I was just wondering if anyone can comment on the social scene at Harvard. Often times the university is portrayed as a pressure cooker with the intensity of the academics and all of the stress that comes along with that, so essentially I’m wondering how that impacts the social aspect of the college experience.
If I were to matriculate at Harvard, I would do so as a student-athlete so I assume (let me know if I’m wrong) that most of my social life would revolve around the team. That being said, how do non-athletes and athletes interact? I’ve read that Harvard has the highest number of student athletes in the country and the coach has stressed to me that athletes really do fit in to the culture.
On an aspect more related to the actual social life, do students have fun? My brother (a Yalie) tells me all the time that Yale is more fun and that Harvard kids envy Yale’s social scene etc., etc. Is this simply Yale propaganda or is there some truth to this? I’m not a party animal by any means; I’m actually pretty far from it with my time occupied almost entirely by school and athletics but I do hope to enjoy the entire college experience and not spend all my time with my nose buried in a book.
Basically I’m really looking to see a pretty broad picture of the social life on campus. I’ve researched and seen threads on this topic but most seem to be from 7+ years ago and with the school constantly changing I’d love to get an updated sense on the matter.
My daughter attended Harvard and she had a great time socially. She thought that picking Harvard was the best decision she ever made. She made many wonderful friendships that have continued beyond graduation. Harvard students certainly work hard on their academics - the expectations are high, but I wouldn’t call it a “pressure cooker.” That too negative.
In your particular case what I see possibly getting in the way of an active social life is not the fact of Harvard so much as competing in intercollegiate sports. It’s very common for Harvard students to compete in intramurals, but competing on a school team rises to a whole other level of time commitment.
This applies to college sports in general - not specific to Harvard:
Instructions: Choose any two:
Do well in college academics
Do well in college athletics
Have an active college social life
This stereotype keeps coming up. Students have fun at Harvard, yes, and in many ways. House life provides a community, hanging out in the dining hall, small gatherings in dorms (the renovated dorms have common spaces in mind), club and other organization events, house parties…and the city of course. Harvard students are a varied bunch so stereotypes are generally false Sports will take up a lot of your time but you will still mix of course. Will you live with other athletes?
No this was freshman year 2008. It wasn’t officially designated as an athlete dorm. In fact, it was a dorm used by the Office for Disabilities so it was quiet. However, it was all (male) athletes on the top floor. Athletes and kids with chronic health conditions have some things in common, like need for sleep. This dorm was not in the yard.
Lots of things have changed since 2008. Again, it is not the case now, although as @hanna says, upperclassmen can block together to effectively have a homogeneous section, but upperclass residential life is beyond the scope of the original question.
The NCAA banned member colleges (which includes Harvard) from having special dorms for athletes clear back in 1991. If Harvard is sneaking around this rule under some sort of ruse or pretense they run the risk of getting their athletic program in trouble.
my brother went to harvard and has a lot of positives and negatives with the social scene, but has ultimately left with some life long friends. pm me if you want more specifics
Sports will take up a lot of your time but you will still mix of course. Will you live with other athletes?