<p>I’m not sure the preference for Cambridge is as universal as you claim. I chose Yale over Harvard partly because I didn’t want to be in Cambridge.</p>
<p>JHS, in my experience - as someone well acquainted with Freud (and with Kohut, who really understood narcissism better) - I’d say that the institutional differences between Harvard and Yale are indeed about narcissism, but not in the way that you suggest. And they’re not about small differences, at least in my opinion. Talk to faculty members at each, and see how their experience with the institution shapes their work with colleagues and with students. Harvard professors are brilliant, and many are lovely individuals, but they are surrounded by a culture that makes people almost universally insecure about their place in the larger structure and hierarchy, which of course triggers whatever narcissistic vulnerabilities they already brought to to the table. The environment is highly ‘individualistic’ and not collaborative, and it shapes how they approach their work. To my eye, people are Harvard seem less likely to devote additional time to something that will not further their careers in some way. Of course some level of strategic thinking is part of any academic environment, but it is unusually salient at Harvard. The ironic and truly interesting thing is that this dynamic doesn’t seem to attenuate much for those who have achieved tenure or positions of authority within the institution. It’s as though people are perennially frightened to lose whatever perch or position they have achieved.</p>
<p>But I risk speaking again in generalities. Of course there are exceptions to what I’m saying, but it’s also true that each institution - whether academic, corporate, philanthropic, or otherwise - has a distinct culture, and that is a part of what I am trying to capture here. Without exaggeration, twice in the past week I have heard (different) Harvard grads who serve on the faculty in various capacities attribute hostile interactions to the following reason: “Well, you know, that’s Harvard.”</p>
<p>I am genuinely pleased to hear that the undergraduate advising system has improved to the point where a parent of two undergrads - one at H, one at Y - can’t tell the difference very much. It’s excellent news for the next generation. It was certainly not the case when two of my high school classmates - each a highly intelligent, talented, and lovely human being - floundered at Harvard College because they were left very much to ‘sink or swim’ on their own. Their words, by the way, not mine. But that was a long time ago.</p>
<p>And perhaps many of my comments spring from seeing Harvard up close, where one is more apt to notice the warts.</p>
<p>jhs and evertheoptimist</p>
<p>jhs, if i remember correctly from some of your postings, you attended Yale in the 70s. New Haven was probably in societal freefall at that point, and positive comparisons to Cambridge were hard to muster. I don’t know how much time you spend in New Haven these days, but it really has changed dramatically for the better while Cambridge has become less attractive from a student’s point of view. I write as a Harvard Senior with a parent who went to Harvard in the 70s and with a sister who graduated from Yale a few years ago. Some observations:</p>
<p>1) My father is shocked by how much Cambridge has changed and how upscale it has become. The atmospheric student hangouts are mostly gone and replaced by trendy shopping mall variety eating and entertainment options. Students really share Harvard Square with affluent suburban shoppers and visitors. Compete with them is more like it. Very fine restaurants abound but unless your parents have given you limitless credit cards (and there are a few of those kids at Harvard) most restaurants are out of reach. It is very hard to find a decent cheap place to grab a bite or a slice with your friends, where you know there will be a table available. La vie boheme is just not possible any more in the general vicinity of Harvard unless you have beaucoup de francs.</p>
<p>New Haven is still dominated by Yale and the options for day to day use around the campus are probably superior from a student’s point of view. Plenty of pizza joints, coffee shops and diners to hang out in and no swarms of suburbanites hogging tables. And prices fit a student’s pocketbook. Nice bookstores and bookstore/cafes that are not jam-packed, too.</p>
<p>Sure, Boston is a subway ride away and easily accessible at Harvard. But the reality is that most Harvard students are so busy that they rarely go into Boston. It’s nice to know it’s there, but it just does not figure into daily life all that much.</p>
<p>I am not at all saying New Haven is better than Cambridge, it is just that I can completely understand why evertheoptimist would actively choose it over Cambridge.</p>
<p>OK, I regularly visit New Haven, and I spend time in Cambridge from time to time, too. Yes, New Haven is cheaper, and more student-oriented, and it has the best pizza ever, no lie. And Cambridge is a little mallified. That was true 30 years ago, too, but it has gotten more so. Still, I don’t think Cambridge is devoid of places to hang out – at least it didn’t seem that way to me. And if Harvard students don’t get on the T ever . . . well, that’s not exactly to their credit, as far as I am concerned. </p>
<p>No one doubts – at least no one should doubt – that the pizza is better, cheaper, and more easily available in New Haven than in Cambridge. And the tourists aren’t up in your gills quite so much. Is that a great way to choose a college? Really? C’mon! I think Yale is wonderful, practically perfect in every way. I cherish, for different reasons, not only Pepe’s, but also Claire’s, Yorkside, the restaurant f/k/a Naples, Mamoun’s, Toad’s, Yankee Doodle, and especially Rudy’s. Mory’s and the Lizzie, too, and whatever the Chinese restaurant was where my freshman advisor taught me what actual Chinese banquet food tasted like. (Not so much Louis Lunch. Never got that one.) But none of them (except Pepe’s) is independently a reason to visit New Haven from any distance, much less go live there for the better part of four years.</p>
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<p>Well said. Going further, even if you could clone yourself and start two parallel college careers, one at H and the other at Y, the conclusions would only be true for yourself. More than likely, your two clones would have divergent opinions after spending four years in the two places.</p>
<p>^ If you believe that every person’s experience is purely individual (“the conclusions would only be true for yourself”) and that nothing meaningful can be gained by listening to the perspectives of others, then why bother taking part in these forums?</p>