So You Want Veritas? (Truths from a Harvard Student)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Chances are if you’re on this site, and you click a post with this title, on this university’s page, you’re hoping to find some hidden secret to getting into Harvard, some little known trick to get you the edge in admissions, some way to cheat the system without calling it cheating. Or maybe the title sounded pompous and pretentious and you wanted some fresh material to renew your hatred for all of those elitist Harvard kids. I can’t promise either of those things; in fact, I won’t promise anything. My only hope for this post is that it gets at least a few people to challenge the irrational assumptions they’ve accepted their entire lives, the unfounded values they’ve bought into, the truths they’ve never questioned, and live more meaningful lives because of it. I’m guessing half the people who see how long this post is will click back without hesitation, and a quarter of the people who begin reading this will begin to feel uncomfortable and leave. But you came here because you wanted Veritas, you wanted Truth. I can’t give you Truth, but I can give you my truths. I’ll trash on the school system and I’ll trash on myself and I’ll trash on you, but I’ll be as honest and logical as I can. If you’re still reading, thank you.</p>

<p>Introduction:
One of my favorite quotations from Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun is when George explains higher education: “It’s simple. You read books – to learn fact – to get grades – to pass the course – to get a degree. That’s all – it has nothing to do with thoughts.” If so many of us immediately recognize Hansberry’s irony, why do so many of us go through school that way? We cram the steps of cell respiration or a countless number of animal phyla for a biology test—maybe you begin cursing the taxonomists for creating terms that are so long and hard to memorize—just to regurgitate it on a test the next day and forget about it forever. You say, “Phosophofructokinase, ATP, pyruvatve? Unless I’m going to become a biologist, (which I’m not—I hate bio!) when would I ever need to know these in real life?” Or maybe you have a history test tomorrow, and you cram the timeline of WWII. “What was so important about the Battle of the Bulge?” Or maybe you fell behind reading in English, and are using Sparknotes for your essay tomorrow. Or maybe you even read the whole book, but that great thesis just isn’t coming so you BS a few paragraphs with the techniques you’ve come to master. In each of these cases, our work in school isn’t done for education itself, it’s done for the grade, as if that grade would magically translate into a better life. Many students become vitality-lacking automatons, responding to whatever external stimuli promise the better grade, becoming sycophants to whoever can give them that grade. Grades, often, are not an indication of how smart you are; grades, often, are an indication of how hard you can work.</p>

<p>Despicable Me and the Fallible Logic of the Grade-Seeker:
I used to—freshman year, and the beginning of sophomore year—subscribe to this kind of garbage. I remember walking into my Earth science final exam knowing that I needed to get a 100 to get an A in the class, and I needed an A in that class to get a 5.0 GPA. I didn’t care that I had crammed so many meaningless facts that I would forget over the course of the next week; I didn’t care that I had disregarded hanging out with my friends to study; I didn’t care that I lost hours of sleep a night leading up to the exam; I just cared about regurgitating facts and getting the 100 and getting the A and getting the 5.0. I did it perfectly. I got my 5.0 and that somehow made me happy; I judged my self-worth by a 10-point Times New Roman one decimal number at the bottom of some thick cardstock paper that reflected a year of education without learning. Nearly all of my activities centered on college, that distant goal a few years down the road. I didn’t care about formal debate, so I joined the debate team; I didn’t care about astronomy, so I joined the astronomy club; I didn’t genuinely care about community service, so I joined the Key Club. For me at least, all of this pressure to get into a “good college” came from within; my parents put no pressure on me whatsoever (parents, hang in there, I have a section for you soon) Those are the kind of actions that are so blatantly perversions of reason that I can’t believe I even tried to justify them. But I tried: get the A, build an impressive GPA, get accepted into the best colleges. What I like about this reasoning is that it’s easy to pick apart; because it’s so goal-oriented, we need to keep extending the consequences until we’ve reached a satisfactory conclusion. So, what would happen if I got into the “best” college? I would get a much better job, and make more money, and therefore live a happier life. Happiness seems (for most people) a worthwhile pursuit in life, but in order to justify that we need to confirm each premise. So 1) Does a higher GPA lead to better college selections? 2) Do better—although we’re really talking about higher ranked— colleges lead to better jobs? 3) Does making more money equal more happiness? 4) Is such happiness genuine?
Later on I will address 1-3 right now. In a later section we will cover 4: even if you accept the logic, is it still worth compromising your principles and ethics to follow?
1) Well I said I’d be a realist. Of course a higher GPA will give you more college selections.
2) While most employers understand that a successful employee brings something to the company other than a diploma, I have no doubt that some companies will give preference to higher ranked university graduates.
3) Take time to actually reflect on this. For me at least, the times in my life when I’ve been happiest didn’t have a price tag—or at least, a heft price-tag: Love, friendship, philosophical discussions, playing music. If you spend so much time focusing on college, you’ll miss a lot of genuine relationships. There’s also a difference between playing music for college and playing music because you love it.</p>

