For those who enrolled at Harvard

unctuous
Tue, 26 Apr 2005 20:02:11 +0000

that’s one reason, i guess. i’ll go through the reasons i love harvard: 1. fantastic location - it is only a few minutes from downtown boston (almost as close as columbia is to downtown manhattan-most people don’t realize this), but it has a very expansive, quiet campus, unlike columbia. being near boston gives you boston’s cultural, arts, restaurant, club, etc scene - many harvard organizations actually rent out clubs in boston for events that are solely for harvard students. in addition to the city itself, there are 60 colleges within half an hour or something crazy like that, and bc, bu, and tufts are right in your backyard, so you can party there or meet new people or get together with friends…you get the idea. 2. it is my opinion that the people at harvard are the most unique and diverse group out of any university in the world. since harvard wins nearly all cross-admits with other institutions and everyone the world over knows harvard, it can basically have almost anyone. most likely, never again in your life will you be in a place that has assembled people of the talents, genius, and who have the unique experiences/backgrounds that you will get at harvard. for goodness’ sake, the admitted class of 2009 represents 80 countries; princeton’s, for example, represents 40-something. 3. harvard’s endowment is nuts. this is good for several reasons: awesome finaid, funding for study abroad or research without hassle, campus events, etc. heck, they paid for me to fly from nyc to boston - $600, when i could have taken a bus for $30! 4. shrek’s reason gives rise to other ancillary benefits such as attracting not only the brightest minds in the world for lectures or discussions, but also every artist/comedian/movie star alive today - everybody wants to perform/talk about their latest research at harvard. 5. the facilities and faculty are unmatched. period. how many nobel prize winners? close to 40, i think? and contrary to what misinformed individuals will claim, there is no lack of undergrad focus…if you have read hanna’s posts, you’ll know that only the grad school of arts and sciences even shares faculty with the college and then, the college always wins in funding/opportunities (she attended both the college and the law school, so she has an excellent basis for comparison). i really don’t know of any large research university where you will have close interaction with your professors if you don’t use their office hours or contact them. i think if this were the case, they would end up being like the gestapo - faculty calling you at all hours when you don’t need help or anything. personally, i know that if i want to talk to a professor i’ll just shoot him/her an email or freaking go to his/her office during office hours. it’s really not that tough. 6. finally, there is just that allure that only harvard has. everyone from your grandmother to a 4-year-old in south korea has heard of harvard, and they will all be proud/amazed that you go/went there. this reason alone is not enough to choose harvard (many people do for only this reason, and these are the people you see writing books after they refuse to transfer and suffer through four years of hating their life), but i think there are a bunch of other damn good ones why you should. i’m sure i forgot something, but that’s basically the nuts and bolts of why harvard university is the greatest institution in the history of mankind :)