Why Harvard?

[skoaner]

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Why does everyone blow their collective load thinking about Harvard? I haven't seen them win a nobel prize nor have I read a decent journal article coming from there lately. All they seem to have is a self propagating Good Ole Boy club that everyone wants to get in to. Anyone else have thoughts?

 

[dr.z]

Why does everyone blow their collective load thinking about Harvard? I haven't seen them win a nobel prize nor have I read a decent journal article coming from there lately. All they seem to have is a self propagating Good Ole Boy club that everyone wants to get in to. Anyone else have thoughts?

I thought this year one of the graduates from their medical school got Nobel prize in Medicine and Physiology. I do see a lot of big papers coming out in journals from their school too (I am a grad student so I read lots of papers as well). I'm not a fan of Harvard either, but I think they still have excellent research.

 

[Fermata]

Reputation helps one to match into cool specialties. It also helps if you want a pedigree so you can enter the academic end of the field.

Of course...there's the perrenial favorite:

"So where do you go to school?"

"Ohhh. I go to school in Boston."

"That's cool. But what school?"

"Hahhhhhhvahhhhhd."

😀

 

[gobblety_gook]

Why does everyone blow their collective load thinking about Harvard? I haven't seen them win a nobel prize nor have I read a decent journal article coming from there lately. All they seem to have is a self propagating Good Ole Boy club that everyone wants to get in to. Anyone else have thoughts?

Resources...after interviewing there, it really is true that Harvard students get access to basically ANYTHING (along the lines of academic research, funds, projects, etc) affiliated with Harvard. Also, the school has some major affiliations with MIT and all the big name hospitals in the area. Basically, you're free to tailor your medical education to concentrate on whatever you want, and there will be world class facilities to support you...

whether or not thats worth $200k is up to you to decide though.

 

[W222]

Ahh, I think you have absolutely NO CLUE as to what you are talking about. Harvard, as an institution, has more Nobel Prizes than any other institution in the world. I think the only other place close to them is Cambridge U, but that place is composed of several universities and colleges.

Also, a ton of great clinicians and medical innovators have come out of Harvard Med. I worked for one, smartest person I ever met. Rumor was that he actually scored a perfect score on his medical boards.

 

[ellia08]

It, like any school, is what you make of it. The opportunities, however, are accessible and are immense in breadth and scope. Of course it is possible to come out of ANY school with little to show for it (or with an ego of immense proportions), but if you are self motivated you can achieve an incredible amount at Harvard because there is so much knowledge that can be accessed by medical students there.

As for publications and nobel prizes,... um... theyre out there. 🙂

In the end though, (couldnt resist the hackneyed advice), go where you're happy and comfortable because all the opportunity in the world will mean nothing if you never feel comfortable enough to take advantage of it.

 

[Iamajew]

Honestly, i think harvard is a complete waste of money and a designer education. Many, many, MANY other medical schools have excellent facilities and resources...and cost a hell of a lot less than Harvard (not just tuition, but the living expense you incur when living in Cambridge). You can buy name brand, or you can buy wholesale.

 

[fakin' the funk]

...and cost a hell of a lot less than Harvard (not just tuition, but the living expense you incur when living in Cambridge)....

(HMS is not in Cambridge)

 

[mfcus]

Honestly, i think harvard is a complete waste of money and a designer education. Many, many, MANY other medical schools have excellent facilities and resources...and cost a hell of a lot less than Harvard (not just tuition, but the living expense you incur when living in Cambridge). You can buy name brand, or you can buy wholesale.

It is not always about the facilities but about the quality of people in one area and like it or not Harvard has a ton of brilliant people in one little area

 

[sven]

Honestly, i think harvard is a complete waste of money and a designer education. Many, many, MANY other medical schools have excellent facilities and resources...and cost a hell of a lot less than Harvard (not just tuition, but the living expense you incur when living in Cambridge). You can buy name brand, or you can buy wholesale.

FYI, HMS students do not live in Cambridge, but in Boston. (Not to say that this matters much in terms of expense, though). Also, it is worth noting that Harvard is not particularly expensive as compared to the scores of other private medical schools out there. BU and Tufts, for example, cost several thousand dollars a year more than Harvard despite their lower rankings. If you're trying to say that there are many excellent state schools where you can get a wonderful education at a lower cost, then point taken. I do not, however, understand why you single Harvard out for particlar attention with regards to expense.

