Harvard University

Life at Harvard orbits around the House system—12 residential communities where students dine, debate, and occasionally duel over thesis deadlines. The social scene fractures along fault lines: 97% live on campus, but final clubs (elite, gender-exclusive social groups) dominate weekend parties, while pre-meds and future Wall Streeters cluster in library carrels. Traditions like Visitas—where admits bunk in dorms and sample classes—hint at the school’s attempts to soften its competitive edge. As one Niche reviewer notes, 'You’ll find every stereotype here, from legacy?LegacyAn applicant whose parent (or sometimes other close relative) attended the college. Some schools give a small edge to legacy applicants. kids named Chauncey to stoners who aced the SAT high.'

Harvard’s 97% graduation rate is the academic equivalent of a mic drop—besting all Ivies and landing in the top 5% nationally. Ten years post-enrollment, median earnings hit $84,918, though Reddit debates rage about whether that justifies full tuition when 50% earn under $95K. The real ROI may be intangible: a degree that opens doors at McKinsey, the NIH, or the Supreme Court clerkship pipeline. Notably, 65.9% of Black students graduate within six years—a stark gap compared to the 86.8% overall rate, revealing inequities even here.

Harvard’s financial aid policies are aggressively egalitarian: families earning under $200,000 pay $0-$15,000 annually, with 56% of freshmen receiving need-based aid?Need-based aidFinancial aid awarded based on your family's ability to pay, as measured by forms like the FAFSA, rather than on achievements.. The average net price?Net priceWhat a family actually pays after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the sticker price — usually far less than the published cost.—$15,126 after grants—masks stark disparities; full-pay students face $82,950 in annual costs (tuition, room, board). The aid calculator is unusually transparent, factoring in home equity and sibling college costs. One catch? Aid packages assume summer earnings contributions—even for humanities majors interning at unpaid NGOs.

Harvard’s brand is its curriculum—a 386-year-old ecosystem where intro courses are taught by Pulitzer winners and undergrads publish in Cell before turning 21. It’s a place where the housing lottery feels like a Dickens novel (Adams House has a dungeon; Mather looks like a Soviet bunker) and where the phrase 'I go to school in Boston' is a dead giveaway for imposter syndrome. Love it or resent it, Harvard remains the shorthand for American academic excellence—a status it defends with a $53 billion endowment and a waitlist full of valedictorians.