<p>As a prospective rowing recruit I second fauve.^^</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Glad you enjoyed your time at Berkeley, Lottie. I did too.</p>
<p>I gotta admit though, a lot of the seemingly stereotypical complaints about Harvard (i.e. graduate school focus, TFs or GSIs are difficult, old cramped student housing, bums) are the same gripes about Berkeley.</p>
<p>Seeing all the posters on this thread makes me happy that I can’t get into an ivy league. I find that those schools are literally meant for people that are “different”, i mean you guys all talk like you are hogwarts fanatics or something of similar nature.</p>
<p>College is about enjoying yourself, not going to a 400 year old prestigious school to talk about witchcraft and be depressed while studying 4000 pages a day in the cold dark snow…Ok maybe its not that bad, but I think that Harvard is unacceptable for kids that studied that hard. Forget the prestige. Berkeley on the other hand is a marvelous school with a great campus, and low tuition.</p>
<p>My sis turned down schools such as Duke to attend the 7 year med program at University of Miami, now top ranked in florida. She is now enjoying herself and while keeping her future set as a guaranteed doctor, and the weather there is amazing, and it is centered right along Miami city, surrounded by beaches, what a life!</p>
<p>Hey now. This thread is to present a balanced picture of Harvard, especially the many flaws some people gloss over because of its prestige. The purpose of this thread is not to say that Harvard is like the worst and most miserable college experience out there, since it isn’t. I am, in fact, enjoying myself very much, and have been for the past year. My 2¢</p>
<p>Well, you must expect some people to take comfort in the fact that even Harvard is not perfect. Especially people who have very little chance of ever attending.</p>
<p>I’m happy to see the administration has opened Annenburg Hall up for social and study hours after dinner, through Brain Break time in the eveining. Perhaps someone is listening to these discussions of minor failings.</p>
<p>In that light, and considering it is approaching Freshman Parents’ Weekend, another complaint about Harvard is–the two in-town hotels that are owned by the Harvard Corporation, the Inn at Harvard and Harvard Square Hotel, inflate their room rates for all the weekends parent events are scheduled.</p>
<p>For graduation, the prices are tripled, must be paid a year in advance, and there are no refunds, not even if, horrors, your student does not graduate, or you are ill, or dead. Even the Charles Hotel, (which also triples their room rates), allows refunds.</p>
<p>You haven’t yet taken your exams, have you? (You said “dorm,” so I assume you’re a freshman.)
That said, I loved Harvard, and we were very, very spoiled.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Tourists. Same with Stanford.</p>
<p>Lots of comments abt Harvard not being for everyone. Coming for visit within next 6-7 weeks so hope to get answers and feel --hopefully not superficial-- of student body and campus. 2 negs I’ve read: proctors as advisors? No student union.</p>
<p>btw 2be engineering student. Lots of “why go to Harvard for EGR?” I like that it’s more interdisciplanary which may be the rub for those who want to concentrate. Would like to read more abt program from current students, if anyone knows of a blog, FB. Current info is SEAS is too new, tight space, and lacks the best and brightest faculty.</p>
<p>Although I never attended Harvard one of my siblings did and I would visit him frequently while I was at Penn. Based on my experience I found the Harvard social scene to be extremely dull / depressing which was sad to see given the vibrant social / college scene in the Boston area. It seemed that in general on Friday and Saturday nights everyone stayed in their dorms and didn’t really do anything interesting (i.e. just watched TV, read, played boardgames, etc.)…I got the feeling that the place was too “academic.” It seemed that the only people that really went out and had a good time were a few of the wealthier international students or those that had lots of friends at places like BC, Babson, or BU. Just to set the context, I’m not advocating a social scene where everyone goes out to crazy parties and gets tanked Thursday through Sunday (a la Arizona State, Florida State, etc.). However, when I contrast what I experienced at Harvard with the social scene at Penn or at schools where friends attended (i.e. Georgetown, NYU, UVA, Columbia, Dartmouth, etc.) I found it to be very limited and the primary driver of this seemed to be the relatively introverted student body as opposed to a lack of social outlets. So if you are a type of person, like myself, that likes to “work hard” but also “play hard” (which includes going out to lots of restaurants with a big group of friends, or grabbing a beer and watching a game at a pub, or going out to a lounge / nightclub, etc.) then you may find yourself kind of bored at Harvard. </p>
<p>Another thing I’d point out, based solely on anecdotal evidence / personal observation (so take it for what its worth) is that I did get the sense that many Harvard students seemed really depressed (not in a clinical sense). When I mentioned this to my brother he noted that he believed that this was due to the fact that many students decide to matriculate at Harvard due solely to the name / prestige as opposed to other factors which if you are choosing a school solely for that then it may not be a good fit and you are are likely to not have that great of an experience. So if you are choosing to attend Harvard solely because of the name then Harvard may not be for you! 
