<p>I thought Harvard in my day had a good share of brilliant artists, writers and impresarios. These lists mostly are of people from even longer ago than that. I agree that Harvard by its nature is likely to attract more conventional kids, but I think JHS is right. Many of the artists aren’t applying to Harvard, and many are getting distracted once they get there. </p>
<p>Harvard didn’t seem to mind that one of my comp sci guy’s accomplishments was helping with a mod for the computer game Civ 4 that won accolades from Gamer magazine. (They made a history based game into a fantasy world with magic.)</p>