<p>I've heard several times on this forum about people having "genuine" or "compelling" reasons for wanting to go to harvard. But besides prestige, I am curious, what can be another real reason for wanting to go into Harvard, something you would tell your interviewer, or wheever applicable? Is there really another dominant reason that is not prestige?</p>
<p>I'm just very curious. :) I look forward to the responses!</p>
<p>Pinnochio's- best pizza place in New England.</p>
<p>I visited it and just literally fell in love! I mean going to that INCREDIBLE library made me feel so important. Sitting in on a class by a famed and notable professor had me gasping for air. Even sitting in that cafeteria if one can call it that made eating seem so noble and significant! Walking around the campus just gave me a feeling like I had to pinch myself. Its hard to describe and this doesn't affect everyone like this but to me, its the pinnacle, the ultimate reward for why I have worked so hard these past almost 4 years. Its AMAZING in a single word.</p>
<p>lol @ Admiral. If that's really the reason, then still, why Harvard? Why not... Brandeis, or Boston College, or other Boston colleges right in the area of Pinnochio's? </p>
<p>grotongirlie, wow, nice feeling. Is that how you described it to the interviewer or application etc?</p>
<p>I wasn't too motivated until I had my interview. Now I would die to go there!</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
lol @ Admiral. If that's really the reason, then still, why Harvard? Why not... Brandeis, or Boston College, or other Boston colleges right in the area of Pinnochio's?
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>They aren't- Pinnochio's is in Cambridge, and is two blocks from Harvard. Boston College is about an hour away by subway, Boston University is about 30-40 minutes, I don't even know HOW you'd get there from Brandeis, which is miles away (there might be a train, but I don't know). Even MIT, which is actually in Cambridge, is still a 5-10 minute subway ride.</p>
<p>Nothing compares to the 2 minute walk it takes to get there from Harvard Yard.</p>
<p>Ah ok, good point Admiral. Pretty interesting reason! Did you actually articulate this in your application/interview? :)</p>
<p>"What [was] your reason for wanting to go to Harvard?"</p>
<p>The License to look down on other. But then I discovered that I could do the same thing with a BC degree; the selection is narrower, but still has enough to satisfy my ego.</p>
<p>Hmm...maybe this was why I didn't get into Harvard...Thanks God BC doesn't offer interview!</p>
<p>"The License to look down on other."</p>
<p>This is a nasty and elitist attitude that people at Harvard just don't share. If there's one group of people that knows full well that Harvard students aren't "better" than everyone, it's Harvard students. Few, if any, are arrogant or elitist in the way you imply they should be.</p>
<p>In response to A-san- hahaha, I'm sure you realize that I wasn't being serious. While it's absolutely true that Pinnochio's makes the best Sicilian pepperoni I've ever tasted, there are many other reasons to love Harvard (my experience visiting was, to a certain extent, like Grotongirl's).</p>
<p>One of my favorite parts of the school (which is similar to a number of other schools, like Yale or Stanford or MIT) is the incredible selection of professors, many of which are leaders in their fields. Next year I'm taking a class taught by Stephen Pinker, legendary evolutionary psychologist. This semester I'm taking a seminar with only 12 students that's taught by Dudley Herschbach, Nobel laureate and influential chemist. Only a few years ago, students could take classes taught by Stephen Jay Gould or Robert Nozick.</p>
<p>I'm just thrilled to have the opportunity to take classes with these people (of course there are such opportunities at other schools, whether it's taking a Yale literature class taught by Howard Bloom or a Stanford structural biology class taught by Roger Kornberg).</p>
<p>It all depends how you define "prestige." If you define it as some ranking in a magazine than it's worthless, if you define it by its influence on a resume than it's petty and selfish. However, you should consider that Harvard's "prestige" attracts many of the best professors and the best students in the country. In my opinion, it's created a wonderful environment.</p>
