What are the pros and cons of attending Harvard?

10/1/2018

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by Thomas M. Weston via QUORA.COM

Society Story: What are the pros and cons of attending Harvard?

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Some Pros of attending Harvard College:

It’s a self esteem and confidence booster like you would never believe. Ultimate validation.
Everyone else in the world seems to agree. You get automatic legitimacy.
That means people assume that you’re smarter than they are. This works well for bluffing ;-)
It gets you in the front door of basically anywhere you want to go. You have to take it from there.
You can capitalize on people’s warped fantasy of the Harvard mystique by making a lot of money, because people want the best. Especially rich people.
As a tutor on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, you’re gold. If you don’t charge enough, they won’t want you as much. But if you went to Harvard, they want you no matter what.
That little gold digging gene deep down in at least one woman will find you even more attractive an investment.
You get to meet and converse with some of the most brilliant minds in the world while you’re there, and afterward if you want.

Some Cons of going to Harvard College:

People usually think that you are rich, privileged, and come from money.
Some people take an intense dislike to you once they find out that you went to Harvard. For most people, it will elicit some sort of reaction. Sometimes it’s not a positive one.
No matter what their reaction to finding out you went to Harvard, it’s like what we used to call that “H – bomb.” We dance around answering where we went to school until it’s inevitable. And no matter what their reaction to finding out you went to Harvard, no matter how you present it, people will react in an extreme way, of either “well la di da da,“ or with great surprise, awe, disbelief, and the list goes on.
If you don’t have money and don’t get a scholarship, it could be a bit expensive. Still, if Harvard wants you, they’ll find a way to get you there.
When people don’t take kindly to you having gone to Harvard for whatever reason, there can be hostility, too. During my leave of absence when I was waiting tables, the chef used to call me “Harvard.“ You could imagine how they would use that term more often when I messed something up ;).
I really don’t think it was as good an education as I could have gotten at a place like Amherst College, Williams, or other top smaller liberal arts colleges.
Arriving and being at Harvard can be incredibly intimidating. In my case, coming from a blue-collar household with parents who didn’t go to college, a complete lack of culture, and no ability to frame an opinion or make an argument, the three meals a day at Harvard were pretty rough.
I was pretty depressed most of the time, but I still think that most people had their guard up. Everyone was so amazing but I think that they were just as fragile and feeling incomplete inside. So for me, energetically it wasn’t easy to connect with people either.

This information was taken from Quora. Click here to view the original post.

What do you think about it? Do you have any friends who graduated from Harvard?

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What are your thoughts on this subject?

28 Comments

hlaitin

I have 2 degrees from Harvard and have graduated three advanced schools in the military. My experience indicates that it is the professors that you choose; the fellow students that you choose to be involved with: and a moral compass (generally from religion, the Boy Scouts, youth activities, etc.) that determines your trajectory in life. The most important choice you can make is your life partner. The second most important you can make is the values you give your children. The third most important choice is to be a good neighbor and in all your activities do your best and be honest. Harvard was great. So are many other colleges.

Scott

I graduated with a PhD. from the school of hard knocks. 😏

ninakamwene

I have a friend who is a professor at Harvard, and he told me I made a great choice to send my daughter to Georgetown for a degree in International Relations. All ivy leagues should be chosen based on the major they are best at. That said, my child has benefited greatly from the network of friends gained. I graduated from: "College Students Unacknowledged Nationally" CSUN. Yippee; and had a fabulous career in medical laboratory business. Thank you.

Maureen Whitehall

A Harvard Diploma, makes one a better person, certainly not, it might give one an Education, but it’s up to the person how one uses it, for better or worse.

Adriana Zuliani

I don’t understand the reaction of people towards someone who is able to get there. A diploma doesn’t make a better person, but education is a good asset, and shouldn’t be underestimate.

Keith Brent

Scholarly education is just a test for being able to remember a group of formulas, plus an ability to recount these at a given time and most people think that leaving education is the end to their learning. Life is a process of learning every day.

Allison Aspden

Interesting background to what Harvard University can provide.

Betty Wiendels

Keith Brent, Agreed! 😊

Betty Wiendels

My daughter Tanya graduated from McGill University in Montreal in 2002, from Wollongong University in Australia in 2003 and finally from University of Sydney in Australia in March 2011. She has been a dentist in Sydney for over 12 years. She has travelled extensively. Happily married to Lincoln and they have 2 kids Isla, 9 and Finn, 7.

kandilarson

One might want to consider the possible male gold diggers that might come out of the woodwork.

kandilarson

hlaitin, I noticed that the first thing you did was root your own horn.

wyodinosaur

As a lowly University of British Columbia student, I often wondered what Harvard would be like...or Yale.

c grhm

The diploma definitely makes you more marketable and they also teach social skills that they don't at a lot of other schools. that's so, when you graduate, no matter what your background you came from, you'll know how to operate in the big leagues.

David Holmes

In my opinion some Universities and other educational institutions seem to give classes in arrogance. As long as they don't give these classes they should all be OK.

Very interesting

Jacqueline Tattam

marknkhamilton, what has any of this got to do with ‘Muslim sympathisers’ ?? ...or is it any excuse to inject a bit of ignorance and bigotry into the conversation..

Jacqueline Tattam

What ridiculous statements and ‘the little gold digging gene in women....misogynist much?

Alexis Kay

What a delight; the pros and cons of going to Harvard. Water seeks its own level! Hope it worked out for you.

Peter Gilchrist

Went to Harvard and uses "gotten", not good. The likes of Harvard promotes a sense of superiority over everyone else; however, the actual intelligence of individuals can be lacking.