<p>What’s your prospective major? If you’re concerned about student-faculty interaction and you are a prospective Ec concentrator, yes, that is a very legitimate concern, and I encourage you to get other acceptances so you can compare at visit days. If you’re into more obscure things, like me, however, Harvard is unparalleled: I’m on “hey what up!” “let’s grab coffee” terms with one or two professors who are world leaders in my sub-sub-discipline. And that’s not really from my initiative–one of them made the effort to get to know me when I was a newly-minted freshman and, to use the internet slang term, kinda derpy. (Not all, or necessarily even most, brand new freshmen are so clueless, but I was! haha) Where you fall on the spectrum that ranges from “Folklore and Mythology” to “Ec” will deeply influence how much of an issue that will be for you. If you’re okay with waiting until high-level economics or government classes to have personal attention, I think there’s a lot of it; my impression is that you want more personal attention from day one, though. (Also a potential trouble spot: psychology.)</p>
<p>I don’t know where everybody gets the idea that Harvard students are cutthroat from. I haven’t met a single person who’s spent more than a day on campus who still thinks we’re cutthroat. We’re, indeed, acutely aware that there’s the potential for competitiveness regarding grades, so it’s just a verboten subject. We discuss our grades subjectively: “I did better than I’d hoped! Hooray!” or “I did worse than last time” or “…well, I didn’t fail.” (that last one being my go-to) My best friend here, after we’d known each other almost a year, mentioned that she was afraid of getting a B in one class (for her concentration, which is not mine. I think we’d be more tight-lipped if we were in the same concentration). I don’t know if she ended up getting that B, but that was the closest to a specific grade I’ve heard anyone say in my year and a half here. If you want an environment where you can cheerfully say “I got a B+ on that assignment, what did you get?” and get back the cheerful answer, “Oh, a B,” Harvard ain’t it. If you try doing that here, you’re almost guaranteed to get either “oh, um, I did well,” or “oh, um, not very well.” On the other hand, however, that means we are absolutely not a place where people actually get competitive/nosy about your grades: the “what did you get?” “pretty good” “no but specifically” “um, not comfortable sharing” “come on, why, I’ll tell you mine,” “fine, an A-” “HA HA TRIUMPH I HAVE AN A” thing will never happen to you.</p>
<p>And then your last concern was having fun in college, right? I do think both Carleton and Wesleyan are “cuddlier,” (stupid word, can’t think of a better), in offering you cookies and taking thorough care of you, but that sort of semi-parental attention also decreases the amount of independence the students get. I like the greater freedom Harvard gives you. There’s still a pretty good support system (and cookies!), it’s just slightly less pervasive, I think. Basically, I find Harvard’s approach to things perfect! It’s not a fun place for everybody, true, and that’s so personal that I can’t speak to whether you’d find it fun, but I’m personally having the time of my life. :)</p>
<p>I don’t think it would necessarily hurt you to compare at visit days, though… I definitely shared a lot of your concerns before then, and having other options made me more relaxed if it turned out that I didn’t like the school’s vibe.</p>