<p>So, our applications are in, and all we have to do now is wait. I've been sitting around reading and doing nothing terribly productive for the last few days (which feels great, by the way!), but this morning while checking out some college prospectuses I got curious about what are some of the other applicants' reasons for picking Harvard in the first place. </p>
<p>So, what drew you to Harvard (beyond reputations and rankings, which are of course pretty important too)? Is Harvard is your first choice? Why so?</p>
<p>I'm an international student so picking the colleges I wanted to apply to wasn't an obvious decision at all. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to apply to Harvard until I visited it two years ago and fell in love with the place, the people, the classes...</p>
<p>^Same, the place, people, classes. I like their math program, and Princeton's. I'm looking into applied math and economics. I'm now not so sure why I applied. Social Pressure perhaps, but when I hear Penn or Cornell, I usually think of something more focused like research. Places like Harvard are generally good in all subjects. Hm...I'm not sure why people go to Harvard anymore. But then again, I'm probably terribly misinformed.</p>
<p>I applied to Harvard because of their godly Social Anthro concentration, but I didn't mention that anywhere on the app because I'm just that smart.
I mean the name/prestige was a big reason, but it's a place that can give me so many opportunities to study what I like, and it's so strong in foreign languages/anthropology/pre-med that I had to apply.</p>
<p>I just fell in love with it. It's highly unlikely that I'll be accepted, but when I was on the campus it was just heaven. Everyone I talked to was delightful, every prof I ran into was friendly, the campus was gorgeous, I would go to school for virtually nothing (in the <$60,000 range) and it's great for what I want to study. Honestly, there were no drawbacks. Which is unfortunate, because, well, it's Harvard, and the one school no one should pin their dreams on. Heh.</p>
<p>The picture of the library in the viewbook had me hooked. Seriously. They also have good financial aid, and the campus looks beautiful (haven't gotten to visit yet). Also the JFK School of Government, and the fact that it's right by Boston- I figure skate, and Boston has one of the best f.s. clubs in the nation. So many other things, too, but I better stop.</p>
<p>The thought of people associating me as a Harvard graduate is just way too cool. If in a million I get accepted by Harvard, it is going to extremely difficult to turn down for many reasons.
1. Prestige, Name, Ranking, Everybody knows Harvard
2. It's in Boston and next to MIT
3. JFK School of Government and HBS
4. People are amazing and everything</p>
<p>i applied to like 12-13 schools. I made a long list of personal pros and cons for each. I couldn't think of a single con for harvard. everything that irks me about some schools, harvard doesn't have</p>
<p>Professor David Gergen (he is only like THE political genius of our age closely followed by Krugman of Princeton in my opinion) and of course my fellow students (if I get in). "The people make Harvard great not its bricks" that's what my dad always says anyways.</p>
<p>The resources available are amazing, I really like Cambridge, lots of the best minds in the world are there, all that about the college experience.</p>
<p>Also, to be honest, I'd like to be able to tell people I went to Harvard. Just for the recognition. I know, I'm a bastard.</p>
<p>Then again, at this point, I really haven't developed a preference for any school over any other. Just gonna see where I get in and then start working it out.</p>