I disagree with your characterization of Harvard as "designer education" because it implies that there's a one-size-fits-all template by which educations can be judged. In truth, people have different educational goals that are best fulfilled in varrying settings. Clearly you feel on a personal level that Harvard (and presumably all other private schools) is a waste of money. This is good self awareness to have. No reason to put yourself $120k in debt because someone else thinks that it is the right thing for you to do. Others, however, may not feel the same way. Say for example that you wanted to work with Dr. Paul Farmer on infectious disease and community health in Haiti. Going to Harvard could be entirely the right thing to do...

 

[CarleneM]

FYI, HMS students do not live in Cambridge, but in Boston.

if i end up at HMS (a big If, mind you.....), I would continue living in my apartment in central square, cambridge. many HMS students live in cambridge near harvard square, central sq, or kendall square (MIT area) because of the M2 shuttle that is free for harvard students and runs very frequently. It takes me less than 20 minutes on average to get to the Longwood Medical Area (where harvard is located). Actually, the living area around HMS isn't so great and is kind of expensive. Many students would also live in nearby brookline or brighton rather than boston proper but the free M2 shuttle makes cambridge an attractive option. I pay $600 and share a 2 bedroom apartment. Look through boston craigslist to get a good idea of many different housing options but most are gonna cost you at least $500 a month.

 

[Damnit Jim!]

Say for example that you wanted to work with Dr. Paul Farmer on infectious disease and community health in Haiti. Going to Harvard could be entirely the right thing to do...

What about frog genetics?

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Honestly, i think harvard is a complete waste of money and a designer education. Many, many, MANY other medical schools have excellent facilities and resources...and cost a hell of a lot less than Harvard (not just tuition, but the living expense you incur when living in Cambridge). You can buy name brand, or you can buy wholesale.

Harvard offers a much better financial aid package than the average private school. Unless you go to your state school, you'll likely be better off financially going to Harvard over Private School X.

 

[PostalWookie]

You get the same thing that you would get from Columbia, Cornell, Yale, etc. When people have to make a comparison between two otherwise similarly qualified candates, the name will be the tiebreaker. Otherwise, the education that you get will be 95% the same everywhere else.

 

[vikaskoth]

hey guys, i learned a great exercise in futility today. It makes your abs real taut, anyone wanna learn it

 

[skoaner]

hey guys, i learned a great exercise in futility today. It makes your abs real taut, anyone wanna learn it

Whats that? Laughing at everyone's posts? 😛

 

[fakin' the funk]

Why does everyone blow their collective load thinking about Harvard?...Anyone else have thoughts?

Just thoughts about that sweet load I blew thinking about rotating through MGH. 😴

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Have you ever been around a group of people when someone states that they go to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton? Most people (in my experience) nearly **** their pants when they hear this. My brother goes to Yale, and every time I hear him tell someone about this (only after they ask, he is quite modest), he gets some kind of reply like, "Oh, Genius in the house!" or, "Wow, you must be really smart!"
While name recognition may not be impressive to some people, to others, it means everything. Harvard is the one medical school that is known by everyone, and I do really mean everyone. The same dude who knows nothing about Johns Hopkins, Wash U, Columbia, or Mayo is the same dude that has mad respect for Harvard. So props to Harvard and its students - it may not be for you, but you have to respect it.

 

[NYCDesi]

Have you ever been around a group of people when someone states that they go to Harvard, Yale, or Princeton? Most people (in my experience) nearly **** their pants when they hear this. My brother goes to Yale, and every time I hear him tell someone about this (only after they ask, he is quite modest), he gets some kind of reply like, "Oh, Genius in the house!" or, "Wow, you must be really smart!"
While name recognition may not be impressive to some people, to others, it means everything. Harvard is the one medical school that is known by everyone, and I do really mean everyone. The same dude who knows nothing about Johns Hopkins, Wash U, Columbia, or Mayo is the same dude that has mad respect for Harvard. So props to Harvard and its students - it may not be for you, but you have to respect it.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

[Fermata]

What about frog genetics?

 

[PookieGirl]

While I'm not a student at Harvard, I work here with researchers that are HMS instructors and professors. First, the claim that no papers have come out of here lately, for whatever smartie that said it, is clearly wrong. HMS is affiliated with a myriad of institutions, both private and public, and those places may get listed on a paper instead of HMS. As to the people, you occasionally get the socially inept, stuck up people who think that they are smarter than everyone else. Fortunately, for the most part, the people for whom I work are bright and thoughtful, care passionately about what they do, are great at teaching, and well connected to everyone. I get to hear from my coworkers the latest news and how it is to work with everyone from Nelson Mandela to Elizabeth Taylor to the lesser known but still important people. It is a huge network and certainly not a bad place to make connections, or from which to launch a career.

