To the Class of 2030: Please Pick Harvard. Or Don’t.

Before you commit to Harvard, consider the following.

The Ivy League and its crimson crown jewel have received a lot of attention in recent years. Are they worth the cost? Are admissions fair? What about the public Ivies, the little Ivies, the new Ivies? So, here it is from the horse’s mouth: Harvard probably won’t change your life. But here’s why you should pick Harvard anyway.

Let’s say you’re a Visitas hopeful. You’re likely in your senior year of high school, you’ve spent the last several months eagerly awaiting college decisions, and you may now be weighing multiple good options. The stakes couldn’t feel higher.

Now, let me manage your expectations: Neither Harvard nor any other university will make or break your college experience, your career, or your life.

I’ll start with the research. (We are a university, after all.) Studies across decades have shown that top students with comparable academic performance go on to see similar career success and financial returns — regardless of whether they actually attend an elite university or not. In short, as a Harvard admit, you’ll probably be successful wherever you go.

(For the sake of veritas, I should note that these findings are strong but not universal. Other research has found that attending an elite university can have a huge impact on students’ earnings and career roles, and the studies themselves included a caveat that going to a top college does seem to make a difference for disadvantaged and minority students.)

So, you’ll likely do well after college regardless of where you attend. What about your life during college?

In my experience, what has mattered most is not the metrics typically discussed during the college admissions process. It is not college rankings, acceptance rates, or library size, either — the superficial criteria, if you will.

What has mattered most to me are the friends I’ve made, the experiences I’ve had, and the perspectives I’ve gained from them. I’ve been equally impacted by the conversations I’ve had, whether they were in a fancy gilded classroom or in a dingy dorm room. (I should clarify that the housing here is fantastic — the dorm room was dingy because I lived with four other boys freshman year.)

If I’m right about what matters most, it really doesn’t matter where you go. Based on my high school classmates who ended up at all sorts of colleges, you will make friends and have a good time wherever you go.

All of that is to say that your worth as a person does not depend on where you go to college — it is and always has been inherent to you.

But therein lies the rub. If all the factors that really matter come from within you, then they’re constants. And if that’s the case, then you might as well pick based on what differs — namely, the aforementioned superficial minutiae.

And for better or worse, no school has a better claim to such ostentation than Harvard — the quality of our faculty, our place in a swath of rankings, and the resources available to you here are all hard to match.

Alternatively, the real value of attending an elite school may lie in the opportunity to learn from and compete with other top students. So it doesn’t really matter where you go — but you might as well be surrounded by other hardworking students from around the world. Or, as a past Crimson opinion writer put it, “be yourself and make rich friends.”

Of course, I could argue all the reasons why Harvard alone is the best — but I’ll save you the trouble. After all, I’ve already explained it doesn’t matter that Harvard has been ranked the best university in the world, or that it produces the most academic research and countless world leaders, or that it claims the most Nobel prizes and Rhodes Scholars, or that it has the largest academic library, or that it’s the richest university on earth — there are things that money can’t buy, like friends and the joy that comes with them.

But those priceless things are found everywhere — and anything that money can buy, Harvard can afford.

Two years ago, I wrote to admitted students amidst what felt like a uniquely perilous time for Harvard. Now, it seems little has changed except for my age. But my opinion remains the same: Since almost all else is equal, you should pick Harvard.

Or don’t. I truly believe that you, accepted student, are great and will thrive anywhere. So choose wherever you want — but please do two things: Thank everyone who helped you get here. And use the incredible chances you now have to do good for the world.

(Just know that Harvard is the best place to do that.)

Matthew R. Tobin ’27, a Crimson Editorial editor, is a double concentrator in Social Studies and Economics in Winthrop House.