WindCloudUltra

I'm not sure I want to impress truck drivers. By the way, very few people I know at Harvard make a big deal about where they go to school. And most aren't out to impress anyone.

In fact, that's part of the reason around the myth of 'no school pride' with Harvard. It's not that students aren't proud of attending the school. It's that ostentatiously showing Crimson pride is equivalent to being vain while in contrast, students going to schools like Yale and Stanford (schools equally good on an objective level) don't get as many awkward stares from people.

arcturus

Yeah, I don't really get all the hype that Harvard gets - it's a good school, but way too overemphasized.

Gianni

Oh what a delicious piece of crap!
Harvard is by no means overrated.
It just deserves all those acclaim and high rank for simply being a GREAT school!

Not sure 100% as for undergraduate ranking.
But law school, medical school, business school, administration school, design school are all sitting on top-notch positions. No doubt on that.

foto2gem

Call me crazy, but my D is considering applying as a recruited athlete and, not that I feel it is overrated but, I feel that it is actually difficult for me to talk about. Where is your child thinking about going to college? Harvard. End of conversation.

fauve

It gets worse once a student is accepted. H.S. teachers have made rude comments ("what, you can't see the board??... what are you going to do once you get to HARVARD????"). Friends and acquaintances ask "where is your child going to school?" Harvard. End of conversation. Get ready to quickly change the topic, or find other H parents with which to chat.

Shiloh

I was getting lectured by a lawyer on what colleges want to see from high school applicants. When she found out I have a kid at Harvard she actually stopped the lecture. That was nice

tomtom

Im agreeing with it being overrated. I personally think that UC Berkely is equally good or better, depending on your major. If you're interested in poli sci or something like that, then sure its a better choice.

A note about rankings, however: lots of them(including the giant U.S. News one) factor in things like alumni giving, acceptance rate, and average cash spent on each student. Things like this dont always signify a good university over a wealthy, well established one. Not to say Harvard isnt good, its just something to point out. I know many international rankings have rated Berkely above Harvard, Yale, or Princeton numerous times because they dont factor in things like that. After all, if you're talking financially, the 5k tuition of Berkely doesnt compare with Ivy league at all...which is why it's so great! Public schools forever!

ClaySoul

lol, public schools if you're lucky enough to be instate in a state with great ones.

posterX

For many families considering college (in state or out of state), HYP are actually cheaper than Berkeley or other state schools because of the massive financial aid made available to families below a certain income threshold. In fact, for an "average"-income American or international family with one income earner, HYP are basically free, while a state school is prohibitively expensive. Especially after all the hidden fees.

Of course, for the upper-middle class (where most college applicants come from -- families making over $80-90K or so), a state school can sometimes be a bit cheaper, but often not by as much as you might think.

Furthermore, state schools are often significantly more elitist than top private schools, because students fragment themselves into groups based on income level or town origin. In many cases, students can pay different pricing levels for differing qualities of on-campus housing, for example. At smaller private schools, this is almost always less of an issue. Smaller schools create more diverse student-student interaction, for many reasons, one of them being there is often much more geographical diversity to begin with, e.g., no more than a couple people from any single high school or town, and most students from out of state. At a state school, the 100s of rich kids can band together with their high school buddies on the weekend and drive out to their friends' mansions an hour or two away en masse, leaving behind the rabble on the rest of the campus who don't want to go home to their families' crowded apartments in a poorer part of the state.

Also, many HYP-caliber places pay $11-12+ per hour for on-campus jobs, so students who don't have their parents supporting their every desire can get by a lot better and earn a bit of spending money by sitting at the gym for a few hours checking IDs. If you get $7 an hour at a state school serving dining hall food to the rich kids, it can be pretty depressing.

In my opinion, and this is based on talking with hundreds of alumni of both state institutions and private institutions, if any places are overrated, they are the so-called "flagship" state schools -- not places like Harvard, Yale, MIT or Dartmouth. I'm not saying that all private institutions are better (quite the opposite is true, in fact), just that the "best of the best" (top 10 or 20 or so, i.e., HYP and the top LACs) have overwhelming resources that allow for a better overall campus experience.

ClaySoul

I don't know where you came to those conclusions, PosterX, but they sound like a lot of bull to me. You've talked to hundreds of alumni? I...don't believe you.

The average income family is still often still left paying around 10-20k a year. You have to make less thank 40k a year for schools to be "practically free"

Ivies don't have rich elitist kids? What planet are you from?

I go to Brown, campus jobs here do not pay $12 an hour.

At Tulane, my old school, you were lucky to get $6.

posterX

1. You don't have to.
2. Many families make 40k a year, or thereabouts. What planet are you from?
3. They do, but I've explained above why state schools are much worse.
4. Brown is not HYP.

Hanna

"The average income family is still often still left paying around 10-20k a year."

You have a skewed perception of what constitutes average income. The median US household income is $44,334 as of 2004. USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

Starting in 2006, 100% of families with household incomes below $60,000 are expected to pay ZERO to send their kid to Harvard.

If you're paying $10-20K a year to send your kid to Harvard, then your income (and/or assets) are well above average.

ClaySoul

Facts appreciated, and noted.

I guesss I should say a lot of middle class people end up paying 10-20k a year, which is often more than they can pay. That's people who make around 70k a year, etc. I think it would be interesting to look at what the average income for ivy student families.


Poster X:

1. And I don't.
2. Of course they do! When did I say they didn't? But show me some stats on how many people with families with sub 40k incomes are getting into ivies. (I'm NOT saying they don't, I just stressing that there are a lot of middle class people left paying a lot of money. It's not an all or nothing deal)
3. And you're wrong. Your logic is faulty.
4. I'm not going to listen to your your HYP is better than Brown (and many other schools) diatribe. You are again wrong.

jclay2

I think Harvard is somewhat overated because the best students in the country are not necessarily at Harvard or other top Ivy's. What is annoying about Harvard and other top schools alike is that people associate those schools with geniuses. However, there are many people who go to other schools that are indeed much smarter than 50-70% of Ivy league students. If a parent says their student is going to Harvard, everyone assumes that they are the smartest thing to ever walk the planet.

JohnC613

um what is the purpose of this thread?