Current Harvard students: are you HAPPY?

compmom
Sat, 03 Apr 2010 07:20:54 +0000

I think it is hard to generalize about a big and diverse place like Harvard. I understand that you feel a need to simplify and even stereotype in order to make a decision.

Our daughter is very chill about things, doesn’t care much about grades, loves the courses at Harvard, and has made a lot of great friends who have similar attitudes. Wherever you go, you will find people who are compatible with your own personality and attitudes.

Harvard students seem very happy to me, and there is quite a bit of focus on undergrads these days (another myth is that undergrads do not get attention, but this goes back more than a decade now and things have changed).

Both Yale and Harvard have house systems, and you spend 3 years in that smaller community on the larger campus. At Yale, you find out your house in Freshman year, and at Harvard, you find out at the end of that year and choose roommates.

Harvard has fewer distribution requirements, and you take 4 classes/semester, which is not only manageable but seems enjoyable.

Our daughter felt that Yale was intense, and Harvard more relaxed. This was based on tour guides, frankly, and silly too.

Wherever you go, you have the potential to be happy.

Maybe you should just choose based on the differences in architecture! Seriously, look up courses in majors you might pursue, look at the distribution requirements, that kind of thing.