<p>if you dont go to Harvard, you are ■■■■■■■■. End of story.</p>
<p>The story ended with this extremely mentally capable and able student selecting to attend Pomona.</p>
<p>I get the feeling many high school posters to this board don’t understand the concept of fit – intellectual, social, aesthetic, geographic, cultural.</p>
<p>When two schools have students who are equivalently intelligent, the other four (and possibly more) factors become the differentiating, and deciding factors.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would say: “If you choose to go to Harvard for all the wrong reasons, you are ■■■■■■■■.”</p>
<p>That might sound a little less offensive and somewhat more sensible.</p>
<p>Three people from my class this year turned down Harvard: one for Georgetown, one for Yale, and one for Princeton, I believe.</p>
<p>Go to the school you like the most. Who cares if it’s Harvard? Give that kid who REALLY wants to go a chance to get off the wait-list. You have some great options, check them out and try to get over the prestige. I have two friends who go to Harvard… they don’t really have social lives anymore… one does chemistry homework 5 days out of the week and math the other 2. and he was the val of my school last year! The Brown/RISD thing will work out really well for you I think. Try to get over the titles of everywhere and see what will make you the happiest.</p>
<p>razoredsuitcase – OP is going to Pomona… I realize this is a 13 page thread now, but she made that decision around page 11.</p>
<p>hahahha well that’s good to hear… yeah I couldn’t bring myself to read past page 4</p>
<p>“it is my 3.0 at Harvard can still get me into a top shelf top flight grad/professional program.”</p>
<p>^ I lol’d</p>
<p>My sister got into Harvard and didn’t go there. She recently graduated from Williams College Suma Cum Laude and loved her experience much more than she probably would have in an arguably inferior academic atmosphere FOR HER at Harvard (notice I say “for her” denoting the fact that she was able to excel in Williams’ smaller academic community). Unfortunately, I was waitlisted at Harvard when I was applying my senior year in high school, and I think it would have been a better fit for me than her. But I’m extremely happy now at W & M, so no complaints.</p>
<p>I know the original poster already decided not to go to Harvard, which is as equally and admirable a decision as choosing to go there.</p>
<p>BTW</p>
<p>Pomona is awesome. ^____^</p>
<p>Glad to hear you’re enjoying your experience Grim …</p>
<p>upong further reflection over the past day or two about the choice many face between a medium/large (5,000 - 10,000 students) and highly universally prestigious university (basically USNWR 1-10), and a much smaller (1,500 - 2,500 student – basically the LAC Top 10) school of equal undergraduate reputation among grad school adcoms and some private sector employers… I think the issue rests on the relative value of Prestige vs. Mentoring.</p>
<p>Which will help a person more over the course of their life? It depends on what a person is more in lack of upon graduating from high school. A person who has very informed and engaged parents/relatives/friends willing to effectively mentor the student might not need the personal attention offered by the Top 10 LAC. A student with great family/friend networked connections might not need the prestige offered by the Top 10 University.</p>
<p>I see the value propostion of the Pomona/Harvard models as a matrix:</p>
<p>In this matrix, the horizontal Axis represents the amount of Mentoring the applicant already has… informed, engaged and skillful mentoring already, vs. ineffective, ill informed or absent mentoring. By mentoring I mean the ability to understand a students goals, skills, style, character, and matching them to real world opportunities where the student can likely be highly successful throughout life… or at least the first 10 years our of school.</p>
<p>The vertical Axis represents the connections/introductions that can be arranged for that student by the mentors/parents/friends. This is the ability for this built in network of the student to respond to the students needs/wants/goals/direction with introductions to appropriate resources (grad school adcoms/employers/etc.).</p>
<p>This gives four general quadrants:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>High mentoring/high connections: This student can really benefit from either type of college about equally. The lack of mentoring at the medium sized university is mitigated by the student’s private mentors, and the lack of door-opening prestige at the LAC is mitigated by the student’s private door openers (networkers).</p></li>
<li><p>High Mentoring/low connections: This student best fits at a medium sized highly prestigious college where the lack of connections are mitigating somewhat by the door opening that comes from high prestige.</p></li>
<li><p>Low Mentoring/high connections: This is the ideal candidate for the best LACs, where the student’s lack of input is mitigated somewhat by the smaller class size, mentoring role of the academic advisor and mentoring role of certain professors.</p></li>
<li><p>Low Mentoring/Low Connections: This student should benefit from either college model about equally – the one will open more doors based upon prestige, but the student will still be lacking mentoring influence, and the other model will provide more mentoring, but less door opening.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So… two of the quadrants represent students who will likely benefit about equally from either model, some who will benefit more from the mentoring environment of an LAC, and yet others who will benefit more from the prestige attendant to the medium sized prestigious university.</p>
<p>I’m sure I’ve overanalyzed that and used too many words to get a simple idea across, but I don’t have time to edit it!! Work to do today.</p>
<p>I seriously love this thread. Mostly because I really love Pomona and have an (admittedly irrational) intense dislike for Harvard. BEST THREAD EVER. I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, Grim!! Hopefully I’ll get in next year.</p>
<p>I’m applying to a number of schools this year, among them Harvard, and this is one of the most difficult hypotheticals ive encountered. I’ve visited schools like UVA, Stanford, Gtown, and Vandy and absolutely loved them, and would be thrilled to get into any of those schools and enroll in the fall. And yet, having not even visited Harvard, I feel like if I was fortunate enough to get in, it would be extremely hard to turn down. Harvard doesnt even match my college desires that well, yet there seems to be an invisible pull towards the school. Truthfully, I think the reason its so hard to turn down the school is because it has been seen as the pinnacle of higher education for so long. Think about it; if you were to talk about a smart kid in your high school, many would say “the kids a genius, he could even get into Harvard.” Its this combination of universal prestige, name recognition, tradition, unattainability (not a word), and status as a cultural educational superstar; its freaking Harvard, and for the ambitious students who get in, its both an affirmation of their abilities and a challenge of their egos and intellect. I’m not saying its place in our society is justified, and I hope that I make my decision based on fit and not prestige, but anyone who says theres not a huge pull for any student who is accepted to harvard is flat out wrong.</p>
<p>“Unattainability” is indeed a word.</p>
<p>justwondering91, not having visited Harvard undoubtedly adds to its prestige in your eyes rather than diminishes it, since you’re unable to compare it (perhaps unfavorably) to its peers. It’s also partly because you’re still in high school and, like many students, don’t entirely have a proper perspective on things.</p>
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</p>
<p>You can turn down any school you want for another that will fit you better. That being said, Harvard might not be a bad place for you. Look at all of your choices again, and then decide where you will be the happiest for the next four years of your life, whether you go to a university that screams ivy league, or the tiniest school in the country, it’s what you do there and how you feel about the school that matters in the end.</p>
<p>wow… If I were her I would not have turned down harvard… (yes I am a presitge whore)
I am kind of… impressed by her… whatever you wanna call it.</p>
<p>Grim Shogun was female?!?!? Wow - it’s strange how you get these mental images of people posting under pseudonyms.</p>
<p>Still, it’s gotta be difficult turning down that trumpet fanfare every morning announcing how special you are. 
(Read the quote by Admiral - it’s classic.) (Or, to translate for you college students, “it’s epic!”).</p>
<p>I love that Admiral post, “A Day in the Life of a Harvard Student.” So brilliant! It’s great to see Harvard students having some perspective.</p>
<p>Don’t go to Harvard just because you feel like you can’t reject it. Seriously, go to whichever one you like and feel like you’d enjoy the most.</p>