<p>One of the main reasons everybody seems to say Harvard is a good choice is its "unparalleled, amazing resources." What ARE these resources everyone always refers to? I assume one is perhaps the alumni network? I'm just curious what this oft thrown around term means. I'm transferring to Harvard this spring, and I don't want to miss out on them.</p>
<p>15 millon books maybe? :)</p>
<p>Also research opportunities especially if you are premed. Its relatively easy to do research with somebody at Harvard Medical School even as a freshman.</p>
<p>As they say everywhere.. I'd say it's the people</p>
<p>Harvard's endowment is now over $29 billion. That's pretty amazing right right there. But that particular rescource also makes it possible for the school to provide all those other amazing resources.</p>
<p>The art museums on campus on Harvard are quite amazing.</p>
<p>The students there are simply the best in the nation as most will pick Harvard over Stanford, Princeton, Yale, etc. It's way diverse, too. You will meet amazing natural science/math concentrators, but also amazing social science students. Unlike MIT, you're meet novelists who may have scored 5s in AP english, 800 eng lit, 1600 sat cr/writ, but settled for a 700 on math2c. With all that and more, Harvard graduates go into every spectrum of society, and you'll always have buddies there to pull a few a strings or two. :)</p>
<p>Hi moralityjustice, you're right about most picking Harvard. However, I'd take the chance that this post will be misconstrued as trolling and assert that the one exception is in engineering :P</p>
<p>But you're definitely right about the rest of your post -- even if nothing else, the name alone attracts the best. Last year from my school, all 5 of the students who got into HYPS picked H, and we only sent 2 random kids (one legacy) to S.</p>
<p>ok, so harvard has $29 billion. first of all, this DOES include the law school, med school, business school, etc, correct? just curious.
but more importantly, how does harvard use this amazing resource to actually impact the lives of the students, as opposed to simply existing for the sake of a huge endowment?
also, i'm aware of the interesting student body, which is probably the main reason i am transferring there. however, the "school resources" are generally stated as a separate reason.</p>
<p>Here's an example. I'm an undergrad at Harvard. I'm planning on conducting my senior thesis research this summer, and in a little over a month, grant applications are due. The grants available here are quite impressive. My friend at Columbia plans on doing something similar, but there's not much available for him. The Rockefeller Center here has been very helpful in getting my ideas underway, and they do a lot to help undergrads actually set up their research. I've also been to several pre-thesis workshops. I now have a tenured faculty member lined up as my advisor. From what I know, it's hard to find similar opportunities and funding at other schools.</p>
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The grants available here are quite impressive.
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<p>Yes, that is one thing that many parents "misunderestimate" about Harvard when they only look at list price. Undergraduates often need funding to pursue projects, and at Harvard the funding is available. I remember severe limitations on undergraduate research funding and support when I was an undergraduate at a state university with a strong research program--all of the research funds were considered a scarce resource, with professors and graduate students coveting them.</p>
<p>so this being the case, the idea that mostly all the research done is by graduate students is false? undergrads have just as easy a chance?
off topic, but in terms of research, do you have to speak to the professors individually to get a research position with them, or is there some sort of database or other system that links you to available positions on campus?</p>
<p>Khan,
Have you not read Harvard's website? It has plenty of info about Harvard's resources. You also can find that info through Internet searches.</p>
<p>Undergraduates definitely do research at all of the better colleges, including my alma mater, and at Harvard and peer institutions that is quite routine for the students who like to do research.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>the idea that mostly all the research done is by graduate students is false? <<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>My daughter, who is an undergrad, had no trouble finding and being offered an internship in an active, cutting-edge lab in Harvard Medical School. There are plenty of UG research opportunities at Harvard.</p>
<p>The notion that research at Harvard is reserved solely for grad students is a canard repeated endlessly by its rival institutions.</p>
<p>When I was a Harvard undergrad, my friends who wanted to research easily found ways to do that. Indeed, one of my roommates, a bio major, started doing research there as work study. She fell in love with research and now heads a research department at a medical school.</p>
<p>Yeah, I've read the website. But a college's website is obviously trying to sell the institution; everything is painted in an idealistic light. I want to hear what people's actual experieces are in obtaining said resources, if they are truly readily available, and what these resources are. Also, "resources" isn't a page that I've found on the website, but a term people in forums throw around, and that's why I was curious what exactly it refers to.</p>
<p>Harvard has potholes in the pavement, yellow-green patches of grass and weed enclosed by wire stringed onto PVC pipes, aging buildings that can't be wired for modern conveniences such as cable tv or high speed internet, and dining halls that add another ingredient to the same batch of chicken each day and serve them as different varieties during the week.</p>
<p>Glad you posted this thread; it is very informative. Thanks</p>
<p>Cash. Lots of it. -- and the resulting high spending per student costs at Harvard.</p>