Visited Harvard - Didnt like Campus or Cambridge

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This kind of nonsense and obsession with name brand university makes Angelina Jolie look like Mother Theresa who doesn’t give a hoot about brand chasing. She’s enrolling her oldest son Maddox at an obscure university no one’s heard about... in S. Korea: "She loves him and is so proud of how wise he is beyond his years. She has encouraged him to travel nonstop, to learn many languages, and now has plans for him to go to university overseas..."

Maddox is rumored to be going to Yonsei University. It is NOT some no-name school. It's one of the top 3 universities in the country-it's the Y in the SKY universities, the group of the 3 most prestigious schools in the country that guarantees social status in the country. It would be like going to the P in HYP (Princeton). Their acceptance rate is under 5% and only the top 1% of scorers on the national test are invited to apply.

Tell me more. Do they have a caste system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This kind of nonsense and obsession with name brand university makes Angelina Jolie look like Mother Theresa who doesn’t give a hoot about brand chasing. She’s enrolling her oldest son Maddox at an obscure university no one’s heard about... in S. Korea: "She loves him and is so proud of how wise he is beyond his years. She has encouraged him to travel nonstop, to learn many languages, and now has plans for him to go to university overseas..."

Maddox is rumored to be going to Yonsei University. It is NOT some no-name school. It's one of the top 3 universities in the country-it's the Y in the SKY universities, the group of the 3 most prestigious schools in the country that guarantees social status in the country. It would be like going to the P in HYP (Princeton). Their acceptance rate is under 5% and only the top 1% of scorers on the national test are invited to apply.

Tell me more. Do they have a caste system?

I think PP meant social mobility, just like in the USA.

1st tier - Ivies, CalTech, MIT, Stanford - Aristocrats.
2nd tier - BU, NYU, WashU, Duke, U of ND, Rice - Merchants and financiers.
3rd tier - Public Universities - Working class, warriors, teachers, healers.
4th tier - Community Colleges - Peasants and artisans.

[Anonymous]

LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard Square has been overbuilt in recent years. I lived in the area 25 years ago, and then again a couple of years ago. It was much nicer years ago. All the old, charming places have been squeezed out. Alot of the character is gone from the place. It made me really sad, actually. Davis Square is now what Harvard Square used to be - very fun and lively.

Yes!! I first moved to Cambridge about 17ish years ago and it was SO much nicer then. All the cute little shops. The bookstore closures have been devastating. And I mourn Veggie Planet! And I miss the pit outsude the H2 T being an actually pit with the goth kids. I do love the yard though. It is magical when snow covered. But every urban area needs a bit of grit and now basically Harvard Square is banks with a few hidden gems nestled in. Davis is also not as nice as it used to be.

I was heartbroken when we moved back and Au Bon Pain was gone. There used to be so many quirky characters hanging out there. Pizzeria Uno closed while we were living there. That diner by Out Of Town News has been gone for years. It’s a shell of its former self.

Do you remember that "Spare Change" newspaper seller guy that used to stand by ABP? I'm sure he's long gone, but he was a hoot!

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/11/9/spare-change-news-2017/

I saw him the last time I was there in 2017, really brought me back in time 20 years.

He is still there! In fact I recognize a lot of the homeless people in the square. Border Cafe is still there!

OMG, I can't believe he's still there! Well I'm glad he's healthy and apparently doing well. Just hearing "young man! young man! young lady!" would totally bring me back. Except I wouldn't be "young lady!" anymore.

I remember one time I walked by he did his usual "young lady, young lady ....hey, did you get a haircut?" Hahaha, some of my friends didn't even notice!

He was there last week when I walked through. Still nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

Was it really that bad? I went to lowly BU for my Ph.D., but I remember Central Square being just a little sketchy back in the day. No drive-bys or anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

History is replete with aristocrats getting shot, hanged, guillotined...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

Really??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard is Harvard and hard to turn down. But wow, Cambridge was busy and much more run down then I would have believed. The Harvard campus isnt even in the top 20. And I could only imagine how ugly it must be in the dead of Winter.

Werent impreseed at all especially relative to the other Ivy's we visited. Take away the name - meh.

Your kid probably won't get in anyway so now you can breathe easy, relax, and be thankful that you and your kid won't be subjected to ugly, rundown places like Cambridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

Really??

Doesn’t every college have its own police force?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cambridge is run down? I'll give you not particularly attractive, but if you think Cambridge is run down, watch out for the rest of urban New England.

Brown will be terrifying, and don't event think about Yale.

Much of Providence is lovely and the Brown campus and surrounding areas are awesome. I don't feel the same about New Haven but at least they have Frank Pepe's.

The thing about the OP's Harvard point is they know it, everybody knows it, it sucks having busloads of tourist peering in your dorm windows but it doesn't matter because it is Harvard. They could have an application requirement where they got to punch every applicant in the face and they'd still have a single digit acceptance rate.

(same for Yale and New Haven, BTW)

Agreed, PP. But I'd also take Cambridge over New Haven and Providence. Or Penn. My friend's DD went to Penn and she and other students were very blasé about muggings etc, as if it's the price you pay for going to Penn.

[Anonymous]

Good thing your kid isn't getting in anyway!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

Was it really that bad? I went to lowly BU for my Ph.D., but I remember Central Square being just a little sketchy back in the day. No drive-bys or anything.

The over 10 years ago person is totally exaggerating. I w
lived and would go out in Central between 2002 and 2010. No it was not the combat zone then although it was a bit sketchy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

Was it really that bad? I went to lowly BU for my Ph.D., but I remember Central Square being just a little sketchy back in the day. No drive-bys or anything.

The over 10 years ago person is totally exaggerating. I w
lived and would go out in Central between 2002 and 2010. No it was not the combat zone then although it was a bit sketchy.

I was a townie teen in the 90s. You could get a full breakfast in Central Square for $1.99. So many drunk nights at the Middle East. Those were the days!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

No it wasn't .. I was there as a single woman. I never had a problem in the Square, in Cambridge, in Somerville, in any of the other squares. I took the T everywhere and never once had an incident, 1975-1987. Even owned a coop there briefly. I go back for reunions. Cambridge is perfectly fine. Yale, off-campus is another issue altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL oh girlfriend! I went to MIT over 10 years ago. You think Cambridge is bad now? It was the 'hood back in my day. Grad students were regularly beat / shot late a night. MIT had an actual police force because of it.

Really??

Doesn’t every college have its own police force?

Not off campus.