<p>--Two of my son's current professors (both in small classes) are MacArthur "genius" grant winners.</p>
<p>--Today, after staying late last night at the Crimson doing some editing for this morning's paper (and enjoying Chinese food with others who were doing the same), he interviewed a professor who, in his spare time, is a staff writer for the New Yorker.</p>
<p>--Over the weekend, he heard alum Yo-Yo Ma give a talk as part of a two-day program on careers in the arts.</p>
<p>One of my favorite anecdotes - D talking with the H Latin American Center staff about arranging a summer internship in a South American country -
Staff member: Here are two e-mail addresses to get you started; the first one is for the President of the country's Harvard Club, the second one is for the Vice President.
D: If I've already communicated with the President of the Club, should I also e-mail the Vice President?
Staff member: No, he's the Vice President of the country, not the Vice President of the Club.</p>
<p>I realize these comments are biased and oversimplify a lot of things, but they are students of H too. Why do you think these people did not like Harvard or find the negative aspects to outweigh the positives?</p>
<p>I don't really like this place's policy of starring out other websites that could be of help, but still, you're probably wasting your time there.</p>
<p>Harvard is Harvard. Harvard is almost everyone’s dream college. Whatever it might be, overrated or over-expensive, Harvard lies there in everyone’s dream. This is the only thing that makes it the most special place in the world. Anything could happen at Harvard! </p>
<p>^^ That kind of thinking is so wrong-headed. Anything could happen at a whole range of top colleges – from Stanford to Swarthmore to Smith — you could achieve great things no matter where you go to college. To quote Jeffrey Brenzel, Yale’s recently retired Dean of Admissions</p>
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<p>Harvard is a great school, but I’d guess most of the professors earned their undergraduate degree elsewhere. What you, and other applicants need to investigate is “What does Harvard offer you that you cannot get anywhere else?” If you dig a bit deeper, the answer is not so glib.</p>
<p>Agree with @gibby. From my experience those individuals who apply to Harvard or Stanford because they are “Harvard /Stanford” tend to be the most NAIVE of the applicants…and usually do very poorly in the application cycle…</p>
<p>…those who have some surgical precision as to “why” they want to attend a particular school with the necessary credentials to back it up tend to fare the best…</p>
<p>…and by the way…there is great mutual respect among the students who “actually” attend these institutions…and they understand that many will end up working with each other in a startup, venture capital, Wall Street, medical school, law school, or business school…and many end up getting hitched to each other…</p>
<p>…and OP, don’t resurrect a 5 year old dead thread…</p>