<p>The Purpose of Education:
Before I continue, I’d like to specify what I believe is the ideal of education. The premise behind education isn’t about having students memorize the ideas of the past; it’s about giving students the capacity to create and innovate, to produce the ideas of the future. Sadly, we live in a world where people can’t just pursue truth freely. We need a job, a way to get money so that we can sleep under a roof and eat. Education must also give students this means of finding a job. Often, this means that education prioritizes technical skills. As Sir Ken Robinson notes, at nearly every public school in America, the majority of funding goes to mathematics and the sciences, with humanities coming next, and arts at the bottom. This is counterproductive for two reasons. First, it makes kids hate school. In mathematics and the sciences, we’re told that there is a right answer and a wrong answer, a right way to calculate and a wrong way to calculate, the right way to think and the wrong way to think. The curricula often breathe with no vitality, only with the mundane routine of learning governing equations and applying them to problems. Not only does this give students a completely false view of quantitative disciplines, which in actuality thrive with opportunities for innovation and creativity, but it bores them. I’ve fallen in love with science and know that it will take a large spot in my future (aren’t we all scientists, aren’t we all curious about how the world works?), but I completely understand why students come to hate science when all they’ve ever learned is how to memorize a 1000 page textbook. Plus, how can students be expected to continue learning by their own will if the only education they’ve ever received has convinced them that education lacks vitality?
As Mr. Robinson also notes, this hierarchy kills creativity; schools are designed to stigmatize mistakes, and consequently, students grow up fearing failure, afraid to be wrong. Robinson notes that if students are not prepared to be wrong, they will never come up with anything original, because creativity requires a daring step on an untraveled path, a trek into unexplored territory. Instead harboring creativity, education is a machine whose primary output is technical-minded people who can jump right into professions. Thus, schools discourage intensely pursuing subjects like music because kids probably won’t be musicians or basketball because kids probably won’t play in the NBA. This kills students’ passions; it teaches students that their own values are not as important as society’s, and convinces many intelligent and creative people that they are neither intelligent nor creative. In fact, this mentality is actually detrimental toward preparing students for careers.
I read somewhere that the top ten jobs-in-demand in 2010 didn’t even exist in 2004. I didn’t believe it, and it turns out it’s not true (sorry for the anticlimax). What is true, however, is that many jobs are becoming much more specialized. Education is preparing students for areas and fields of common jobs that don’t even exist yet. How can students be expected to thrive in a job world that demands innovation if they’ve been taught to conform to education paradigms their whole lives? </p>

