Harvard students are overachieving, intelligent, and supremely confident. I always thought that Georgetown students had a “spark” or "buzz" of energy around them, but they pale in comparison with the folks from Harvard.
If there one thing you learn in your first few days here, it is this: Harvard Is Elitist. There is no other way to put it. At the welcoming ceremony for new graduate students, the president of the university told us, "You are all here for a reason. We want you to be here. You are the best in the world"; not in those exact words, but with that exact striking bluntness. While speaking with my academic adviser about my future plans, including careers (as I don't think I want to jump into a PhD immediately) he said in a throwaway manner, "You know, for any big prestigious company, just being in Harvard is enough. Harvard is the Gatekeeper, the standard." This attitude still somewhat stuns me (and to be frank I'm still not very comfortable with it), but it permeates all levels of Harvard society, from the professors down to the undergrads.
Language classes, given their natural leanings towards open discussion, are a good way of taking the pulse of an institution. I am studying advanced Chinese here, and in class I hear students say things like "People from other schools have to worry about finding jobs, but not us!" and "Harvard teaches us critical thinking skills that other places don't!" My teacher once said "有一流的大学，可是哈佛可以算是超一流的大学！”; the scary thing was, everyone nodded in agreement.
Given that Harvard students truly believe that they are Number One, they do not show school spirit; you know you are the best, so why bother shout about it? Why bother letting the riff-raff know? Georgetown people were very upfront about proclaiming their pride in their school. I always felt that Georgetown had a certain sense of insecurity around it. Although my former undergraduate institution is indeed a highly prestigious school, Georgetown students usually carry with them the knowledge that they are not in the Ivy League, hence their need to “overcompensate”. Harvard students, on the other hand, are so confident in their knowledge that they are the best (or that the rest of the country considers them to be the best), that they don't feel the need to advertise their love for their school.
As a Master's student, I am in the unique position of floating somewhere between the PhDs and the undergrads. I get the best of both worlds; I can observe both the maturity, passion and professionalism of the PhD students (who, although they do not have the hyperactivity of the undergrads, are a highly formidable bunch in their own right) as well as the boundless energy and ambition of the undergrads. Harvard's admissions committee is excellent at parsing talent (and are probably no mental lightweights themselves), as all the students I have met here are absolutely top-notch. (Unfortunately, I do not have any interaction with the Law School and Business School students, as they live in worlds completely separate from the School of Arts and Sciences, which I am affiliated with.)
The undergrads, with their irrepressible energy and hyperactive personalities, are truly the stars of the university. They are extreme overachievers, juggling fifteen or more different things at the same time and subsisting on four hours of sleep a night. They talk as if they have so much going through their minds that they cannot wait to get it all out, and they talk really fast; relaxation does not come easily to them.
To succeed as a Harvard undergraduate, you obviously need good grades. However, this is merely the minimum requirement. At Harvard, you are judged not merely by your academic ability, but by your other activities as well. A successful undergraduate will have straight As in all her classes, but will also be the president/founder of an NGO helping poor children in Columbia and have string of prestigious internships lined up at various financial firms. However, you also need a passion of some sort. It does not matter what it is; it can be rowing, fencing, Chinese politics, Bolivian cuisine, or preserving forests in the wastelands of Siberia. Furthermore, you must follow through on your passion. Given all this, one wonders how these people find time to eat and sleep. The pressure comes not from the classes or the professors, but rather from each other.
There is a strong calendar culture here; Harvard students schedule everything going on in their lives. If you want to arrange lunch with an undergraduate, you literally need to make an appointment and hope that they can find time in their lives to fit you in (I can personally attest to having experienced this). I have had the misfortune of peeking at some of their calendars and they are overflowing with meetings, conferences, club activities and sports events. Oh, and classes too.
(The big exception to the “intense overachiever” rule is if an undergrad manages to join a “Finals Club”. These clubs are gatherings of the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful, and their friends whom they induct into their group. They party all night (and day) and never do any work, but given their connections can land any job in the world. They all become millionaires by the age of thirty; it is rumored that if you aren’t rich by then, the club will give you a million dollars so as to maintain the position of being a rich man’s clique).
This is not to speak lowly of Harvard's graduate students; they are smart and highly dedicated, as well as passionate about what they are studying. They are much more relaxed in comparison to the undergraduates, and seem to have “normal” energy levels. Nonetheless, they carry with them the Harvard traits of supreme passion for their chosen fields as well as a strong sense of confidence. They will become the world’s academic and scientific superstars.
I have also observed that the graduate student body is much more international than the undergraduate one, which is mostly American. There is a large proportion of Chinese graduate students, especially in the sciences and East Asian Studies. This clearly demonstrates one of the main strengths of America; many of these grad students will choose to settle and raise their children here, thus contributing further to the melting pot that is the United States. America’s ability to draw the best from all around the world will help fuel its status as a dominant power for years to come, and institutions like Harvard play a huge role in this.
So, these are Harvard students. One day, they will rule our world. (And be our bosses). Most days, I go about my daily business without thinking about it, but sometimes, when walking through Harvard Yard, I take the time to look at the students passing by. I then ask myself, “How many Bill Gates’s, Mark Zuckerbergs, Barack Obamas, Natalie Portmans and Yo Yo Ma’s are here with me right now?”
The thought still scares me, which is why I try not to think about it too much.
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