<p>@alittleriddle and @Extradition I also applied to Cambridge and I’m having my interview this coming Monday. What subject were you interviewed for? And would you choose Cambridge over Harvard?</p>
<p>Dday’s getting closer! Around 2 more daysss.</p>
<p>Regarding the undergrad something’s answer on Quora: Please tell me Harvard is not a place where a bunch of materialists hanging around who are obsessed about their own ‘success’… where is all the making-the-world-a-better-place spirit?</p>
<p>I’m probably too negative, but what if Harvard - the iconic image of higher education - focus on admitting and educating only the people who have potential to make lots of money to give back to the college? - without considering their motives… And “Harvard students do things that make them look good, not do good things” - is that true what she said?</p>
<p>@doppelganger21 I was interviewed for law. I don’t think I’d choose Cambridge over Harvard. I’ve only come to realize this now, but when I visited Cambridge it just didn’t “feel right”. I don’t know how to explain it, maybe it was the mentality there. It seemed like everyone was so grim and withdrawn. I just felt a lot more comfortable when I visited Harvard but that is probably a very subjective and personal opinion.</p>
<p>@shanethesemi My daughter has not moved away from Harvard as her dream school, but “need” for financial aid is decided by Harvard and not us. Like you, my daughter seems to understand this, and accepts that there is a high chance that she won’t get enough aid to justify the difference in cost to the public schools where she already got merit awards or her RD privates that have potential for merit awards. My husband and I make a good living but don’t have a budget that can spare 60 to 70 thousand a year for the next four years. We hope she can get through undergraduate school without loans, because she already hopes to go on to graduate school in some type of biomedical engineering research field. But we encouraged her to apply to her dream school anyway, because first you have to get admitted before you get to make this hard decision. </p>
<p>I think I’ve moved away from H as my number 1 and I kind of hope I get deferred or rejected since I really don’t think I want to go anymore 
I originally wanted to apply to yale SCEA but then I fell in love with Harvard and now I’m back to loving Yale more especially after that discussion people just had</p>
<p>@NorthernMom61 I understand how despairing the whole money thing can be, but I don’t know if you’re understanding how Harvard aid works…</p>
<p>First, the university has more that $30 billion. That’s more than any other in the world, and just this year they received a hundred-million-dollar gift from an alum that will be destined towards undergraduate financial aid. </p>
<p>“Need” is calculated by them, that’s true. But everything shows that their definition of need is more generous than most other colleges! You could use the “Net Price Calculator” to get an estimate, but in the actual process they take into account other factors as well (siblings not in college yet, sick parents, debts, etc). If your family has any particular circumstance that justifies the need for additional aid, as said in previous posts, you can appeal for it and they will most likely award it. They promote their stats very well: for 90% of families it is cheaper to attend Harvard than a public school. </p>
<p>Again, I don’t know your particular situation, but I don’t see any way in which you would not be generously awarded if your daughter is accepted. </p>
<p>They have enough money to spare. And there’s endless stories of kids getting trips paid as part of their package, getting cash for winter clothes if they come from a warmer state, and stuff like that. </p>
<p>I depend on financial aid to attend, too. But I’m not really worried about it - if admitted - I’m confident they’ll do the right thing. Actually Harvard is the only college in which I’d be so confident about financial aid.
