By May 1, 2014, a little over 2,000 students must accept or decline their offer of admission to attend Harvard College. Every year, to aid in the decision process of students, Harvard holds Visitas, its admitted students visit weekend. For the Class of 2018, some scheduled events include an Undergraduate Research Symposium, an Extracurricular Activities Fair, a “Pre-Frosh Palooza,” and more. Of course, none of these are required events and visiting students can attend any other crazy on campus party or stay in their host’s room the whole day and do nothing—no judgments made. From tours to meeting future classmates and more, Visitas promises a good time for visiting students. When Harvard accepts a student, it really wants him or her and will do its best to make the school as appealing as possible.
Now only a day separates eager pre-frosh and Visitas, which is marked for Friday April 26-Monday April 28. Here are a few points for pre-frosh to remember as they embark on what is expected to be a very (hopefully positively) influential weekend in their college journey.
1. Have fun. Obviously, you want to make sure Harvard is a good match academically and that you can see yourself sitting through classes here. But also do the activities that excite you on the schedule. Even if you’re normally a shy person, try to be outgoing—you most likely wont know other people and would want to make new friends. And go out to Boston if possible. What Harvard has that most other top colleges do not is an ideal location near a great city. Its location’s impact on the weather on the other hand…
2. Go to Sunday Brunch. Make a Veritaffle and make sure it looks pretty enough to Instagram.
3. Remember that your dorm/host situation is not completely indicative of what your own life here will be if you do choose to matriculate. If you are hosted in an upperclassmen house, Yard life for freshmen is different. If you are hosted in a Yard dorm, remember that there are 16 others you might end up in freshmen year and 12 houses for the years after that. Additionally, current students will be going through their third round of midterms before finals period in May. So if your host(s) seem disengaged with campus life and are too busy to be hospitable, shame on them, but also please be understanding.
4. Know how to react to Facebook celebs. Every class group has them. They’re just people like you and me, I promise.
5. Beware of the financial burdens that come with Harvard swag shopping—I know it might seem like you HAVE to buy Harvard gear during this weekend, but remember that its part of business strategy to jack up prices and promote them as “sales” around times like this. I’m sure you’ll be able to leave with free t-shirts if you go to the right events. If not, you’ll get plenty of free stuff when you start school.
Visitas is designed to give pre-frosh a good image of Harvard. But of course everyone experiences things differently. In the end, when it comes down to choosing a college, just follow your heart.
You’ll have more time to internalize it all when you actually matriculate.