Okay, what does it really mean to go to Harvard?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>There are a lot of students at Harvard who have turned down huge merit scholarships to attend Harvard. That being said, no one at Harvard ever talks about their SAT scores. It's just not that kind of environment.</p>

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There are a lot of students at Harvard who have turned down huge merit scholarships to attend Harvard.

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<p>I would go so far as to say that most students at Harvard have likely turned down huge scholarship offers from other schools. Even the athletes will have turned down athletic scholarships somewhere, because they are Div.1 competitive.</p>

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<p>There are different kinds of consideration besides finances. In certain respects, Vandy will be as good as Harvard; in others, not as good. It depends partly on the field of study and the opportunities afforded to students outside class. A student doing pre-med will do very well at Vandy. A student wanting to study China will also do well there, though s/he will not be able to choose among as many offerings as at Harvard or have as many opportunities to listen to experts or go to China on the college's dime as at Harvard. So it really depends on what the student is interested in.
And of course, there is the Boston/Cambridge vs. Memphis comparison and the different weathers.</p>

<p>As far as the breakdown of the student population, remember there is a huge amount of overlap between categories. I remember reading the profile of a soccer team captain who was a 13th generation legacy or some such.</p>

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<p>One brilliant reason to turn down everything for Harvard is if it happens to be really good at what you want to study. Obviously, as I've said many times, their math department is really something, and if you really want to get serious and enjoy math, having such talented peers + an amazing department is a killer combo. </p>

<p>In theory, a lot of what is learned in school could be self-studied...SO TO SPEAK. That is, if you somehow keep yourself constantly in the loop about what is ripe to study, and such things. But a school environment + the amazing offerings can do wonders to make one do great things, possibly definitively better than what would be done elsewhere.</p>

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<p>I always thought going to Harvard simply meant that you can say in a pompous voice, "I gooooooooooo toooooooooooo HAH-VAHD!" :p</p>

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<p>^ haha the lady who called me from The Coop about my order pronounced it just like that. HAH-VAHD.</p>

<p>Anyway, if I get into Harvard, I'm going for the maths. :D</p>

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<p>LOL! Hah vahd xD. </p>

<p>I think it is such a beautiful place to learn. I guess it means being surrounded by people who love learning- who have passion for something.</p>

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<p>That's an exaggerated form of the way it is pronounced by some of the locals with heavier New England accents. I've never heard any Harvard student or professor say it that way, even ones who grew up in the Boston area. If you, as a visitor, went around campus or in the vicinity saying it that way, people would likely think you were mocking the locals in an unfunny way.</p>

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<p>^ Actually, I visited Boston a few years ago. We went on a tour of the city, and when we passed by Harvard our tour guide did pronounce it like "Hah-vahd" just naturally. No one laughed but I did find it somewhat funny.</p>

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<p>The movie Good Will Hunting (great film, btw) always makes me chuckle when Matt Damon's like "C'mon, man, I'm just the janitor over theyah at Hahhhvahhdd" lolz</p>

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<p>I am in love with that movie! Hahaha, it's great.</p>

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<p>In the movie the Matt Damon character was a janitor at MIT, not Harvard. The girlfriend (Minnie Driver) was a student at Harvard.</p>

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<p>The above is true :) fun movie for sure.</p>