Jake’s Day at Harvard

My Experience at Harvard

Over the last few years, I have been fortunate to call Harvard’s campus my home, and the people there have become my community. While Harvard is known for its academic excellence and the world-class education offered, my time at Harvard has been shaped most predominantly by the friends I have made and the experiences we have shared. I think this sentiment is commonly held by most Harvard students as well. During my time at The College, I have taken courses in the Government and Computer Science departments, tutored staff members for the U.S. citizenship test, participated in a pre-professional consulting club for product management, and spent way too many hours laughing with friends in Currier house (which is objectively the best house). 

At Harvard, first-year students live right in the center of campus, in the historic Harvard Yard dormitories. All first-years live close to one another, and the class community is solidified in Annenberg, the massive dining hall only available to first-year students. Annenberg is classic Harvard; they even based the set for the dining hall at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter movies off of it! Mid-way through the spring semester of your first year, you and your closest friends will create a blocking group consisting of up to 8 students, which you will then enter into the housing lottery. On Housing day, the lottery results are finalized and the blocking groups are randomly sorted into the different upperclassmen houses. Housing day is a celebration, where upperclassmen from your new house rush into your dorm room where you and your blockmates are waiting, chanting the name of the house where you will spend your next three years. Each house has unique architecture, a dining hall, a gym, and its own traditions steeped in histories. My house for example, Currier House, has a beautiful sun-filled dining hall with plants and a fountain in the middle, and is known for having the best d-hall food, in addition to a movie theater, many single rooms (some with balconies), massage chairs, ping pong and pool tables, and 56 kitchens for students to use. We also have segways to ride around on! 

Students at Harvard are known for being passionate about “something,” and that something can really be anything. I have friends passionate about play-to-earn NFT games, ancient greek texts, writing rap lyrics, mobile app development, rowing, or anything else you can think of. That’s the beauty of Harvard. You will frequently find yourself at the d-hall conversing with friends from all over the world, talking about anything from the implications of AI on future healthcare policy to predictions of who will win the UEFA Champions League (the biggest European soccer competition). It is this diversity of backgrounds and interests among our students that makes the time at The College so unique and valuable. Here’s what an average Wednesday looked like for me last semester.

A Wednesday Morning

After lunch, I head to CS 179 (Design of Usable and Interactive Systems), where we learn how to build useful and accessible products that address real world problems. For example, our first group project had us design a mobile app for the Harvard Shuttle system. We went around interviewing students and shuttle drivers, before building an interactive prototype which we tested and received feedback on. However, my favorite Wednesdays are the ones in which Liverpool F.C. (my favorite soccer team) has a game. During my freshman year, a couple of my friends and I started LFC Harvard, a social organization on campus for Liverpool fans to come together and watch the games as a community. 

Whenever there is a game, we hop on the T, and head to a local restaurant to cheer on the team with other Liverpool fans from Boston. If there isn’t a game, I stay at the SEC, and find a quiet conference room or terrace to work on my problem-sets (College word for homework in STEM classes). The SEC is filled with reservable conference rooms, whiteboards, beautiful outdoor terraces, maker spaces, and anything else you can think of. 

My final course of the day is a course on start-ups and entrepreneurship taught by a business school professor, and is easily my favorite class. Every class, we go through a case study of a different start-up, trying to reach consensus on what we think that start-up should do at a major decision point in its development. The professor literally runs around the class with a microphone, asking students to share their thoughts on the case. It’s fun, engaging, and you learn just as much from your fellow classmates as you do from the Professor. When class ends at 5, I put my headphones in, play some techno music, and take the shuttle back to Currier House. 

A Wednesday Afternoon

When I get back home (Currier House), I have a quick 30 minute call with my case team for Product Lab, a pre-professional tech consulting organization on campus run by the Harvard Computer Society. We work with large clients to help them learn about the needs of their customers, and decide which products to build. When the call ends, I’m starving and in need of a break, and so I head downstairs to the dining hall to eat dinner with my friends. When you first walk into the kitchen, it is essential that you get the lay of the land and survey the different options available. My favorite meals are the creamy fettuccine with beef fajitas, mashed potatoes, Italian wedding soup, and my go-to-classic, chicken fingers. If nothing on offer that day is to your liking, you always have access to the grill where you can order burgers, hot dogs, fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, fried eggs, grilled chicken, and philly cheesesteaks. There is always something for everyone to enjoy. 

I often spend 2+ hours at dinner, eating with different friends in the house. We talk about our days, our classes, our clubs, politics, crypto, soccer, art projects, and really anything else. Sometimes we play games like “Cheers to the Governor” or “would you rather.” Everyone is stressed out by school and extracurriculars, and so dinner is a time for everyone to come together and just relax. And you can always extend your dinner by just grabbing more and more deserts. 

After dinner, it’s grind time. I have two CS problem sets due at midnight, and I lock myself in my room until then. If I ever get stuck, I hop on to the virtual office hours, where a member of the teaching staff is around to answer questions and help out. At midnight, I submit my work, check in with my roommate who also has midnight deadlines, and we head down to the dining hall for brain-break (free late-night snacks). Sometimes they have cake and cookies, other times they have vegetables with hummus. But I’m from New York, so I always go for the everything bagel with cream cheese. I go back upstairs and finish up whatever other assignments I have, and then do my readings for tomorrow. I typically go to bed by 2 or 3 AM, and wake up at 10:30 the next day for my first class at noon. 

Harvard certainly is a tough school, and the work can often be quite consuming. However, with good time management skills and a well thought out plan of study, you can spend your time having fun with and learning from your best friends. In my opinion, the community at the school is by far the best thing that Harvard has to offer. 

Written by Jake Laddis, PathIvy University Ambassador