</p>
<p>On a side note, my brother greatly enjoyed his time there and it was the right fit for him.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I respectfully disagree. In fact the problem appears to be that a lot of people party too hard. I’m a freshman here and there have beeen numerous incidences of people going too hard ( refer to the Freshman dean office home page [Harvard</a> College Freshman Dean’s Office FDO Home](<a href=“http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do]Harvard”>http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do)) There are loads of things to do on Friday and Saturday nights, and most people go out and do them. However, you are right that there are also people who do not. and it appears you were exposed to this small minority. Perhaps your sibling just didn’t like to party/ To each his own. And that is a big part of the Harvard experience, you will always find someone who wants to do what you want to do! The scenes within Harvard vary vastly so you just need to find your space. :)</p>
<p>I strongly second 3 dollar baby. Whoever posted that most likely has never even stepped foot on campus. I don’t mean to jump to conclusions so fast, but nothing could be farther from the truth.</p>
<p>Just ask any undergrad. </p>
<p>And by the way, believe me or not, they party at Harvard like none other :eek:.</p>
<p>^ Partyin, Partyin yeah! 
</p>
<p>I guess 3dollarbaby sort of answered it, but is there room for nonpartiers there? Like the type who do like to stay in and play board games/just hang out/drink occasionally and are kind of nerdy? </p>
<p>I’m considering applying here a year early because I know some people who’ve done the same before (they exhausted the resources available to them) with some success and I’m trying to see if it’s worth the app money, not ‘just because it’s Harvard’ .</p>
<p>Yeah, there definitely is room for non parties, and there are a few people who decide not to party at all. Though, I will say there will be a lot of pressure to do so and thus most of these people decide that they will party, but will not drink and the like. This is more feasible than withdrawing from the party scene entirely. Though, it is possible not to party and still enjoy your time here.</p>
<p>Harvard is what you make it to be.</p>
<p>@astrophysicsmom are you an astrophysicist yourself or are you the mom of an astrophysicist?</p>
<p>in either case could you enlighten me a bit on the astrophysics scenario in US. i mean the jobs available and such. fyi im a high school junior and have planned to be an astrophysicist since i was 7 yo. i want some suggestions. thank you.</p>
<p>Harvard’s campus isn’t that nice, especially the gray towers behind Dunster.</p>
<p>The winter weather (which lasts from October to April) is pretty horrid. And it gets dark awfully early in winter.</p>
<p>And as fror the arrogance of Harvard students, of course it isn’t true for all of them,but you have to admit that most students go to Harvard not just for the education, but also to be able to brag to everyone else that they went to Harvard.</p>
<p>Dolphin, are you kidding? Our campus beats Stanford’s, and we all know how tier-one Stanford campus is.</p>
<p>@Dolphin; do you know the lengths people go to to avoid telling people where we go to school? That “oh.” is not a moment anybody I know relishes. Since I’m a contrarian, honestly, I was hoping to like YP or S better because I wanted a Harvard-quality education without having to have the connotations of the name. That was (a small) one of the (many) reasons I nearly chose UChicago. “Unfortunately,” I just liked Harvard a lot better, haha.</p>