<p>Why I wrote this on here:
I wrote this on college confidential because this is one of the saddest places on the Internet, due in no part to its creators. There a lot of decent people here, but the highest concentration of college-seeking automatons I’ve seen. People asking if putting undecided for a major will give them the edge. People asking about being shady with their ethnicity. People asking what extracurriculars they should do to impress colleges, what sports to play, what instruments are in “demand.” If you fit in any of these categories, please do things for yourself, not for college. Colleges aren’t looking for some artificial trifecta of academics, sports, and art (although if you genuinely enjoy all three then there’s no disadvantage to pursuing each). They’re looking for genuine people.
The worst are chance threads. I don’t really understand what the point is (if anyone knows, please tell me). If you want to know if you have a chance, the answer is YES, unless you have been in jail for half of high school, skipped class for the other half, and only have a number after the decimal point in your GPA (although so schools use crazy scales, so even this one I’m not sure about). Otherwise, it just seems like you are bragging about your accomplishments or freaking out unnecessarily about shortcomings. If admissions officers read the amount of information given in these chance threads, they wouldn’t even be able to tell. There are better ways to spend time.</p>

<p>SAT scores:
This is more of a rant, and I don’t have a solution. The SAT, ideally, is supposed to test your reasoning abilities. Supposed anyone fluent in English who understands mathematical notation could deduce every answer and get a 2400. Of course, this is far from the case. With all the prep-classes and books out there, the SAT is less of a reasoning test and more of a formulaic one, so now the score isn’t really a measure of how much you can think, but how well you can take the SAT. I’ve seen books revealing every type of critical thinking question, so now instead of critical thinking, it’s critical recollection. Programs that you can legally put on your calculator to solve many questions. And you’re allowed to take the test multiple times, and have college superscore it? I understand bad test days happen, but knowing kids that take it four times is really sad. And what about the kids who can’t afford the expensive prep classes? Differing SAT scores show more of a difference in economic background and memorization than reasoning ability.</p>

<p>The Interview, the Essays:
I always find it a little funny when people ask others what to say in the interview or essays. The point of both is to gauge the real applicant, to see what’s behind that plethora of quantitative data. Please, just be you. My friend’s commonapp essay was about playing the recorder (remember that instrument you learned in 3rd grade?) Colleges want to see an extra dimension in the essays and the interview, but they want to see your extra dimension. If you aren’t true to yourself in the essay or the interview, then the college really isn’t accepting you. And if you don’t think that a college would accept you if you stayed true to yourself, why would you want to attend that school?</p>

<p>Cheating:
Cheating bugs me the most. Both the consequences of cheating and the principle behind it. I read a small study reporting that about 90% of students cheat at some point in high school (yes, quickly glancing at that paper next to you during a test is cheating, and yes, it’s still cheating if you don’t get caught). Here’s that grade-seeking college-seeking automaton-mentality again. You are willingly compromising your integrity for a stupid letter. And that stupid letter isn’t even yours. I won’t spend much time on the principle behind cheating because I’ve met very few people who can rationally justify cheating (and I won’t give their rationalizations here because I’m sure some automaton would adopt the logic and convince themselves cheating was alright). Also it’s pretty sad to see such spoiled people seeking an even bigger advantage. And yes, if you’re reading this, I’m calling you spoiled (I am too). You didn’t choose what body you were born in, and you happened to be born in the body of someone living in one of the most affluent countries in the world. You have access to running water, and you know where your next meal is coming from. You have shelter at night, and you probably don’t worry about your safety very often. You even have access to a college education. Most of the world can’t say that, and it wasn’t your choice to be able to. You already are more fortunate than the majority of people in the world. Why make it even more unfair? All I have left to say about cheating is that, when you cheat, you are not only cheating others of merits that they deserve, but you are cheating yourself of yourself.</p>

