Many Harvard students don’t go to class
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Anonymous
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And still get good grades. Mostly due to grade inflation..
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/harvard-students-absenteeism.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare Seriously, if students are not doing their reading, participating in discussions, what is the point of going to Harvard then? Just to get a job? |
Anonymous
Yes. Harvard has always had a strong pre-professional contingent but it’s only gotten larger in recent years. Plenty of finance bros and future lawyers who know how to game the system, and understand professional connections are more important than classes. Also easy to skip large lectures classes, and there are a lot of those. |
Anonymous
| I think it’s a mix of things but do think many savvy enough to get into Harvard these days can game the system well. It’s always been the school about which it’s said it’s only hard to get in. |
Anonymous
If you had bothered to read the article and the study you would know they are not attending class because they are trying to distinguish themselves from other students there in order to land summer internships. They do this by club membership, etc. |
Anonymous
I did. My point was the rat race doesn’t end even after getting into Harvard. |
Anonymous
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It's 2025 -- many classes are recorded and available on Canvas or Blackboard (or whatever platform Harvard uses) afterwards.
I work at a med school and I'd say slightly less than half of the students attend class. They intend to watch the videos, but whether they do or not, is another thing. It doesn't matter at all, as long as they do well on the tests. Obviously an intimate undergrad seminar is a different matter, but I assume most undergrad students who don't love going to class still go to those. Most of the time anyway. |
Anonymous
| They realize social assets are more important than class time. |
Anonymous
| My friend got pregnant at age 20 and had a shot gun wedding. She did not go to class after that - she enrolled in the same classes as her husband and reviewed his note and somehow managed to do well enough to get into med school. Some smart kids (well, book smart, not smart enough to take BC) can do all of this and also care for a newborn without attending class. |
Anonymous
| And their professors don't care one bit. A good friend was a professor at Yale and he was never evaluated on the actual teaching, only on what he published. |
Anonymous
Ah but the race is more prestigious, the other rats better connected, the prizes higher. If you have to race rats better do it where you become more advantaged. Elite rats. |
Anonymous
“Excellent Sheep and Elite Rats” |
Anonymous
| Hasn’t it been this way for decades? Friend of mine graduated from Harvard in late 90s and I remember him telling me he never went to class because he had access to the notes (or maybe even recorded lectures? Can’t remember specifics). He’s a doctor now. |
Anonymous
Take as many seminar classes as possible. This is where you're going to max out your educational opportunities with a good professor. |
Anonymous
| It may be sour grapes but reading this article made me feel much better about the fact that my kids won’t get into Harvard. The new culture of competitive clubs just seems so toxic. If the entire value is the network, that just seems very limited to certain industries. I work in a field that pays really well and I’m one of very few people who went to an Ivy. |
Anonymous
| The school is overrated for the education. Its main benefit is for jobs. |