<p>I think it’s more diverse than many–the only criteria on which we’re not diverse is that we all care very deeply/are very motivated about something, whether it’s school or not. (Which would suggest that the admissions office, in looking for “passion”, is doing a good job getting what it’s looking for.) Some very good colleges select for a more homogenous student body because they value a certain kind of student more than another. Reed, say, looks for self-consciously intellectual kids. I don’t know whether that sort of selection is good or bad–I think it could be either depending on what you want out of college–but Harvard’s got all sorts. </p>
<p>I’ve stopped judging “oh, so and so didn’t deserve to get into Harvard, s/he seems dumb” since early freshman year. Freshman fall, see, I knew this big brawny dude who was very “Hi. I varsity sport. Form sentence? Ha.” He was obviously very good at his chosen sport, so I was like, ah, the dumb athlete, whatever. Then I learned that he was also an artist–even to my untrained eye, which is not really the best at judging this, he is obviously absolutely, astonishingly good. So he can’t/doesn’t string more than three words together at a time while speaking–whatever. There are multiple, very good reasons that he is here. I think that’s sort of typical of the kind of diversity you find here. It sounds like an admissions brochure buzzword, but I think it’s true.</p>