<p>I have read all over the message boards and descriptions but the idea of Harvard is still a little intimidating to me...I can't seem to find any contradictions of the traditional stereotypes: snobby, old-money, studying all the time, and arrogant. Any truth to this?</p>
<p>A few more questions:
From *****: "constant competition" over everything from grades to housing is challenging even for the toughest students." Is it really that competitive? </p>
<p>What is the effect of the eating houses on social life? Does it make things cliquey? Is drinking central to social life?</p>
<p>If anyone knows anything about the Christian community on campus that would be great too. </p>
<p>Thanks for your help (If you could answer these questions on Princeton, feel free)!!</p>
<p>If you look through this forum, you will find many Harvard threads started by Harvard students offering their perspectives. Search for them, many are very helpful.</p>
<p>From my perspective as a new freshman, the stereotypes are without a doubt not true. Yes, you will find many prep school kids here, but most of the people I have met both in and outside of my dorm are very kind and humble. Most students actually seem very “normal” until you start talking to them and learn of their amazing accomplishments and talents. </p>
<p>As for the competition, I can’t offer much of a perspective on that since classes just started a couple days ago and things haven’t gotten intense yet. What I have heard, however, is that if you want to be competitive, you can find competition, if not, you can find many noncompetitive people to work with on p-sets etc. So far, Harvard actually seems less competitive than my high school since I an now free of an exact rank system. </p>
<p>“eating houses” - I think you are referring to eating clubs and those are at Princeton and not Harvard. Eating clubs are actually one thing that turned me off from Princeton. FYI, I have yet to find the snobbiness every talks about when referring to Harvard.</p>
<p>I get frustrated when I read threads by those making statements that are completely unsupported.
If the OP had actually “read all over the message boards” then they would definitely have no trouble finding “contradictions of the traditional stereotypes”. The OP has not done their homework before starting this thread.
Like kd5qdf pointed out, wrong school. That is Princeton.</p>
<p>I visited a lot of schools, including HYP. Harvard was one of the, if not the, least snobbiest out of all of them. What I don’t understand is that there are so many contradictions:</p>
<p>They’re studying all the time…but Harvard classes are easy and there’s rampant…
Everyone’s old money…but Harvard financial aid is the most generous in the country…
Students are snobby/arrogant…and students from Yale/Princeton aren’t…</p>