@CC_Sorin Answering your question: “…share your own application story? What made you pick Harvard and, looking back, do you feel like you made the right decision and why?”
Wow, that takes me back! I’ll start with the first part: What made you pick Harvard?
When I was in high school I wanted to be an orchestral conductor. Growing up in a small town in rural Virginia, I didn’t really know what that entailed, but I DID know that my hero Leonard Bernstein had gone to Harvard. So I dreamed of going there, too.
On the personal side, in high school I was also a brainy, VERY nerdy, band & theater geek who had figured out I was probably gay (but was terrified of anyone finding out), and thus felt very out of place in the rural South. So I imagined Harvard as a place where I might meet other people like me.
But of course, the real answer to your question is that I “picked” Harvard because they picked me – i.e. I got in!
(Will continue below…)