<p>[Bother! I just missed my opportunity to edit post #20 above. Here’s what I was going to add.]</p>
<p>I know that’s a kind of flippant answer to the question, but if you look at it the other way around, anybody who thinks she has what it takes to go to Harvard ought to be able to work out an answer for herself, IMO.</p>
<p>D applied “on a lark” or rather because her dad begged her to. She’s there now and can’t imagine being anywhere else. When interviewed she talked about her projects and passions and (respectfully) asked her interviewer to give her examples of how she could grow and thrive at Harvard. She considered it her chance to interview Harvard. After she was accepted he sent her his interview evaluation - she did fine.</p>
<p>My son if asked might well have said because his Mom made him. He was asked why he didn’t apply early and he replied because he liked MIT better. Which led to the interviewer trying to persuade him that Harvard was a better place. (Amusingly enough he got into Harvard and was rejected by MIT. He ended up attending Carnegie Mellon.) All that’s to say, it’s okay to be honest.</p>
<p>My other son for his 50 word “why Tufts?” statement, said he liked all the chalked signs advertising student events. He figured everyone says “international relations” so why not say something else that reflected the relaxed atmosphere he felt it had.</p>
<p>Looking back on my time at Harvard and comparing the colleges my kids attended, I think the real strength of Harvard is its house system and the fact that housing is guaranteed all four years and nearly everyone stays on campus. The best courses were ones I didn’t know about when I was applying. I didn’t even know my major existed. And the absolute best course I took was an obscure seminar taught by a visiting professor my senior year.</p>