<p>For what it’s worth, I was at Harvard last weekend and the crowds of tourists were literally oppressive. Tour buses lined up along Mass Ave., hordes of people milling around, “unofficial” tours leading throngs of (obviously) not prospective college students… I was stopped twice by little old ladies asking for directions to the “gift shop” in broken English. </p>
<p>I would honestly consider the tourists to be a negative factor in any student’s decision regarding which college to attend. It may be “presumptuous” but I’ve been to lots of colleges in various circumstances, but I’ve never seen anything like the mess at Harvard yard, possibly because the tourist impact is concentrated in that one small area. Of course, the weather was nice; maybe it’s less impacted during the winter.</p>