How to say you went to Harvard (elite school, HYPS, etc)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's the old saying about having gone to school "near Boston" which is often dismissed as a false arrogance but if you say the name, it sounds snobbish. If it comes up, what do you consider the right way to approach it?

If it comes up, you say where you went to school. If you feel the need to bring it up often, and you're more than 2 years out of school, you're the problem.

And "(elite school, HYPS, etc)" isn't the issue. Nobody I've ever met who went to Yale had these tortured "but how do I say my school name in front of the proles without causing resentment??!?" problems. This is something specific and peculiar to Harvard - you're all telling each other no one can handle you "dropping the H bomb" in conversation and you're all falling for it. It's not that serious.

Actually, I know a woman who said she went to school in Connecticut (we were discussing colleges, and I asked her). I then said, “Oh, where?” thinking UConn, Connecticut College, etc. She very sheepishly said, “Yale.” I mean, come on! Just say Yale to begin with!

[Anonymous]

""I went to Harvard bitches!!" Actually JMU. I wanted to see what it was like

I’d stick with JMU. The dumbest people I have worked with attended Harvard undergrad.

Can you tell us what it’s like to work with Jared Kushner?"

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's the old saying about having gone to school "near Boston" which is often dismissed as a false arrogance but if you say the name, it sounds snobbish. If it comes up, what do you consider the right way to approach it?

If it comes up, you say where you went to school. If you feel the need to bring it up often, and you're more than 2 years out of school, you're the problem.

And "(elite school, HYPS, etc)" isn't the issue. Nobody I've ever met who went to Yale had these tortured "but how do I say my school name in front of the proles without causing resentment??!?" problems. This is something specific and peculiar to Harvard - you're all telling each other no one can handle you "dropping the H bomb" in conversation and you're all falling for it. It's not that serious.

Not true. I went to Yale for undergrad and law school and it was the same. As another poster said, all you need is for one or two people to gush about how "you must be really smart!" and you start looking for ways not to mention it. Plenty of Yalies do the "I went to school in Connecticut" or "in New England" thing. (It is douche-y to say "in New Haven" though because many people associate New Haven with Yale and don't know that there are actually other colleges there, so then it looks like the weird side-step that it is.)

Happily I rarely get asked now except in a professional context and no one raises an eyebrow at learning I went to Yale Law School. There are sometimes raised eyebrows if they ask about undergrad and I say I went to Yale for that too, but there aren't really comments.

Who cares if a few people say "you must be really smart" etc when you say you went to Harvard/Yale? That's far better than the vast majority of people thinking you are totally full of yourself by saying you went to school in Boston/Connecticut. Having people think you're smart is good but having people think you are egotistical is bad. Got it? Just say where you went to school, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If someone says I went to Harvard, I will ask them whether they went to "Lower Harvard" or "Higher Harvard". If they say Higher Harvard, I will say good for you. If they say Lower Harvard, I will say I am sorry you must have had to endury fouy years of misery. If they say I did Engineering at Harvard, I will pity them for going to a no name program at Harvard in the shadows of the greatest Engineering institution in the world, MIT.

In other words you hear the word Harvard and think it’s a license to be a jerk.

If you went to Harvard you know all majors are not at the same level. God forbid, if you did Engineering at Harvard you know what I said is true.

When you meet people from UVA do you tell them they went to second tier school?

This is might be why people are reluctant to say where they went. Idiots like you act that complete pricks.

Is your d**k hurting so much by my comment? Are you so insecure about the school you went to and you have such a low self-esteem?

I didn’t go to Harvard, I went to UVA and I feel just fine about it. I just think you act like an entitled ass. But since you’re so proud of yourself, where did you go to college then?

[Anonymous]

Just be direct people - please. Why is that so hard?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's the old saying about having gone to school "near Boston" which is often dismissed as a false arrogance but if you say the name, it sounds snobbish. If it comes up, what do you consider the right way to approach it?

If it comes up, you say where you went to school. If you feel the need to bring it up often, and you're more than 2 years out of school, you're the problem.

And "(elite school, HYPS, etc)" isn't the issue. Nobody I've ever met who went to Yale had these tortured "but how do I say my school name in front of the proles without causing resentment??!?" problems. This is something specific and peculiar to Harvard - you're all telling each other no one can handle you "dropping the H bomb" in conversation and you're all falling for it. It's not that serious.