<p>Do you really need Harvard?:
It would be hard to deny that Harvard is the most prestigious university in the US, and quite possibly the world. Consequently, Harvard seems like the “best” college in pop culture. Ask anyone who believes that Harvard is the best why it’s the best. I guarantee that most people will say one of the following. Either because it’s ranked #1 by US News. Great, so it’s the best because it’s the best. Any student who has taken a philosophy course would quickly point that out as a tautology, which offers no meaningful information. Or, Harvard is number one because it’s the most prestigious university. Great, so it’s the best because people say it’s the best. You might see the positive feedback cycle that’s developing. People believe it’s the best, so all the students who want the most out of their education want to go there. Then it gets more resources, so it attracts the best faculty. It’s a vicious cycle. While it’s undeniable that Harvard has more resources than many other universities, your college education comes so much more from what you put into it than what your school gives to you. As a logical consequence of this, don’t fall so attached to any one school. I’ve often heard that college decisions are “random.” I don’t think random is an appropriate word, because it lends images of pulling names out of hats or winning the lottery. Colleges are looking for special qualities, but many people share these qualities. Often, a decision will just come down to if your niche is the one they are looking for. Maybe they can pull one more kid off the waitlist, and they see one applicant who is more qualified academically, testing score-wise, interview-wise, and essay-wise. But that other applicant is captain of the sailing team and vice president, and that’s the niche they need to fill. Schools are not so different that you would only fit into one place. Finally, your satisfaction with a school depends almost entirely on your attitude toward it.</p>

<p>Parents:
You want your best for your kids, who wouldn’t? Hopefully at this point you realize that if you really want the best for your kids, let them be who they are best at being—themselves.</p>

<p>Success and Purpose in Life:
To be completely honest, if you have read this and remain a college-seeking consequentialist, things will probably work out for a little bit. A guy in my grade cheated on the AP U.S. History exam, didn’t get caught, and got into Yale, Princeton, and Stanford (waitlist at Harvard). But then again, I got into Harvard without doing so. But hopefully you’ve realized by now that getting good grades and getting into college doesn’t necessarily mean success. People who have lived their whole lives memorization lists of facts without internalizing the essence and governing dynamics behind those facts will fail when faced with real world problems and challenges. Now, I’m not telling you to not work hard (I bet some people might think this is a conspiracy to lower a lot of people’s GPAs), but direct your thoughts toward what you care about. Throughout high school, and college to, pursue things because you want to, pursue them for nothing more than the satisfaction of gaining knowledge, of expanding your mind, of elevating your soul. Don’t pursue things to please others. How can you fulfill yourself and find something that gives your life purpose if you aren’t even true to yourself, and therefore there is no self to fulfill? That English essay, that French test, and that college decision email are not ends of life. Death is. Live your life always aware of this. Hold yourself to perpetual self-reflection, and always asks yourself why you are doing what you are doing, and if what you are doing is genuine and meaningful.</p>

<p>P.S. If any of you think that I’m an automaton, and therefore, a hypocrite, I’ve changed a lot since freshman year. Still, you might validly question why I am going to Harvard. Well, it was the only school I got into.</p>

2

<p>Good read. I know of certain people on this forum who would appreciate this post very much, although I don’t think it would have much impact on the forum. I’m pretty sure posts like this pop out every year or so, only to be silenced by more desperate chancing posts.</p>

3

<p>Great post. Completely agree with your passage “The Purpose of Education”. Posts like these really help getting students applying to college, like me, a much needed perspective. Thanks a lot. :)</p>

4

<p>I fully agree with the “Success and Purpose in Life” section. I earnestly hope everyone on CC gets to take a glance at this one time or another.</p>

5

<p>

</p>

<p>Well said.</p>

6

<p>where’s the “like” button when you need it? Awesome post.</p>

7

<p>Veritas, indeed! You certainly do not speak from a nihilistic perspective. :slight_smile: Thank you!</p>

8

<p>So you’re bashing the current education system for marginalizing creativity and embracing rote memorization. It seems to be a vicious cycle, the education system needs to be reformed, yet the people that should be doing the reformation are bogged down by the current system and thus, no reform. </p>

<p>It’s sad really, that we waste these formative years of our adolescence doing something we don’t like that will have relatively little use in our later lives (and I’m referencing high school, I have no idea if most of the stuff learned in college is useful). </p>

<p>Although I do think our current education system is better than the exam-based ones in other countries where students spend every waking minute either in school or preparing for the exam that will define their life. At least here we are encouraged to pursue extracurricular activities, even if they’re not the right ones.</p>

9

<p>^ That’s true. The American obsession with colleges is hilariously outmatched compared to those in Asian countries. You folks are lucky, for now.</p>

