It is impossible to ignore the outsized role of Harvard relative to other universities in the minds of people around the world. Its name evokes visions of The Social Network, Legally Blonde, and, as many first-years learn during orientation week, Love Story. Its hallowed place in the American psyche is compounded by over eight million tourists’ trips to Harvard Square each year and the high quantity of applications Harvard College receives every application season—over 54,000 for that of the Class of 2028.
Of the 1,647 applicants who matriculated to the Class of 2028, many have had their expectations challenged by realities both unique to Harvard and endemic to all universities. Any scroll through the anonymous messaging app Sidechat will reveal what new aspect of university life has shocked students: “Tell me why it dropped 20 degrees over Thanksgiving break,” complained a user on Dec. 1. “Idk what it is about this place because I was so sure before I got here that it would be so easy for me to find a boy here who likes me. [B]ut that has not happened so far,” reads another post. Others’ realizations have been more positive: “You’ll have people who, I don’t know, want to do something really math-like, or people who want to be an author,” said Ben Kaufman ’28. “There’s a whole range of strengths that people have.”
Harvard’s broad course catalog offers first-year students the chance to develop old strengths and cultivate new ones, but the specific content and experience of each course often differ greatly from expectations. Kaufman is one of over 700 students enrolled in Economics 10A: “Principles of Microeconomics,” a common course for first-years currently taught by professors Jason Furman and David Laibson. The course’s famous instructors and manageable workload typically attract hundreds of enrollees interested in finance, government, and statistics. “I knew that, in the past, there was this professor, Greg Mankiw, and he wrote this really famous economics textbook,” he stated. “But I wasn’t expecting it to be a normal, intro econ class, and it basically is.”
Claire Michal ’28 did not walk into Economics 10A with many preconceived notions. “I didn’t really have a ton of specific expectations beyond [the course] being like your basic introductory economics class,” she stated. “I knew it was gonna be really big, so it’s kind of lived up to the vibes of what a really big lecture class would be in my head.”
At the beginning of the semester, Kaufman also attended some lectures for Mathematics 55a: “Studies in Algebra and Group Theory,” which is well-known for the extremely fast pace of its curriculum—it is one of the only courses at Harvard with its own Wikipedia page. However, Kaufman contested such claims. “I heard it’s the most rigorous math class in the country; they do all this stuff. And I would say that that’s probably true, but it’s also pretty doable, so it’s become kind of like a myth in recent years,” he said. “I feel like anyone with enough time and background can definitely do it.”
Isaac Hertenstein ’28 felt that Harvard courses’ difficulty did not differ greatly from what he envisioned. “I expected it to be academically rigorous and [that] it would test my abilities, particularly because I came from a less rigorous high school and did not have as strong a curriculum as many students coming here had in high school,” he explained.
Professor Michael Sandel’s General Education 1200: “Justice: Ethical Reasoning in Polarized Times,” boasts over 800 enrollees, including Hertenstein, who described his course load as “probably the most prototypical freshman schedule possible.”
“I would say the amount of class participation in ‘Justice’ sort of surprised me,” he said, discussing the course. “I knew it was a massive lecture-based class, but the level of engagement that I think Sandel effectively garners from his students is quite extraordinary.”
Michal identified General Education 1123: “Islam and Politics in the Modern Middle East” as her favorite course, something she did not envision it becoming. “I really liked my professor, Professor Zeghal. She is a really interested and engaging lecturer and clearly has such a thorough and researched and deep and nuanced perspective on the history that she’s conveyed,” she explained. “I felt like we were able to really see thoughts develop and how different thinkers influenced each other and how movements grew.”
Kaufman drew special attention to discussion sections as a setting where his college experience significantly diverged from his secondary education. “People will ask this question, and I’m like, ‘I would have never thought of that,’” he recounted. “And you can just tell that people are passionate about what they’re doing and they’re actually interested, and also professors are facilitating discussion. And that’s just an experience I didn’t have in high school.”
Beyond the classroom alone, Harvard is renowned for the breadth of opportunities it offers its undergraduates, but it is often difficult for first-years to grasp just how far the Harvard name can go in attracting big-name speakers to campus. “I’ve had dinner, for example, with the former governor of Massachusetts, me and ten other students. I’ve met multiple Supreme Court justices or have heard them speak,” Hertenstein said. “Being able to go and hear from world-renowned professors on a daily basis is pretty extraordinary, and while I knew it would be like that coming to Harvard, I didn’t quite realize the extent of the opportunities.”
Harvard’s social dynamics also surprised Hertenstein. “There are a lot more athletes and wealthy students and legacies and so forth who sort of operate or act in their own unique way that’s different from other students who don’t fall in those categories,” he said.
In contrast to Hertenstein, Michal said that socioeconomic divides were less visible on campus than she expected. “I didn’t have a ton of expectations or assumptions coming into [the Harvard social scene],” she said. “I would say one of the main ones that I did have, that I think has been slightly challenged, was I anticipated the divisions on class or wealth lines, or private schools versus public schools, or kids that are from New York City all hanging out with each other. I expected some of these divisions, especially along legacy and wealth…to be a little more apparent than they are.”
Michal also expressed that she did not expect to find as encouraging a community as she did at Harvard. “I didn’t anticipate people being rude or unkind or anything like that,” she clarified. “But I didn’t anticipate feeling as warm and supportive and full as I thought.”
Surprises—both pleasant and unpleasant—are an unavoidable part of any new experience, but Harvard’s global prominence can make the dissonance between expectation and reality harder to swallow. Movies and two-hour tours can only reveal so much.
Jules Sanders ’28 (julessanders@college.harvard.edu) was surprised to learn that his Canaday Hall hallway single could comfortably fit no more than three people at once.