Not true. I went to Yale for undergrad and law school and it was the same. As another poster said, all you need is for one or two people to gush about how "you must be really smart!" and you start looking for ways not to mention it. Plenty of Yalies do the "I went to school in Connecticut" or "in New England" thing. (It is douche-y to say "in New Haven" though because many people associate New Haven with Yale and don't know that there are actually other colleges there, so then it looks like the weird side-step that it is.)

Happily I rarely get asked now except in a professional context and no one raises an eyebrow at learning I went to Yale Law School. There are sometimes raised eyebrows if they ask about undergrad and I say I went to Yale for that too, but there aren't really comments.

Who cares if a few people say "you must be really smart" etc when you say you went to Harvard/Yale? That's far better than the vast majority of people thinking you are totally full of yourself by saying you went to school in Boston/Connecticut. Having people think you're smart is good but having people think you are egotistical is bad. Got it? Just say where you went to school, please.

Because when you’re 18 or 19 and insecure and interacting with people who think you think you’re better than they are, it’s very awkward. Like I said, I don’t have this issue now in my 30s. But up til about 25, yeah.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing snobbier than answering the question with “Cambridge”.

Just say “Harvard”, or wherever. Answer a direct question with a direct answer. And then don’t act like an elitist F$&*.

If you say Cambridge people will assume England.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's the old saying about having gone to school "near Boston" which is often dismissed as a false arrogance but if you say the name, it sounds snobbish. If it comes up, what do you consider the right way to approach it?

If it comes up, you say where you went to school. If you feel the need to bring it up often, and you're more than 2 years out of school, you're the problem.

And "(elite school, HYPS, etc)" isn't the issue. Nobody I've ever met who went to Yale had these tortured "but how do I say my school name in front of the proles without causing resentment??!?" problems. This is something specific and peculiar to Harvard - you're all telling each other no one can handle you "dropping the H bomb" in conversation and you're all falling for it. It's not that serious.

Not true. I went to Yale for undergrad and law school and it was the same. As another poster said, all you need is for one or two people to gush about how "you must be really smart!" and you start looking for ways not to mention it. Plenty of Yalies do the "I went to school in Connecticut" or "in New England" thing. (It is douche-y to say "in New Haven" though because many people associate New Haven with Yale and don't know that there are actually other colleges there, so then it looks like the weird side-step that it is.)

Happily I rarely get asked now except in a professional context and no one raises an eyebrow at learning I went to Yale Law School. There are sometimes raised eyebrows if they ask about undergrad and I say I went to Yale for that too, but there aren't really comments.

Who cares if a few people say "you must be really smart" etc when you say you went to Harvard/Yale? That's far better than the vast majority of people thinking you are totally full of yourself by saying you went to school in Boston/Connecticut. Having people think you're smart is good but having people think you are egotistical is bad. Got it? Just say where you went to school, please.

If you say Connecticut many folks will assume UConn, which has become quite well known through its Basketball prowess.

[Anonymous]

All I can think when someone went to Harvard and over 50 they had rich parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody asks after you're about 24 or 25.

Lawyers do! I’m 48 and am still asked.

Law is one field that is very conscious about where people went to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is nothing snobbier than answering the question with “Cambridge”.

Just say “Harvard”, or wherever. Answer a direct question with a direct answer. And then don’t act like an elitist F$&*.

If you say Cambridge people will assume England.

That's what they are counting on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's the old saying about having gone to school "near Boston" which is often dismissed as a false arrogance but if you say the name, it sounds snobbish. If it comes up, what do you consider the right way to approach it?

If it comes up, you say where you went to school. If you feel the need to bring it up often, and you're more than 2 years out of school, you're the problem.

And "(elite school, HYPS, etc)" isn't the issue. Nobody I've ever met who went to Yale had these tortured "but how do I say my school name in front of the proles without causing resentment??!?" problems. This is something specific and peculiar to Harvard - you're all telling each other no one can handle you "dropping the H bomb" in conversation and you're all falling for it. It's not that serious.

+1 Harvard Law Grad. It is specific to Harvard, and it is often accompanied by assumptions made about you--snobby, and/or super-smart, etc.

No. Nobody think Harvard is super smart - except you. There’s another thread on here about getting a job at Walmart or getting into McDonald’s University in Shanghai being harder than Harvard.

[Anonymous]

And oh, there’s another thread on here about a kid with mid-1300 on SAT getting into Harvard. Not super smart.

[Anonymous]

Don't bring it up. If someone asks then answer like a normal person. "I went to Harvard."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't bring it up. If someone asks then answer like a normal person. "I went to Harvard."

I agree
Also, it is pretty lame to ask where you went. More interesting would be to ask what you studied