10

<p>And this is why you’re in harvard</p>

11

<p>It is interesting how we are taught to simply work on memorizing and studying just so that we can look at that small number on a flimsy piece of paper. This number is obsessed over, yet by becoming fixated on it, we lose touch of what the purpose of education is. Amazing post, thank you. While I can by no means say that I have not fallen into the group of grade seeking students you question, I agree with your post. I happily await the day when I get into college and maybe then can focus on my education and learning- more so than just a dull number.</p>

12

<p>I honestly think this is the best thing anyone has ever posted on CC! Its extremely important for people to realize that they should not obsess over any one grade or college and learn how to find out who they are, embrace themselves, and do whats best for them and not what others think its best. </p>

<p>This post totally inspired me especially since I was freaking out over my GPA and college recently. and I agree with pretty much all that was said in this post =)</p>

13

<p>Excellent post but a question: Doesn’t Harvard use a 4.0 grade scale? The only school I know of with a 5.0 grade scale is MIT.</p>

14

<p>I agree. I’ve always had these lingering thoughts about education but I pushed them aside because they go against society’s norm. When you’re raised in a system that values memorization positively reinforced with a letter grade, it seems rare, almost taboo, to strive for enjoyment instead of an A. It’s sad when the notion that learning is fun seems neurotic to the majority of people although it’s understandable since ‘learning’ usually means staring at a book for four hours…</p>

15

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes, Harvard uses only a 4.0 scale - you can get an A- (3.6), but not an A+ (4.3). That is why there have only been a few handfuls of students who have graduated with a 4.0 at Harvard. I believe that the OP was referring to a 5.0 at his HS.</p>

16

<p>On the flip side, the American educational model is better than what we’ve got here. What do I mean by “better”? It’s flexible (among other things), and that alone, is a good enough reason. There’s much more room to muck about and learn about various things. When I was 14, I was tied down to studying only science at school and while it came easily to me, I didn’t like it too much. I thought it was going to be better, but from that point, high school got much worse. There was less and less learning going on at the expense of perfecting exam technique. Exams that always felt like an impending doom, a huge set of exams after two years. (GCSEs, and then A-Levels)</p>

<p>Eventually I had had enough of this nonsense and I got out as fast I could, irrespective of my grades, so long as I could get into a college somewhere. These days, I’m learning calculus again from the book of Michael Spivak and I’m having a blast. I should also point out that I was lucky to have a few good teachers (but the bad, soul sucking ones outnumbered them by far), like my French teacher, who always encouraged me to think the way I did and welcomed my unconventionality. One of the coolest guys I know. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone camouflage-smoke as well as this guy - it’s almost like the cigarette isn’t there at all. But that’s not relevant…</p>

<p>Another point that the OP raises is those chance threads, which I myself am guilty of. (not actual “chance threads” but rather “desperate, I don’t know what to do” threads) What’s wrong with them? I’m not so sure myself but it would appear that they can have a somewhat calming effect on the nerves of their creators. So maybe they’re not so bad after all. That, however, leads to the question of “why are people so stressed out about college applications?”. </p>

<p>Why is there so much hinging on “getting into the right college”, the one that’s the “best fit”? Frankly, I don’t know. It could be any number of things ranging from the hopes of financial security to just having a fun time. If you ask me, I don’t think there’s <em>a</em> right college. </p>

<p>All I want is a school where I won’t be looked down at because I think too much and am apparently “weird”. Rather, I’d prefer a school where those traits are welcomed. Where I can go nuts with a class mate talking about the merits (or lack thereof) of the new Californication season or arguing about why I think Chuck Lorre should consider getting some counseling or maybe even someone I can bounce ideas off, so I can better understand the Lagrangian formulation or critique my new short story.</p>

