Visited Harvard - Didnt like Campus or Cambridge

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Was this your observation, or your teen's? Where does your teen rank campus feel on their list of priorities?

[Anonymous]

Ok.

[Anonymous]

Did your child get in?

[Anonymous]

I hope no one from Harvard Admissions sees that posting, they would be devastated.

[Anonymous]

A lot of the top schools have bad weather in winter. They were built when the country was new so they are in the northeast. Stanford is an exception, though it's not an ivy.

I went to a top school in the NE and weather was crappy but I got a great education and made friends for life. That's what counts.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

My teen commented on all the tourists on campus.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

HA! No worries OP ... your kid won't get in anyway.

[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.

You're absolutely right, it's good you have your priorities straight. Don't let the education, opportunities, peer group, history/tradition, etc. influence you. They have nothing to do with "the name."

[Anonymous]

I agree about Cambridge being really hard to deal with. Traffic is crazy, parking difficult. And Harvard's campus is not the "prettiest."

I like New Haven better. I did several years in grad school there. It's reputation is worse than the actual livability of the place.

But Princeton is by far the nicest campus for undergraduates. Can also take a train or bus to NYC for a day/night out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree about Cambridge being really hard to deal with. Traffic is crazy, parking difficult. And Harvard's campus is not the "prettiest."

I like New Haven better. I did several years in grad school there. It's reputation is worse than the actual livability of the place.

But Princeton is by far the nicest campus for undergraduates. Can also take a train or bus to NYC for a day/night out.

Prefer Harvard's campus over both. I like the liveliness of Harvard Square and Cambridge, and also the ability to travel around Boston by public transit. Traffic is a mess, but as a student you're probably not going to be driving much. I found Yale cold and gritty, and Princeton too sleepy.

[Anonymous]

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)

[Anonymous]

We briefly visited campus when we were nearby. My dd did not like it either (the fact that it was embedded in the city).

That was a good thing...since she had NO prayer of getting in.