why go to harvard for undergrad..?

Preguntas
Sat, 22 Jul 2006 05:42:08 +0000

I think this conversation about Harvard being the best is a bit misleading. Does Harvard have the best name recognition? Yes. Is it the oldest university in America? Indeed. Are its schools and the quality of its education top-notch? You bet.

But is Harvard the best place for undergrad? I came to the conclusion that it is not necessarily the best - especially at this point in its history.

Larry Summers, who had been one of the most promising leaders in American higher education, was forced to resign by a faculty that was too arrogant to critically look at their quality of undergraduate education. Summers had been key in making plans for its Allston expansion, another capital campaign, major curriculum changes, and its financial aid initiative. Now, without a permanent president, and with a divided faculty, plans for most of these promising advances have been halted or delayed. It’s even been reported that many donors have reneged on their multimillion dollar pledges because of a lack of confidence in Harvard’s leadership.

When I visited Harvard during its Pre-frosh Orientation Weekend, no one could tell me what the graduation requirements would be, including whether or not there would still be core classes. Why? Because the faculty hadn’t decided what to do. No one knew how delaying the choosing of your major would affect Junior Tutorials. Why? Because the faculty hadn’t made up its mind. No one could tell me if pre-med students would have to take the life sciences sequence. Why? Because faculty hadn’t agreed on what to do with it after so many students complained on its impracticalities.

Scores of administrators have resigned or have been fired recently (Kirby, O’Brien, etc.). The school administration has been restructured recently in a way that some people don’t know who is in charge of what.

Harvard students complain of their social lives so much that Harvard has hired a “Fun Czar” who organizes social events for them. I mean, come on!

Obviously Harvard is a great school. But I discovered that I wouldn’t want to spend my undergraduate years in a place that is plagued with so many internal conflict, questions, and confusement, not to mention its lukewarm focus on undergraduates.

Anyway, I just wanted to provide another viewpoint on this Harvard lovefest.