A visit to Harvard University

I was lucky enough to visit Harvard during my stay here in Boston. I walked around the main campus – the Harvard Yard (which is the oldest part of Harvard University) and got to see several classroom and departmental buildings, libraries, freshman dormitories as well as the houses where sophmores, juniors and seniors live, not to mention the infamous statue of John Harvard. I was also able to visit Harvard Business School, which is usually not open to the public.

Harvard University is a private university and one of the 8 Ivy League universities. It’s situated in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was established in 1636. Harvard is known as one of the best universities in the world.

I spoke with a Harvard freshman whose name is Jessica. She’s majoring in computer sciences and was kind enough to tell me more about Harvard. She was part of the 5.8 percent of applicants out of 35 000 to be admitted to the Class of 2017 and has really enjoyed studying at Harvard. She told me a fun fact about the Statue of John Harvard. Apparently all the students in Harvard call it the “Statue of the Three Lies” because of the inscription on the statue. It says:

John Harvard, Founder, 1638.

The first lie is that the person is John Harvard, when in reality it’s just some 19^th century Harvard-student. There is actually no surviving image of John Harvard. The second lie is that he was the founder, when in fact he was just a financial contributor, after whom the university was named. The third lie is the year on the statue. Harvard was founded in 1636, not 1638.

She also told me that “sexism” at Harvard didn’t end until 1999, when women were finally able to get actual Harvard diplomas and not separate ones from men. That’s when Harvard and Radcliffe University (which is a female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard) merged. Before that, the university was strictly male dominated and you couldn’t even find portraits of women on the walls. Nowadays the number of male students and female students is nearly equal.

The campus grounds are very well-maintained with lots of green parks and groomed paths. There's also lots of chairs and tables around which you can sit and study (or have lunch). You can tell that Harvard wants their students to make the most of their college years. Harvard also has many clubs, teams and free time activities for the students. The Harvard Crimson are all the athletic teams of the university. There are teams for lacrosse, golf, football, basketball, sailing, fencing, rowing etc. Harvard also has a student newspaper The Harvard Crimson which has a rivalry with The Lampoon (which is a humor magazine also at Harvard).

The visit to Harvard University was certainly a very inspiring and motivating one. Also some of the stories that I heard, regarding present and former students, proved to me that hard work always pays off at the end. Oh how I wish that one day I could study in such a prestigious university.

Here are some pictures from the main campus area:

And then some pictures from Harvard Business School:

- Sofie