With the great range of interests and accomplishments that come from Harvard students, considering any one student superior to another can seem like an unreasonable task. Taking on this challenge, someone has written a document that attempted to definitively list Harvard College’s supposed “Top 100 Students.” Ironically, this list only included 99 names. Clicking a name would lead viewers to what appeared to be AI generated web pages detailing the academic lives of the selected students.
Ever since this list was published on the anonymous social media platform Sidechat, it has infiltrated the conversations of students across campus. The students chosen for the list were mostly athletes, Coca Cola Scholars (or “Coke Scholars”), and student-leaders on campus. However, the methods used to select students for the list have not been publicly released. The identity of the list’s creator(s) has also remained a secret. Not long after its publication the list and its associated webpages were deleted.
While most of the students included on the list were seniors, a few juniors were also featured. Queen Balina ’26 was #54 on the Top 100 List. Originally from Potomac, MD, Balina is a junior in Currier House pursuing a special concentration in health, society, and ethics which in her words is “essentially Global Health.”
When asked what she thinks about being placed on the list, Balina admitted that she initially had no idea that she was declared one of the top 100 Harvard students. She had previously heard about there being a list in conversations with friends and even on Sidechat, a social media app where students can make anonymous posts.
She expressed gratitude for being named among the Top 100 but noted that ranking students feels like a “backhanded compliment” because inclusion on the list was not a legitimate honor. After all, there’s no definitive way to determine the “best” Harvard student or to quantify success, as everyone brings different perspectives, stories, and skills to the table.
Although Balina was unable to read the Top 100 List before it was taken down, she found it unsettling that someone had amassed so much personal information about her.
Balina suspects that her inclusion in the list may stem from her involvement in numerous organizations, like the Health Policy Review, Girl Up, and the Harvard Undergraduate Pre-Medical Society, where she often sends mass emails on mailing lists on behalf of each of those organizations. This has inevitably resulted in widespread exposure. Therefore, someone may have simply recognized her name and her involvement on-campus and deemed her “fit” to be on the list. However, she does not believe that being on the list makes her better than anyone else.
Eunice Chon ’25 is a History of Science and Philosophy concentrator and is pursuing a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. Chon is also a Coke Scholar. She was notified about her placement at #68 on the list by a close friend and immediately found the list terrifying because of its invasive nature. Her personal article was full of inaccurate information, such as her true academic interests in health and health policy. She found the whole list to be “very reductive about the people I care about. That was more upsetting to me.” Chon believed the article about her painted the false narrative that hard work alone would allow other low income students like herself to match her in achievements.
While many current undergraduates may lament how easy it is to make comparisons between students either in person or on social media, the Top 100 List is unprecedented in its visibility. In one moment, the personal lives of several students became potential topics of conversation for their peers.
It is unclear if the list’s author(s) considered whether publishing their list would leave awardees with a sense of vulnerability or a sense of pride.
However, one thing is apparent: the students featured do not believe in any one definitive way of defining success when it comes to their classmates. In a message to the list’s author, Balina commented: “You have some growing up to do.”
Adedoyin Adebayo ’26 suspects that the list’s author will reveal themselves after graduation.
Chidimma Adinna ’25 predicts that the list’s author is occupied with working on their next generative AI project.