The Harvard Impact

Not the best grades, I didn't go to all the talks I wanted to, I didn't take all the classes I wanted to, I didn't talk with professors as much as I should. So what exactly did Harvard do for me?

Three things at Harvard changed my life:
1. Response Papers
2. primary research literature
3. Harvard Track and Field

Response Papers, even though I didn't particularly enjoy them at first (such an understatement), taught me that what I think about something is important, and that when you read something, you shouldn't read it trying to understand what others think is important about it, but it is okay and good to read something and figure out what you think about it. I wish someone told me that this is how to really write papers and essays in general, I think it have made my life a lot easier, it was only until senior year when I figured this gem out. So simple, yet way more than I ever understood paper writing to be. I blame my frosh/soph HS teachers for throwing really deep books at us, without any historical or literary context and making us write crappy, shallow papers on them.

Primary research literature, my two research seminars taught me to appreciate the science of how we come to know what we consider to be knowledge and truth. I learned how knowledge builds, how we can be critical of what may be "true", and how every piece of evidence base in the scientific, political, and economic world can be analyzed and controversialized because the data is not foolproof, but is instead statistics, observations, and "significantly" with a margin of uncertainty. This impacts almost every piece of fact I am faced with on a daily basis, a political poll, a new scientific article, etc.

Harvard Track and Field taught me the most important lessons: how to deal with people. As a team leader I was constantly pulled in different directions, working with coaches, teammates, friends. Trying to give sound advice, trying to get the team in a positive direction; I learned that in being a leader, even just a team captain, your morals and values can be pressured to an extent I didn't realize at the time, and that these values are really what matter most and what you should base all your actions around. It is so easy to get caught up in things, but when you stick with your values, you stay grounded, happy, and optimistic. I realized that I like being a leader, I'm not a great leader yet, but I know it's something I want to become more effective at over time.