Without Question . . . A Very Special College Campus and Experience!
Writing a review of Harvard is quite a challenge. After all, so much has already been written about this Ivy League icon, what hasn’t been said? Well, the experts at uraccepted think they’ve discovered a couple of interesting wrinkles you haven’t seen anywhere else! Everyone who hasn’t been living in a cave knows that Harvard is the most famous university on the planet, that it’s often ranked as the best university in the world, that several Presidents attended Harvard and all of the other “sound bite” boasts. But there is something special about attending Harvard which doesn’t usually make it to the glossy brochures or discussions of sky high SAT scores.
There is a longstanding debate. Does Harvard make its students better or do they simply start with students who are going to be successful regardless of where they go to college? At uraccepted we believe that both arguments are true. But we believe there is another more important, but less often discussed, quality to a Harvard education.
There is a presence of “greatness” at Harvard which might not exist anywhere else in the world. The campus is constantly filled with stars from the world of politics, business, academia and entertainment. It’s nearly impossible to spend four years at Harvard without regularly rubbing elbows with current, past and future world leaders and recognized experts. By regularly interacting with them, Harvard students begin to understand that the stars are more ordinary than extraordinary. This familiarity smashes the concept that there is a difference between “them” and “us”. Breaking this barrier of difference makes it much easier for youthful Harvard students to envision themselves as Nobel Prize winners, or best selling novelists, or United States Senators or movie stars. Harvard gives each of its students a much different sense of the “possible” than most other colleges.
There is another feature of Harvard which is often misunderstood by high school students. Harvard doesn’t simply accept a class of students who have the very best grades or the highest SAT scores and they never have. Harvard prides itself on accepting a diverse class with a common thread of excellence not just high scores. This has been a goal of Harvard’s admissions office long before similar standards became popular at other elite institutions. More than 30 years ago, the Harvard Dean of Freshmen expressed this philosophy with great impact. Each year during Freshman orientation, he would explain that “No student should feel out of place. The admissions office made no mistakes; you are each here for a reason. On the other hand, no one should feel entitled to their place in this class. We could have rejected every single student here today and accepted a class with a higher average SAT score.” This goal of diversity and excellence over paper qualifications remains intact today. During one recent admissions season, Harvard actually rejected more applicants who boasted perfect SAT scores than it accepted!
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