 

[Treg]

Ahh, I think you have absolutely NO CLUE as to what you are talking about. Harvard, as an institution, has more Nobel Prizes than any other institution in the world. I think the only other place close to them is Cambridge U, but that place is composed of several universities and colleges.

I thought that Rockefeller has the most Nobel laureates? I could be wrong. Also, someone else mentioned that the most recent Nobel in medicine came from Harvard. Actually, it was a guy from Columbia (Richard Axel). I was there for the announcement reception on my interview day and he did his undergrad at Columbia/MD at Hopkins.

Back to the harvard question--I think we all know that HMS has an amazing network of centers/facilities/researchers that makes it the ideal location to do innovative research. So, if you want to have an illustrious medical career, in terms of research, health policy, or something atypical, the HMS pedigree will help. Also, if you are planning to sell some miraculous diet pill or zit cream, I think the HMS pedigree helps out in the commercials as well 😀

Treg

 

[kelley201]

Harvard is a great school but Im willing to bet Wash U in St Louis will give them a run for their (NIH) money and possibly over take them. They just climbed past Johns Hopkins in the US News Research Rankings and I bet they have their eye on USC in the BCS poll.

 

[kikkoman]

Also, someone else mentioned that the most recent Nobel in medicine came from Harvard. Actually, it was a guy from Columbia (Richard Axel). I was there for the announcement reception on my interview day and he did his undergrad at Columbia/MD at Hopkins.

Treg

Actually Linda Buck (who also won the prize) was at Harvard until 2002.

If Harvard was just "ok" it wouldn't be the overwhelming favorite of medical students who have their pick of places to go.

 

[sven]

Harvard is a great school but Im willing to bet Wash U in St Louis will give them a run for their (NIH) money and possibly over take them. They just climbed past Johns Hopkins in the US News Research Rankings and I bet they have their eye on USC in the BCS poll.

One of the reasons that Harvard is so hard to overtake in the US News rankings is that its network of clinical affiliates is so large, and each facility brings in lots of NIH $$. Hence it is far more effective in generating NIH revenue than schools that only have one major affiliate, no matter how prestigious...

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

Harvard is a great school but Im willing to bet Wash U in St Louis will give them a run for their (NIH) money and possibly over take them. They just climbed past Johns Hopkins in the US News Research Rankings and I bet they have their eye on USC in the BCS poll.

Harvard received $977 million in 2003. Wash U received $373 million in 2003. Wash U has a long way to go if they want to overtake Harvard in funding.

 

[kelley201]

Harvard received $977 million in 2003. Wash U received $373 million in 2003. Wash U has a long way to go if they want to overtake Harvard in funding.

It is a huge gap, but will be interesting to watch in the future..

 

[Damnit Jim!]

A little bit off topic- but did anyone see or hear Conan O Brien's commencement address for the class of 2000 at Harvard? It was hilarious as hell. It's a bit long but here it is:

http://www.february-7.com/features/conan.htm

 

[kelley201]

A little bit off topic- but did anyone see or hear Conan O Brien's commencement address for the class of 2000 at Harvard? It was hilarious as hell. It's a bit long but here it is:

http://www.february-7.com/features/conan.htm

Yeah that was the funniest commencement speech ever. I forgot about it, thanks for the post.

 

[oniwindu]

A little bit off topic- but did anyone see or hear Conan O Brien's commencement address for the class of 2000 at Harvard? It was hilarious as hell. It's a bit long but here it is:

http://www.february-7.com/features/conan.htm

Oh my god, this is way too funny. People at work wondering why I'm cracking up like this.

 

[skoaner]

If you erase the name and just focus on their curriculum and opportunities, there are really a variety of benefits:

Yeah, but the reason I posed the question in the first place is that it seems strictly the name has become enough. Basically, by being good in the past it's a self propagating organization where people who go there are percieved to be the best, therefore get the best post-gaduate placements, do the best, and recipricate their wealth back to the University. Any wonder why their endowment is $7 billion? I'm not trying to take anything away from the history of, or even the present, accomplishments. Just sayin..

Everyone has different interests though--no school is for everyone.

Indeed, lets hope we all find the one in which we are most interested!