<p>I've posted variations of this three times in the past few days, so I thought it might be good to post it as its own thread. Each year at this time, accepted students ask questions on CC about what they've been told is a "lack of undergraduate focus" at Harvard. When I've asked what they mean by that or what a lack of focus might look like, the students generally can't define it, but it's a phrase that keeps getting airplay on CC. I've had a lot of interaction with Harvard and Harvard students over the past five years that I've had two Ds there, and what I've observed is very much the opposite of the "lack of undergrad focus" premise. I want to share these observations because my (inaccurate) stereotypes about Harvard five years ago might have kept my own kids from seeking one of the great experiences of their lives, had those assumptions not been dispelled by people who shared their own observations with us.</p>
<p>When my Ds considered Harvard, I had some trepidation because I thought it could be intimidating. I'd heard about the supposed lack of attention to undergrads and envisioned a place with a stifling sense of elitism. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. The campus, faculty, and staff have been exceptionally welcoming and accommodating. Our family has found the culture of the College to be quite attentive to undergrads, diverse in every imaginable way, and whatever the adjectives are that would be the opposite of haughty and stuffy. The girls have had many one-on-one sessions with profs - even some of the stars - including home cookouts. Their residential college experiences have been outstanding. D1's live-in Faculty House Master in her residential college made the Time 100 list last year as one of the world's 100 most influential people. D1 adored him and used to house-sit his dog. She graduated last spring, but she and he are still active Facebook friends. </p>
<p>The fact that all the students are amazing at something tends to inject a certain dose of humility into nearly everyone. Our Ds have friends from very humble as well as wealthy backgrounds, from just about every region of the nation and the world. We go up to the campus and take them and their friends out to dinner; I feel really fortunate to have the experience of being in a setting like that surrounded by such interesting, funny, witty, charming, dazzling people. Growing up in a small town, our Ds yearned to meet peers like the ones they now have. It's exceeded their wildest dreams. </p>
<p>The three campus life distinctives at Harvard, IMO, are the diversity, the level and intensity of extracurricular involvement, and the almost unbelievable degree to which the College will facilitate student-initiated projects. You'll find that many members of the gospel choir are not African-American - there are white students, Hispanic students, students in yarmulkes, all embracing the gospel choir culture as their own. As a Southerner from a culture in which black and white Georgians tend to live parallel but non-intersecting lives, it made me tear up the first time I saw it. The Harvard break-dance troupe is majority Asian. The South Asian student annual production includes students from all races and nationalities. Everyone is involved on campus and all seem to support one another's activities and performances. Music and theatre are not only well-attended, but often reach a professional touring-production quality. And there is no limit in proposing a program of audacious reach. Our older D went to China a few years ago to teach in a program for outstanding Chinese HS students. Students from all across the country applied and those selected came to Shanghai for a two-week, live-in symposium, all taught by Harvard undergrads. When I asked D1 which department sponsored the program, she looked at me with disdain and said no department was in charge of it - the students were. The College had only evaluated the students' proposal and provided the funding for everything but instructor airfare!</p>
<p>My wife and I graduated from Wake Forest - a good school that I love, which had only 2,900 undergrads when we attended in the '70s. The undergraduate focus at Harvard is way, way beyond anything that was available to us at Wake. Students considering it should take a look at the CC Harvard board and ask questions directly to the various current students who are regulars there.</p>