The Truth about Harvard, Yale, and Princeton (pt. III-very long)

<p>HARVARD.
If you ever read a sentence that begins, ‘The typical Harvard student . . .’ stop reading. There is no typical Harvard student.<br>
I’ll venture to say that, of the three schools in question, Harvard seems to take the most risks, admissions-wise. Interpret that how you will. Harvardians, I’ve learned, are of a different breed than other schools; not better, not worse—different.<br>
Harvard’s prefrosh weekend was extremely late this year; some of us, myself included, had to mail out our Reply cards while we were at Harvard (though, for the record, the other schools understood that Harvard’s weekend was so late and some offered extensions on the reply date.) Still, this also gave some of us the fun opportunity to hand our Harvard reply card directly to the admissions officers, which, for me at least, was kind of exciting.<br>
The weekend started with a welcome address by President Summers. Despite any recent controversy, and all personal feelings aside, in person, Larry is friendly and sort of humorous. His willingness to joke about himself was appreciated.
This particular prefrosh weekend was especially fun because I already knew so many people from the Yahoo! Group and from the Yale/Princeton weekends. Most of the kids that I saw at all three weekends ended up choosing Harvard.<br>
Like Yale, Harvard keeps the freshman in the same general area: the Yard. (Still, there are the unlucky freshman who stay in dorms like Pennypacker and Greenough, further from food than everyone else; poor saps.) The freshman dorms, overall, are very nice. I stayed in Canaday (‘the projects’), but also visited a room in Wigglesworth, and loved it. (I’ll be in Grays this fall. The ‘Harvard Hilton.’ And the coolest part is that it’s the freshman hall Natalie Portman stayed in when she attended. My room was occupied by the Daily Show’s Mo Rocca. How cool is that?)<br>
The Yard conveniently occupies the area between Annenberg dining hall (which reminds me of Hogwarts) and Harvard Square. The Square is quite something. Food, places to buy supplies, clothes, street performers, a T stop, the COOP, etc. Everything you’d really need is there; I loved it.<br>
But better than the dorms and the Cambridge area are the PEOPLE. Whereas I felt Yale students seemed defined by what they were studying, Harvard students seemed to define themselves by what they were doing outside of the classroom: writing for the Crimson, producing the Freshman musical, spreading AIDS awareness, and so on. This isn’t a matter of better/worse so much as it is a matter of preference, personality. And it certainly isn’t anything I could’ve gathered from a viewbook.
Much of my time at Harvard was spent dispelling rumors I’d heard. Do Harvard students really do any work? Do they all hate it there? Are they all snotty? Are they all super-brilliant? Is the social life really that bad?<br>
Yes. No. No. No. No.<br>
They do work. From what I saw, the amount of reading could be pretty intense. I haven’t encountered a single Harvard student that absolutely hated it there; maybe they’re all hiding under a rock? Maybe they all write for the Crimson? Maybe they transferred to Yale? Every school has its snot balls, and Ivies are no exception. But, the overwhelming majority of Harvardians that I encountered were all extremely chill, humble fun people. They aren’t all super-brilliant. Some are super-brilliant, some are super-talented, some are super-unique, some are superheroes (in the eyes of the general public, they are darn close) . . .
Ahh, the social life. The social life at Harvard is, like with everything else, what you make of it. I disagree with arguments that it’s worse than Yale’s. It’s not worse, it’s just different. But if you find yourself that bored, there’s the whole of Boston at your fingertips. Go, explore. And Harvard has a ‘fun tsar’ now. Let’s see if things change.
You’ll often hear that Princeton’s undergraduate experience is better than Harvard’s, largely because of faculty access. It’s true that P-town offers more individual attention than Harvard does. But for me, this worked to Princeton’s detriment. Harvard doesn’t do a lot of hand-holding, but I figure that my future employers won’t, either. Growing up in a poor district, I’ve always had to be more than a little self-sufficient, so I appreciated this quality.<br>
And the cultural groups at Harvard—wow. This is what surprised me the most, what wasn’t emphasized in the viewbook as much as it could have been. The cultural groups at Harvard are more than just clubs; they have a voice, influence. They truly exceeded any expectations I could have had.<br>
The entire school did.</p>

<p>I definitely was put into Currier House, whereas everybody I met except for one person was in the Yard.</p>

<p>My son hasn't gotten his room assignment yet--when did you find out?</p>

<p>They've been mailed out; most people haven't received them. </p>

<p>I haven't either, but luckily, I have a roomie who lives in Massachusetts.</p>

<p>I should add, it seems like the housing assignments were mailed out in batches. People later in the alphabet should expect them a day later.</p>

<p>I disagree with your take on the student body. While many are unqiue and impressive in myriad ways, I found during pre-frosh weekend and discussions with upperclass friends that most are just slightly above-average intelligent, and that's all.</p>

<p>I think it depends. Like I said, some are brilliant, others are impressive in alternate ways. But no one that I encountered was blatantly 'in-your-face' intelltigent; in casual settings, they didn't need to be.</p>

<p>No freshmen live in Currier House; it is an upperclass dorm. Do you mean for prefrosh weekend?</p>

<p>Considering the fact that you haven't attended the school yet, you seem to consider yourself quite the expert. I'm sure you are excited about attending Harvard, as you should be, but your enthusiasm seems to be stopping you from seeing any faults in the school. Also, Harry Potter was filmed at Oxford, and if you think any part of Harvard is half as impressive as Christ Church you clearly have not been to Oxford.</p>

<p>EAS: Yes. I wasn't clear about that.</p>

<p>In the original post I said:</p>

<p>'This isn’t a How-to guide or a lecture on why Harvard is better (because it often isn’t); rather, these are things I noticed and considered about each school, straight out of the mouth of someone who was in your shoes: not an admissions officer, not a viewbook, and definitely not an expert.'</p>

<p>I've claimed no expertise.</p>

<p>Every school has faults, but the point of these posts wasn't necessarily to enumerate them; I simply wanted to describe the schools from the perspective of someone who was, only a year ago, in the same shoes as the CCers who frequent these boards. The point was to record what I'd noticed, and to emphasize that the individual qualities of these schools, rather than just reputation, should be carefully considered when students apply. </p>

<p>And, you're right: I haven't been to Oxford. Nor was I commenting on where HP was filmed. We all know it wasn't filmed at Harvard, and I did not mean to imply that it was by stating that Annenberg reminded me of the Hogwarts cafeteria.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading, everyone.</p>

<p>stele32- you weren't the only prefrosh not in the Yard. I've had a total of 6 prefrosh in Quincy House, another upperclass, and my roommates have hosted prefrosh there too. You just get put wherever there is space, and if people volunteer who aren't in the Yard (ie are upperclassmen) you get put there. Ironically, I was hosted by a senior in Quincy during prefrosh weekend and I ended up there later on!</p>

<p>ahem, who was it that informed you that mo rocca had stayed in your room? :-P</p>

<p>anyway, you're the best, kam, no matter what C+P referencing oxford-lovers have to say.</p>