The Truth About Harvard

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

<p>There's an interesting article in the March issue of The Atlantic Monthly about the actual quality of the undergraduate education there: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200503/douthat%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/prem/200503/douthat&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>*THE TRUTH ABOUT HARVARD</p>

<p>It may be hard to get into Harvard, but it's easy to get out without learning much of enduring value at all. A recent graduate's report</p>

<p>by Ross Douthat</p>

<p>At the beginning of every term Harvard students enjoy a one-week "shopping period," during which they can sample as many courses as they like and thus—or so the theory goes—concoct the most appropriate schedule for their semesters. There is a boisterous quality to this stretch, a sense of intellectual possibility, as people pop in and out of lecture halls, grabbing syllabi and listening for twenty minutes or so before darting away to other classes.</p>

<p>The enthusiasm evaporates quickly once the shopping period ends. Empty seats in the various halls and auditoriums multiply as the semester rattles along, until rooms that were full for the opening lecture resemble the stadium of a losing baseball team during a meaningless late-August game. There are pockets of diehards in the front rows, avidly taking notes, and scattered observers elsewhere—students who overcame the urge to hit the snooze button and hauled themselves to class, only to realize that they've missed so many lectures and fallen so far behind that taking notes is a futile exercise. Better to wait for the semester's end, when they can take exhaustive notes at the review sessions that are always helpfully provided—or simply go to the course's Web site, where the professor has uploaded his lecture notes, understanding all too well the character and study habits of his seldom-glimpsed students....</p>

<p>A Harvard graduate may have read no Shakespeare or Proust; he may be unable to distinguish Justinian the great from Juilan the Apostate, or to tell you the first ten elements in the periodic table...As in a great library ravaged by a hurricane, the essential elements of a liberal arts education lie scattered every where at Harvard, waiting to be picked up. But little guidance is given on how to proceed with that task...Mostly I logged the necessary hours in the library and exam rooms, earned my solid (if inflated) GPA and my diploma, and used the rest of the time to keep up with my classmates in our ongoing race to the top of America (and the world). It was only afterward, when the perpetual motion of undergraduate life was behind me, that I looked back and felt cheated....*</p>

2

<p>Try
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=32314%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=32314&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>or maybe
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=32718%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=32718&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>=)</p>

3

<p>This can be applied almost anywhere!</p>

4

<p>slipper's right. You can change "Harvard" to "Yale" and it wouldn't make a difference in the world. And why is this posted in the Yale forum? To make Yalies not want to go to Harvard even more? I think Byerly's going to have a field day with this one, and by all means, Byerly, go for it.</p>

5

<p>With respect to Byerly, I'm not sure how much of a field day he could have. After all, he is an old-time Harvard grad who eats and sleeps in the Yale forums across the Internet. (At least until recently, when he is too busy wiping the pie off his face.) After his situation blows over a little, you can rest assured that he will be right back to obsessing over Yale in every waking moment of his retirement!</p>

6

<p>The Harvard grades aren't really what matter. Why would Harvard want to accept someone who only cares about getting good grades? It's not really about hard work either. It's not just about the facts either, because anyone on the street can read the textbook they assign to the student. Remember "Good Will Hunting"?
It's really about the people and the environment. You are there to make connections with the people that you will want to do experiments with, sell bonds too, have elect you President, etc. Capiche?</p>