<p>“that its warts are the same as those of Yale or MIT is just wrong.”</p>
<p>h-bomber thinks that even my experiences (class of '99) don’t reflect the improvements that have taken place in the last few years, and I’m not convinced that someone from the class of '78 can effectively speak to whether this is “just wrong” today (unless you’re a current Harvard parent or instructor, of course).</p>
<p>Having transferred from a small LAC to Harvard, yes, there was definitely a real difference in terms of DEFAULT intimacy with professors – that is, whether and how much they reached out to you if you did nothing. At Harvard, I knew when professor contact was important to me, and when I cared about it, I made it happen. It was up to me to determine what that relationship would be like. In other words, Harvard treated me like an adult instead of a high schooler, and that was fantastic for me.</p>
<p>So is that fantastic for everybody? Of course not, but neither is the LAC-type involvement objectively better. An example of the type of thing I mean: in an introductory class, my college boyfriend, at Oberlin, did not turn in a paper on the due date. That night the professor called him in his dorm room to ask why his paper wasn’t in the pile, and did he need some kind of help. That was typical of his experience in many classes at Oberlin, and it was great for my boyfriend. But that’s the last thing I wanted at college! Whose job is it to get my work done, mine or the professor’s? At what point do I learn to have some kind of responsibility for my own commitments? If someone here is prepared to argue that this kind of smothering care is typical at Yale or MIT, the way it was at Bryn Mawr/Haverford/Oberlin in my experience, I’d like to hear about it. But I think they’re a lot like Harvard.</p>