<p>EastGrad–sorry for the late response. I did not go to any formal events. Visitas is what you make of it. Most students just hang around with other prefrosh. It’s less of an official visit (like tour, info session, etc) and more of just how you feel about being there. There are official tours and sessions on various topics (academics, etc). Sorry I can’t be of more help. For the record, Visitas “officially” starts on Saturday, they just have Friday events for people who may be coming from far and get there earlier.</p>
<p>I have really enjoyed reading the posts - makes me feel a little more in the “loop”. Where are the parents of the Class of 2016? Would love to hear how their S or D is doing and what house they were assigned.</p>
<p>My S is loving every minute of his Harvard experience and he was assigned to Quincy. My husband thinks it is too ironic that we have always called him our “liitle penguin” (throwback from football and trying to identify your kid) and he is one now for sure!</p>
<p>My S was in Quincy (“THe People’s House”). He is not one to advertise his Harvard affiliation but will wear his house sweatshirt. I think the Gehrkes are still Housemasters. They sometimes host receptions in their quarters on the top floor of New Quincy; if you get a chance to see it, do. The views are amazing.</p>
<p>^^^^
My S had dinner there last night - he sent pictures and the view was amazing!</p>
<p>I believe all our kids will be fine where ever they end up! DS is not picky about housing…if it has a bed, he will be happy!!</p>
<p>mom3mom - The Quad is beautiful. My D lives in a River House and she always wishes she was on the quad. Quieter and lovely, so it depends on what kind of person she is, mostly. Now the SOCH is there, so it’s even more inviting.</p>
<p>My S would definitely have been happy had he been assigned to a cardboard box! He is so thrilled with everything Harvard. We had discussed all the housing possibilities and there were pros and cons for each one - the one thing that was constant, no matter where you were assigned you would love it.</p>
<p>The great thing about this thread is the way previous parents have shared their experiences at Harvard from Visitas to graduation. I would like to see that continued since I see that some of the “regulars” have graduated or are about to graduate.</p>
<p>my S also got Cabot. He was majorly bummed but knows it comes down to being with your friends. I’m trying to emphasize the positive but he is under the impression that the kids in the quad don’t interact much with the river kids and so you lose at lot of your friends.</p>
<p>To parents of kids headed to visitas or any other preview weekend, beware that these do not always do a good job of representing the school. My S really disliked visitas and loved MIT CPW, he hated leaving CPW to head to visitas. He ended up at harvard and loves it while the kids he hung out with at MIT (and loved CPW) are not enjoying it nearly as much. Of course he thought Yale was the funnest of all of them but not enough to go there.</p>
<p>My son’s blocking group was the last year that students made “sacrifices” to the River Gods (if you wanted a River House) and from what my son told me, I understand why they were banned. They got the house they wanted (except one who wanted the comforts of the quad houses). They would, of course, tell you that there is no better house at Harvard, but they all seem to have pluses and minuses. From my observations, House pride is a big deal at Harvard.</p>
<p>Thank you, CPU. We have decided to send DS by himself. Thanks for the reminder, Bluebird, that Visitas is not a very real representation of Harvard, since there are an extra 800 kids around. </p>
<p>mom3mom and student4ever, my own mom is fond of reminding everyone that when she went to Radcliffe 50 years ago, there were no shuttle buses and the women had to wear skirts to class. (Our response: yeah, yeah, uphill both ways in the snow! :)) She also mentions that back in the day, it was much harder to get into Radcliffe than it was into Harvard! </p>
<p>I think quadded students feel a real sense of community and they like being there. And there are loads of great restaurants and shops in Porter Square.</p>
<p>Hi Bluebird,</p>
<p>MIT freshman parent here (who never applied to Harvard). 