<p>Anyway, back to the actual point. Why so worried? I probably was pretty worried before I even heard of this forum. When I got here, this feeling just kept on perpetuating, when I saw all those “chance” and “decisions” threads. It’s very easy to get sucked into this hopeless cycle of “chance mes” and “what am I doing wrong?”. Once one realises that no one really knows what one is doing wrong and there isn’t much one can do about it, then things start to feel less chaotic. Somewhat less absurd. “It’s not my place to worry about that. My responsibility is to (truthfully) complete my applications and send them in. I’ll figure out the rest in the spring. Let the adcoms worry about what to do with me.”</p>

17

<p>Well said, ByNietzsche. Very well said.</p>

18

<p>I am very sure that Harvard admission officers would be stupid not to realize what they have been doing - chasing SAT scores, SAT II scores, APs, GPA, etc.</p>

<p>Education is a kind of training, where the subjects sometimes do not matter that much, but the skills and the ways to handle things you learned are more important. This could be reflected in those test indicators, like how fast and how well you can master the same thing which others do. You would give back what you learned to your teachers in two weeks after final exams.</p>

19

<p>I find the replies to this post to be pitiful. If this post was not written in correct grammar, and used the word “utilise” instead of “use” with well-formulated points, would you people be convinced? The truth has always been there, and most of us knows it; on the other hand, whether or not we want to face the truth depends of the individual.
You can accept someone telling you the truth but can you live accordingly to the truth? Why bother? Live in your facade of the world because that’s your reality and the truth.
To the OP, I hate people like you because what I may is not what I can.</p>

20

<p>Very inspiring piece of writing, one of the best I’ve read on this website.
I agree with pretty much everything you said.
But…
Sitting here way past midnight, I might sound like I’m trying to prove you wrong or trying to sound smart, but I wanted to say a few words (and share my story and get some things off my chest)…</p>

<p>Simply put, getting into a good college is really important to me…
Sure, it’s important to do what you REALLY want to do, not what colleges want you to do, but coming from lower-income family, I find that really unrealistic.</p>

<p>For example, this summer I’m stuck at home studying for the darn SAT (I’m a rising senior by the way) when some of my friends are out in California for a month, learning how to surf, experience new environment, enjoy a time of enrichment, etc. The whole thing apparently costs ~$7000. I can’t even afford $700 for an SAT tutor. Some kids are on a $3000+ trip to Nicaragua for “community service” that would look pretty impressive on their resumes, when I had to withdraw from a summer college course because it cost too much (~$500).</p>

<p>Sometimes I feel like I just have no choice but to be desperate… Desperate to get into a good college. Sure, I would much rather be spending my summer in Michigan right now with one of my good friends and go backpacking… But when my parents are heavily in debt and don’t even own a house, I can’t. I have to stay home, up my score, by myself, to some range that can guide me into an upper-tier college.</p>

<p>Sure, going to Harvard won’t necessarily change my life, nor will it guarantee happiness.
In that sense, it doesn’t matter if I got into Harvard or into some nameless local college.</p>

<p>But I do believe it’s true to a great extent when someone says getting into a good college (ivys/top colleges) will almost guarantee stability, employment… and that’s what I need for myself, family & future. I can’t afford joblessness, especially in this tough market.</p>

<p>My past three years in high school really sucked. I made only handful of friends, did only a few fun things… Most of the activities I did, I did for college.
I did get to maintain one of the highest GPAs among my classmates.
But I feel sad for myself… When I saw other kids, I saw them as competitors, which probably made it harder for me to make more than a few real friends.</p>

<p>Some say high school will be the best years of your life. I think that might be true. I am afraid of growing up (really). I feel like I will never again have the opportunity to make real friends after high school, and I feel really bad I didn’t try hard enough to enjoy my high school years.</p>

<p>Still, I have to worry. What will I do if I go to a mediocre college and can’t get a job afterwards? What about my student loan? I will probably have no one else to depend on but myself.</p>

<p>Wow, looking back at my post, it became really long. I am tired… I need to get some sleep! :slight_smile:
But I guess we can all agree on that cheating is bad!</p>

<p>Congrats on getting into Harvard. The weather’s awesome in Boston. Have fun!! Stay awesome…</p>