Best of luck! </p>
<p>@NorthernMom61 What I’m saying is: unless you make over $600,000/year or have multi-million-dollar assets, rest assured there’s no way you’re doing to have to spare 60k a year for college. </p>
<p>@rick13 I guess we will see in a few days! </p>
<p>@rick13 Your words are kind. We are by no means despairing , thrilled to be able to offer the level of financial support that we can. I hope you the best in your bid for a bed at Harvard. </p>
<p>@mimosa26 and @Jellybae I feel slightly remorseful for posting those student comments off Quoro. I’m sure I could find equally negative comments from disgruntled students at Yale or from any other school for that matter. There will surely be wonderful, idealistic people at Harvard who will want to change the world and who will inspire you; there will be funny, warm souls who will become allies and liffe-long friends. I do think that if we’re accepted, however, we need to go in with our eyes wide open. We should attend VISITAS and ask current students the hard questions. The beauty of SCEA. Is it’s non-binding</p>
<p>3.8 UW GPA here with no remarkable talent or major family disturbance.</p>
<p>considering most accepted people were either off the charts extraordinary or had perfect stats last year, I think it’s time to look at more ‘matches’.</p>
<p>@Doppelganger21 @Alittleriddle @Extradition I got an interview at Cambridge as well, shame I won’t be able to go. </p>
<p>@Jalebigirl 3.86 UW middle class white male here, literally no chance for me either</p>
<p>I’ve had some undergrad friends tell me that the common perception is that “Harvard kids are0 50% business a**holes”. The percentage of kids doing economics, finance, (money-making majors), etc. kinda supports this… But I know every college has many different communities within it. </p>
<p>@goodinterrupt Yes! Yeezus isn’t my favorite Yeezy album, but one thing is for sure: Kanye = my pastor</p>
<p>Experiencing all the bad stuff about Harvard at out age is probably going to be really valuable for us, like a welcome to the real world moment, you know?
So. There you go, look at the bright side. </p>
<p>As for all of you who are changing the way you viewed Harvard because of the previous posts, I must say that hard work is required in every college! My brother goes to a normal state college and he is very active, he participates in the student government, does a lot of extracurriculars, has a on campus job… He is literally on the run 24/7!
Don’t let hard work scare you! + every college has its good points and negative points and Harvard is no exception to this rule! You will find all kind of personalities at all colleges, including Yale and Harvard! I’ve heard many testimonies of people who have made life long friends at Harvard! Don’t give up now, u have all come so far…let’s continue to keep our hopes high… All u guys have amazing personalities and are able to achieve much in life! <3
:)>- 2 DAYS 8 HOURS 45 MINUTES</p>
<p>@entrebusecon did you take an on campus interview?</p>
<p>I asked Mem her stress levels… she said 9 now and a 6 normally but she thrives on staying busy. In fact when her interviewer asked her if she had any last words to ad before they ended her interview she said,“I don’t do downtime. I need to keep busy” so her stress level is normally trying to figure out how to do it all when things collide. For instance she has a solo in the winter choral concert but is also varsity cheer captain for the game that will be across the hall in the gym at the same time. That stuff stresses her out. She is not type A but borderline OCD at times and that stresses her out. LOL.
As for the negative things about Harvard. Her response was “Harvard is one of the most prestigious places to study. You will need to figure out what you will get from it once you figure out if you get in. Harvard does not bow down to you and invite you. You have to want it and will have to find a way to fit it to you.”
As for financial aid- we are a middle class family stretched tight already. I have one in college already and this would make for two college payments with two more kids at home. They said at an informational meeting here in CT that your tuition ends up being around 10% of your income. I am certain she will walk away with many scholarships by the end of her senior year. Although I understand how many parents would not want to take on the burden, I think that after all she has done to get there, if she gets in she will go. </p>
<p>I think some people brought up interesting points about Harvard’s financial aid policy. My family is in what most people would probably consider the upper middle class. We’ve run the financial aid calculator several times and it looks like I’ll receive somewhere between $0 and $8k if I’m accepted. My mom is a CPA so she’s tried to mess with the numbers a little bit in order to maximize my aid package, but it tops out around $7.5k. The financial aid calculator automatically assumes that we pay around $15k for both of the two dependents we currently have in college, but we actually pay nothing for them, so I’m pretty sure my package would be less anyways. My parents are willing to pay somewhere around $15k per year for my education, so it doesn’t look like Harvard is financially accessible for me. Could my parents stretch themselves to pay for more of my college education? Probably. Do I want them to stretch themselves beyond what they’re comfortable with? No. </p>
<p>To me, it makes sense to opt for a mid tier(Duke or Vandy) or state school (UF) where I could get merit scholarships and be less of a financial burden to my family. I know that Harvard has the largest endowment, but need based aid doesn’t go far for me 
</p>
<p>I guess at this point all I can do is wait for my admissions decision and hope that an acceptance comes with a decent amount of financial aid. </p>
<p>Should our portals have closed already…?</p>