, what role graduate students play, how readily faculty members volunteer to host events or trips, etc.
None of that can truly be gauged by attending classes – either on invited student weekends or another weekend.
Trust me – by attending Visitas and Bull Dog Days back-to-your-back, your child will walk away with a gut feeling that one school is better, or more appropriate, for THEM than the other. Parent’s should RESPECT their child’s gut feeling and allow them to go to whatever school feels “more right.”