Parting Shot
An Expression of Gratitude for the Imperfect Harvard Experience
I still remember how I spent the summer prior to Freshman Week, fixated on my own imaginings of a perfect Harvard, of everything I would do, experience, and accomplish during my time here.
EdX and Justifying Our Privilege
The biggest value of a Harvard degree is not the pedagogical experience itself, although I think that if you take a wide variety of courses and stray out of your comfort zone this place will make you a lot smarter. The value of a Harvard degree is that that it means you got into Harvard.
PARTING SHOT: Not Just the Numbers
Harvard is all about the numbers. Number one school in the country with 6,400 undergrads, 3,500 courses, three million volumes in Widener, 12 undergraduate houses, and 41 Division I sports teams. One basketball NCAA tournament run, two Winklevii, three women’s soccer Ivy League championships in the past four years, and a handful of 2012 Olympians.
Saying Yes
Making a conscious effort to be spontaneous and adventurous has made all the difference to me in deriving enjoyment out of a place that I know can be stressful, high-pressure, and demanding.
What Are You So Scared Of?
Students measure their achievements by their reception and competitive value, rather than their absolute value. Personal worth and self-esteem become tied up with success.
The Upside of Hating Harvard
We convince ourselves that the problem isn’t with our day-to-day lives—it’s with how we are looking at them. We tell ourselves that we love Harvard. We lie.
Boxes of Books
It is through packing that it has become evident that I am leaving. The empty shelves tell me, unequivocally, that I will be gone.
Braving Harvard's Storms
If I could redo Harvard, I would study abroad and go to the Schlesinger Library just to browse. I would borrow the dog that is on loan at the Harvard Medical School’s Countway Library.
The Inspiration of Education
I realize that I’ve gained much more than an education—I’ve been inspired, and that’s what I’ll be most grateful for as I receive my diploma on Commencement day.
Checking It All Off The List
I go through life with the mentality of a tourist guidebook: In order to live to one's fullest, one must check everything off “the list.”
This One’s for My Grandmothers
Everyone should have, I think, at least one saddest-happiest day, because maybe the first part of growing up is accounting for the coexistence of opposite truths.
PARTING SHOT: What Would Tommy Amaker Do?
What follows is an assuredly incomplete expression of my gratitude to the folks who truly deserve it.
The Gift of Being Challenged
Thus, as the Harvard Republican approaches graduation, he understands why he holds his right-of-center beliefs.
We Don't Revolt We Re-Tweet
Much of this technological revolution is unfairly associated with vapid time-wasting.
Behind Closed Doors Revisited
They both fell in love with real people, human beings who sometimes have greasy hair and do not manage their time well.
The Reality of Harvard
For now, our Harvard experience is coming to a close, but rather than lamenting our entry into the “real world,” let us hold as tightly as we can to the reality we have created here, and replicate it far outside these gates.
Boys Will Be Boys
The night at Tufts didn’t reassure me of Harvard’s social superiority, or make me lament not going to a fun school. It reminded me that at college, any college, we do a lot of stupid things
PARTING SHOT: The Conflict in Conflict of Interest
Since past writers have covered the profound and the memorable, I’ll take this space to draw out an issue we usually try to ignore.
PARTING SHOT: Writer Inspired by Unlikely Moments
You would think that after nearly 250 Crimson articles over the last four years, banging out one last column would be a breeze. But when I sat down at my computer, I found myself, for nearly the first time, at a loss for words.
Forever Young, I Wanna Be
After a year feeling like an old, crotchety grandma, I am ready to spend the rest of my life as a freshman.
A House as a Home
I never shared in enough Kirkland experiences to become a genuine part of that community, but I did find my own affiliation elsewhere.
Swimming in a Larger School
In the next four years, apart from what you learn in your classes, you’ll realize that you don’t have to be the “best” at everything to feel fulfillment.
Ticket to Ride
What began in the fall of 2007 and ends now was, for me, an avowed departure from the pitfalls of British university culture and embrace of the liberal arts system espoused by Harvard.
Into the Wild Blue Yonder
The days and nights of Senior Week are blending together, a combination of induced haziness and simply a ton of things going on.