<p>Ha ha, Admiral, I was talking in jest. I thought a guy who "decided" on Harvard because of pizza would get the sarcasm. Didn't you read the final line? I was talking about people who actually wanted to go to Harvard so they can satisfy their vain ego (hence they didn't get in, or at least not to the degree we know of). Pooh, you made me defend myself, that just killed the joke. :(</p>
<p>Oh- I'm sorry (you're right, looking back, that makes a lot more sense).</p>
<p>the chess in harvard square -- this is kind of pathetic, but i've only been to harvard once (when i was 10 or something) and i loved sipping clam chowder, playing speed chess in front of au bon pain...</p>
<p>Well, I haven't decided on a naval career since I can't do aviation (horribly bad eyesight), but here goes:</p>
<p>1) Realizing my SOCOM ambitions (gunning with real m-16s on the range)
2) Kicking major insurgent ass at night</p>
<p>To Knight: I do that every time I go back to Boston.</p>
<p>What I hate though is how some of the tourist grabbing players always set up there on public tables and start charging for games, and you can't kick them off to play some friendly games.</p>
<p>One day I'm gonna go, lose 20 games, and just walk away without paying. ****es me off. </p>
<p>It's much better to play in the club at Boylston.</p>
<p>Also, it's Hahfuuu....give me a break people. World class professors are available in many areas, and the truth is Yale and Princeton both offer better access to world class faculty. But they're not Hahfuu...</p>
<p>And yes, I do think Harvard is overrated. My friend just got accepted there. He told me how easy it was during the summer course he took with real Harvard students, how the math class was a joke but some kids were either so lazy or stupid that they'll fail every test but still manage a B. Grade inflation for the win!</p>
<p>Still, Harvard does have a lot of treasures that's not available elsewhere. Their rare books collection, their rotating arts displays (I loved it, real Monets...first time seeing them, or at least the high quality ones) along with the ability to provide you with anything that's available anywhere.</p>
<p>To Morality: Cadets aren't allowed to drink and smoke carcinogenics...this is that Harvard forum, not Naval Academy.</p>
<p>Kamikazewave, I was joking (I don't drink & my dad's baptized LDS). ROTC doesn't condone underage drinking. One of my friends (Harvard '07) is the battalion commander at MIT's Old Ironsides unit. She's been accepted to flight school (10 year commitment) and jokes about the badass naval aviator she's gonna be. I was also selected for MIT's Old Ironsides unit this year.</p>
<p>"the truth is Yale and Princeton both offer better access to world class faculty."</p>
<p>So you've been an undergrad at all three? Or are you just repeating what you believe to be the conventional wisdom?</p>
<p>"He told me how easy it was during the summer course he took with real Harvard students"</p>
<p>The summer courses may include a few real Harvard students, but most are students from other colleges (or high schools). I did summer school one year; there is a HUGE difference between the summer and term-time courses.</p>
<p>The idea that you could fail every test and still get a B is just absurd. If you're going to make things up, make them plausible.</p>
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<blockquote> <p>My friend just got accepted there. He told me how easy it was during the summer course he took with real Harvard students, how the math class was a joke but some kids were either so lazy or stupid that they'll fail every test but still manage a B.<< </p> </blockquote>
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<p>You seem to have somehow fallen for the load of total BS that your friend handed you. Harvard grading most certainly does NOT work that way.</p>
<p>Coureur, I trust what this guy tells me :D. So yeah, I'll have an impression for the rest of my life that grading at Harvard is easy.</p>
<p>And dude, most Harvard under and grad students I've met openly acknowledge that they think Yale and Princeton have better under.</p>
<p>And Hanna, they are plausible. It's a hyperbole, but it still fits Harvard grading.</p>
<p>My experience differs greatly from what your friends have told you Kamikazewave. I don't think I would have been as challenged at any other school as I have been at Harvard, and I don't think I would have received as full of an education anywhere else.</p>
<p>Harvard's urban setting is attractive. It's just so convenient! Everything is nice and compact. From my experience during the summer, the area is also a bustling cultural center. Plus, I can play frisbee in the field or in the yard...</p>