Just wanted to say that my son and his friends from Simmons dorm at MIT love, love, love MIT! And my son never went to CPW. Not sure what dorm(s) your son’s friends are in. They need to get over to Simmons and maybe they’ll enjoy MIT more. :-)</p>
<p>My son also has a good friend from his old math circle at Harvard who’s enjoying it very much. I don’t think my son’s make it over to Harvard yet, but I’m sure he will soon! It’s an amazing place and I love reading the camaraderie of all you parents. :-)</p>
<p>My son graduated in 2011, but I still check in here sometimes because I want to be as helpful to the newcomers as the experienced parents were to me. I didn’t join until my daughter was applying to schools (in 2009), but I still got lots of ideas from CC. </p>
<p>To echo others, house pride is fierce, and it doesn’t seem to matter which house you are in. My son’s entire blocking group of 7 will be getting together for a long weekend later this month, almost 2 years after graduation. They are still incredibly close. He was in a river house, but he certainly had friends in quad housing. If it gets really late, students sometimes stay over at their friends’ houses.</p>
<p>I live in the area (3 miles from campus), so if anyone has questions about area specific things, give me a holler.</p>
<p>^^^^
Thanks EnoughAlready - not being in the area, I always have questions! When I posted about the housing assignments I was hoping to generate some interaction among the parents of the Class of 2016 in order to keep this thread alive. I appreciate you “checking in”. It would be a shame not to be able to avail ourselves of your knowledge!</p>
<p>…if your child was blessed enough to be chosen by the Quad Gods… your child will be living like royalty for the next 2 years.</p>
<p>(my “unbiased” opinion :))</p>
<p>I really appreciate all parents (and students) in this thread. I’ve been learning a lot about Harvard, and getting more and more excited by the day!</p>
<p>I just got my MIT financial aid package, and it’s definitely well below expectations; to the point where I wouldn’t be able to attend. Fortunately, Harvard is one of my very top choices (if not the top choice) and I’ll be eagerly waiting to see their FA package. I’m hoping the folks on the other side of Cambridge will come through! </p>
<p>From what I’ve seen on CC, MIT’s financial aid is materially worse than HYP’s… I wonder if anyone here noticed that as well…?</p>
<p>Yab,</p>
<p>Yes, Harvard has much better f. aid than MIT. Fantastic that you will be going to Harvard! My son’s f. aid at MIT worked out very well. He got a lot of aid (we’re a family of 5 with under 80K income) and he was able to bring in his outside yearly NM Scholarship to cover loan and work study, so this year, at least, our out of pocket costs were under 3K. I know it’s not that way for everyone. You can appeal your aid package, btw. We did that last year, gave them Princeton’s f. aid package for comparison, and my son got more money.</p>
<p>Hey sbjdorlo,</p>
<p>I will definitely try to appeal the aid package if I felt the need. But I want to wait for Harvard’s and few other offers first. I don’t want to bother MIT’s FA office for nothing! Thank you so much for the reply! it makes me feel a little better.</p>
<p>What’s particularly surprising is that I got better need-based financial aid package from the need-aware WUSTL (I’m an international student)</p>
<p>I would love to hear other parents/students interactions with Harvard’s FA office!</p>
<p>Sorry to derail this thread but that is interesting. WUSTL offered my son the worst f. aid package (as he did not make it for their full tuition scholarship) of his ten schools to which he accepted. I will be interested to see what Harvard offers. I don’t know about their aid for international students but maybe a parent on this thread does.</p>
<p>@Yab123, When my DD was at Harvard, the FA Office was very accommodating. We appealed because the FA package that she received from Harvard was lower than what she received from Cornell, Stanford and Princeton (interestingly, Yale had the worst package). The appeal resulted in a higher FA package. My advice is that you should not hesitate to appeal if your circumstances warrant the appeal and if the FA packages from other schools are higher. In retrospect, I must say that the FA Office was a pleasure to deal with and provided very good aid for upper middle class families (My DD started at Harvard the in 2007, which was the year when the new FA initiative for middle class families started). I wish I could say the same for some of the schools that DD2 has applied to this year.</p>
<p>^^ Fascinating. For the past 2 years, Yale’s FA has bested Harvard’s by about 5K per year ($2,500 per semester), even though both schools are looking at the exact same data.</p>