Do Harvard students melt down over the minuscule? Or are their complaints of campus crises completely justified? Whether it’s sprinting across campus to make Annenberg Hall’s slim 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. dinner hours, battling the printers in Lamont Library, or making the outdoor trek in 20-degree weather to another building to do laundry, minor inconveniences on this campus have a way of adding up. Midway through their second semester, freshmen have begun to weigh the pros and cons of attending Harvard over other institutions. In interviews with the Independent, three students shared their perspectives on their campus struggles in contrast to life at other universities.
Katrina Yip ’28 explained how the culture of overreaction is something unique to Harvard undergraduates. “A lot of people need to chill,” she said. “Especially first semester freshman year—people start comping a million clubs, and when they don’t get in, it’s the end of the world. Like, you have three more years.” She noted that, while students at other schools certainly deal with stress, the tendency of Harvard students to equate club rejections with personal failure seems particularly intense. “I have friends at other schools, and they’re just not as pressed about these things,” she added.
Yip opined that the constant pursuit of more—more clubs, more prestige, more LinkedIn-worthy accomplishments—gets in the way of perspective, especially among freshmen. “It seems like they’re always chasing something. It’s always more professional clubs, and then next year we’ll be recruiting. It’s like never ending,” she said. “I do think they should take a pause, realize how they got here in the first place, and be okay with that for now.”
Jith Nambiar ’28 experienced his own brush with Harvard’s signature brand of unnecessary stress. “I forgot my lab safety glasses one day and asked the [Teaching Fellow] if I could run back to my dorm and grab them,” he recalled. “She said, ‘No. If you leave, I’ll deny you entry to class.’” The consequence? “Three points deducted from my final lab report. That’s three points out of 35!”
A part from campus culture, Kalea Severino ’28 expressed concern with Harvard’s physical layout. “All of my classes are in different parts of campus,” she said, leading to a daily routine of frantic power walking and a growing list of missed meals. “I only have 15 minutes in between them, and sometimes I can’t eat at Berg,” she added. “I’m a little hangry, actually.” Since Annenberg is the only dining hall available to first-years during lunch that is also central to the Yard, it serves as the only option for many. While many American universities also boast sprawling campuses, Yale Dining, for instance, has more geographically distributed options. With a dining hall in each of the freshmen’s Residential Colleges, students are never more than a few minutes away from a meal.
But among our interviewees, nothing compared to the frustration with short dining hall hours. “It’s horrible,” Severino said. “Sometimes I won’t eat lunch until 4 p.m., so why do I have to eat again so soon? Then it’s 10 o’clock, and I have nothing to eat. I have to buy DoorDash food, and if I don’t have money, I can’t do that.”
Nambiar echoed her frustration. “One time I played tennis and missed dinner, and I had to find some sad alternative instead of my beautiful Annenberg dining hall. It ruined my night,” he said.
Yip, meanwhile, has resigned herself to late-night food expenses. “I pretty much eat at 8 or 8:30, so I usually end up eating out at night, which is not great for my bank account.” In addition to their more broadly distributed dining locations, Yale also has hours that better align with the habits of these freshmen. For instance, the majority of their dining halls do not close until 8 p.m.
According to these students, printing is another Harvard-specific nightmare. Crimson Print can be complicated—requiring students to download software and pay for each page individually. “I had a problem with the printer one time and ended up having to have my friend print it out for me because it was just too complex to figure out,” Serevino said.
Also unable to figure out how to print, Nambiar reached out for assistance. “One of the workers at Lamont just printed it for me,” he said. “It was a lifesaver.”
Even something as simple as walking can be an unexpected challenge for Harvard students as a result of the seemingly never-ending construction projects in Harvard Square. “They blocked off the sidewalk, so I have to go around. It adds, like, two minutes to my commute,” Severino said.
Nambiar mentioned the annoyance of construction around the traffic circle outside CVS. “We all go there just to function here in Cambridge. It really grinds my gears,” he added.
Ultimately, these concerns shape a critical question among these students. “Sometimes I wonder, well, what would my life be like if I went to this school?” Severino reflected. For example, other universities, such as Yale, may offer longer dining hall hours or a greater variety of dining options, areas where these students believe Harvard could improve its own campus amenities.
Yip shared a similar sentiment, especially about her early experiences at Harvard. “In my first semester, I definitely thought, ‘Oh, the social scene at Harvard sucks. Yale would be more fun, and the food is so much better at Yale too,’” she said. “I don’t think those instances have built up to me completely regretting choosing Harvard—because it is Harvard after all.”
Still, Severino acknowledged the tendency to dwell on these minor meltdowns.“Overall…we tend to complain a bit,” Severino admitted. Yet, she wants to remind her peers, “We’re pretty privileged.”
Natalie Cooper ’28 (natalie.cooper@college.harvard.edu) is running to eat at Annenberg Hall before it closes.