Article in US News: A Harvard Education Isn't As Advertised

[quomodo]

<p>An excerpt:

For nearly the past three years, I have been a student at Harvard, a university whose formula for undergraduate prestige has created an international reputation far beyond that of even its closest competitors. But as any undergraduate who actually attends the school knows, the Harvard education is overrated.
…
For three centuries, Harvard has led a masterful public relations campaign to claim the mantle of what is best in American education, even if that means less community, less intimate interaction with professors and classmates, less “we” and more “me.” In reality, more often than not, faculty here are inaccessible, students are unengaged interpersonally, and two way education is an anathema. After a recent class, I remarked to the tenured professor that I had completed more in-depth research papers in high school, where I had possessed unrivaled access to my teachers and unlimited guidance during the research process, than I had in my time in Cambridge. “That’s the problem with this place,” the professor grinned, not in the least surprised. “There is not enough contact between professors and students.”

</p>

<p>[A</a> Harvard Education Isn’t As Advertised - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2011/03/18/a-harvard-education-isnt-as-advertised?PageNr=2]A”>http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2011/03/18/a-harvard-education-isnt-as-advertised?PageNr=2)</p>

<p>Current students/alums: to what extent have you found this to be true?
Prospective students: does this give you pause?</p>

<p>Thoughts, in general?</p>

[felixfelicis]

<p>Hi! Here’s the thread about this: </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1107133-usnews-h-not-all-its-cracked-up.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/1107133-usnews-h-not-all-its-cracked-up.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

[yohobroncos]

<p>its truer here than a lot of other places. the opportunities here are pretty much endless. professors are accessible when you want them to be and theres plenty of support available when you seek it. but most harvard students would agree that especially compared to other top unis, noone here is available to hold your hand at all, you have to be able to make use of all of the opportunities available at your disposal.</p>

[quomodo]

<p>Oh, sorry! Didn’t realize someone already posted about this.</p>

[etondad]

<p>I posted something like this on the athletes page–but it is good for this thread-- as usual US News gets it all wrong. I am not knocking contact with professors (and I have been a non resident tutor for over 20 years), but if being able to see a professor is the be all and end all of your reason for college then you are a sad individual. Would you rather have a class with a nobody professor studying Michael Sandel’s book, or be in a lecture with the guy who wrote the book-- same with EO Wilson, and (well, name who you want…). I want contact with minds–minds who have thought long and hard about a subject and can help me see that pushing the edges of a discipline is possible–and exciting–(you can watch a Sandel lecture on itunes–check it out if you want to witness greatness).</p>

<p>College, in the end, is more than what happens in the classroom. I learned more in the dining hall, or the stairwells, or in my dorm room sitting around with other extraordinarily bright kids who would push back at my conceptions–sometimes for hours at a time. The classes were an adjunct, but not the main subject, of my education at college.</p>

<p>If you want to see Sandel for a personal conversation, you can-- but it is up to you. That is right–Harvard isn’t high school and no nice man or woman is going to come searching for you-- you have to take the initiative-- gosh, sorta what you have to do for the resat of your life as a grown up. So go to office hours, knock on his door. He’ll be there. But don’t come if you just want to be his BFF. Come if you found something he said, or something in the reading, or something you have been thinking about in the subject compelling and you want to have a dialogue. He’ll respond. </p>

<p>So, yeah, the contact isn’t easy–you got to want it. You want easy, go somewhere else. There will be 34,999 others happy to take your place.</p>

[engineerbill]

<p>

College, in the end, is more than what happens in the classroom. I learned more in the dining hall, or the stairwells, or in my dorm room sitting around with other extraordinarily bright kids who would push back at my conceptions–sometimes for hours at a time. The classes were an adjunct, but not the main subject, of my education at college.

</p>

<p>good point</p>