Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the graduate level, Harvard is outstanding. Both at the professional level - medicine, law, business - and pretty much everything else - math, physics, biology, english, history, astronomy.

At the undergraduate level, Harvard is extremely mediocre. It's where the MIT students go for the easy As. It ain't all that. It's about brand and connections. If you're lucky, you get to room with Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates and get super rich that way. More likely, it's McKinsey or Goldman and their archaic obsession with brand names.

Harvard is not over-rated. But if you are 18 and you actually want to learn something, Harvard is not the place for you. It's a big game for undergrads. But grad programs are legit.

OOooo! please prove with citations! -- signed Harvard grad.

That is the general concensus at our HS. If I remember correctly they also have grade inflation. Kids talk to their friends who have gotten in and compare workload. UChicago is much harder than Harvard.

Anonymous wrote:Prestige is over-rated unless you are looking for prestige alone.

not helpful

Prestige is over-rated unless you are looking for prestige alone.

Anonymous wrote:At the graduate level, Harvard is outstanding. Both at the professional level - medicine, law, business - and pretty much everything else - math, physics, biology, english, history, astronomy.

At the undergraduate level, Harvard is extremely mediocre. It's where the MIT students go for the easy As. It ain't all that. It's about brand and connections. If you're lucky, you get to room with Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates and get super rich that way. More likely, it's McKinsey or Goldman and their archaic obsession with brand names.

Harvard is not over-rated. But if you are 18 and you actually want to learn something, Harvard is not the place for you. It's a big game for undergrads. But grad programs are legit.

OOooo! please prove with citations! -- signed Harvard grad.

At the graduate level, Harvard is outstanding. Both at the professional level - medicine, law, business - and pretty much everything else - math, physics, biology, english, history, astronomy.

At the undergraduate level, Harvard is extremely mediocre. It's where the MIT students go for the easy As. It ain't all that. It's about brand and connections. If you're lucky, you get to room with Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates and get super rich that way. More likely, it's McKinsey or Goldman and their archaic obsession with brand names.

Harvard is not over-rated. But if you are 18 and you actually want to learn something, Harvard is not the place for you. It's a big game for undergrads. But grad programs are legit.

I think it’s overrated. But it’s still a great school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jared Kushner was accepted after Daddy made a very generous donation. According to Daniel Golden, "the rich buy their under-achieving children’s way into elite universities with massive, tax-deductible donations." He also says an administrator from Jared's high school said of Jared, "His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it ... It was a little bit disappointing because there were at the time other kids we thought should really get in on the merits, and they did not."

If you want a pure meritocracy, you're better off looking at Caltech.

Why did you reactivate a 10 month old thread just to say this? So what? Most Harvard parents I know who want legacy status to count give six to seven figures.

How is that different from the recent college admissions standards?

Harvard is not just trying to pull top stats kids. They could do that many times over. They are trying to pick future leaders in a range of fields - academia included.

Rate it whatever you want it works for them just fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It lost all credibility when it accepted Jazz Jennings and the Florida high school student who led the gun control events. Both worthy individuals but not intellectuals surely.

Harvard understands that "intellectual" isn't the only factor in being a force in the world.

I do wonder how you know that they aren't intellectual.

But that’s kind of why it’s overrated. A university that weights other things over intellectual capacity isn’t going to end up being an intellectual powerhouse. It’s like saying we are putting together a swim team but we don’t really care whether you are a good swimmer. Preposterous! And the gun control guy had like a 3.0 in high school. It was in the papers.

Only if you couldn’t get in

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes and I really don’t want my DD to apply. It’s not that I think she may be rejected. I don’t want to pay the application fee.

Keep telling yourself that

LOL, I'm trying to tell her that. Not me.

Anonymous wrote:It lost all credibility when it accepted Jazz Jennings and the Florida high school student who led the gun control events. Both worthy individuals but not intellectuals surely.

Harvard understands that "intellectual" isn't the only factor in being a force in the world.

I do wonder how you know that they aren't intellectual.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes and I really don’t want my DD to apply. It’s not that I think she may be rejected. I don’t want to pay the application fee.

Keep telling yourself that

Not the PP but believe it or not, not everyone wants to go to Harvard or any other Ivy for that matter. I’m guessing it will be a shock to your sensibilities.

Anonymous wrote:Yes and I really don’t want my DD to apply. It’s not that I think she may be rejected. I don’t want to pay the application fee.

Keep telling yourself that

Yes and I really don’t want my DD to apply. It’s not that I think she may be rejected. I don’t want to pay the application fee.