<p>hello i just have a general guestion: what makes harvard worthwhile? this is besides name recognition, prestige etc etc</p>
<p>i am just wondering b/c my vice principal called me into his office today and asked if i was interested in harvard becuase he thinks my grades/test scores are really strong for an african american and his brother is an admissions officer at harvard. he said he and his brother would look at mt transcript over the weekend and get back to me. i had never ever considered harvard until now, my first choice is Dartmouth (I've applied ED). my GC said that if i decide i want to apply to harvard then its not too late to withdraw my app. i know im sticking with but i just wanted to hear from harvard fans what makes the school so special? </p>
<p>if i were you i would resent him having said "for an african american." If your scores are high enough to consider Harvard, they should be high for ANYONE!</p>
<p>But anyways, I think Harvard is a much different place from Dartmouth. For one, Dartmouth is a much smaller school in a much smaller town. I would ask you what attracts you to Dartmouth and see if Harvard offers anything similar.</p>
<p>i actually "for an african american" was my wording, lol. he just said my stats were good and that harvard is interested in minority applicants. he's actually also black, lol</p>
<p>well i'm actually drawn to dart becuase i like the idea of a liberal arts school, and the dartmouth is smaller, has a lot of sense of community, and is GORGEOUS. but my VP and GC said i should at least think it over. .. so i was hoping people could give me intersting things about harvard to think about</p>
<p>If pastoral beauty, small size, and a campus-wide community are the most important factors in your decision, then I wouldn't push you to choose Harvard instead. I think Harvard's campus is very pretty, but it is urban, and it doesn't have the kind of nestled-in-the-hills beauty that Dartmouth has. Harvard's sense of community, for the most part, comes within your class and within your House, not across the whole college.</p>
<p>prestige is what 90% of the applicants want. Isn't that a good enough reason? come on now, we all don't have to be mother theresa's and have a higher goal to work towards</p>
<p>A non-postal way of saying what eyezonharvard is probably thinking:</p>
<p>If you want to know why students are interested in Harvard, it's probably best to rely on the opinions of Harvard applicants, Harvard students, or those who have talked to hundreds of Harvard applicants through being interviewers or tour guides or both. Which seems to be what the OP asked for in the first place.</p>
<p>I think Harvard is the epitome of success and achievement for an ambitious university applicant. But, at the same time in holding down its role as the benchmark for prestige and excellence, it offers a tremendous variety of activities, opportunities and experiences that you will most likely not encounter elsewhere. Sure, other universities may have a developed academic program, and others may have great facilities, a Division 1 sports program, access to a beautiful city, diverse climate and so on, but who has all of these things that interweave together into a community embodied by prestige and excellence? Harvard!</p>
<p>Harvard is: a place where you can be surrounded by incredibly smart, interesting and talented people, and have access to an unparalleled breadth and depth of resources.</p>
<p>Harvard isn't: a small, intimate place with a warm and fuzzy environment where people will guide you through each step of the way.</p>
<p>You need to be able to hold your own in order to thrive at Harvard, but if it's the right place for you, there's really no other place that compares (imo). And yes, I'm sure there are people who go there for the prestige. But the prestige is not what makes people love it there.</p>
<p>There are statistics that show that if a person was given the choice between Harvard and Princeton, that person will most likely choose Harvard. </p>
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i don't see whats wrong with wanting prestige. thats why its CALLED prestige, its something to chase after
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<p>I agree. Nothing wrong with choosing a college largely b/c of its prestige.</p>
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Harvard is: a place where you can be surrounded by incredibly smart, interesting and talented people, and have access to an unparalleled breadth and depth of resources.
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<p>So are hundreds of other schools. The prestige factor plays a major role.</p>
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But the prestige is not what makes people love it there.
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There are statistics that show that if a person was given the choice between Harvard and Princeton, that person will most likely choose Harvard.
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<p>Right, which could just as easily prove that people just think Harvard's a better fit for them than Princeton, rather than that they choose Harvard purely for prestige. In the first place, a comparison to Princeton is ultimately moot; Princeton is also incredibly prestigious.</p>
<p>Harvard is the ultimate prestige brand, Yale is a close second. Nothing wrong with that, unless you believe that wearing a Polo shirt makes it safe to ride a horse.</p>