Equal Access: Harvard 1, Yale 0

Despite over a century’s worth of trumped-up rivalry, Harvard and Yale are far more similar than we are different. Taking the rivalry seriously is akin to treating a sibling quarrel like World War III. For the most part, I think students view The Game as more of a big show than anything else. It’s a reminder that once upon a time, we were actually athletically competitive, that we took pigskin more seriously than divestment or women in science, that our colleges indulged in … well, college-y antics.

So today when I began reading Alexandra Petri’s timely Harvard-Yale editorial in the Crimson, I expected it to be humorous and light-hearted. It turned out to be both, but also much more. After spending several paragraphs comparing the Facebook stats of Harvard and Yale students, Petri comes to the conclusion that “Yale students want to impress you with what they’re doing. Harvard students want to impress you with how cool they look while doing it.” And then the seeming fluff piece takes an unexpected turn:

Someone wise once said, “Going to Harvard means you will have to spend the rest of your life proving to people that you’re an idiot.” Yale students don’t have that advantage. That’s why they need to tell us they’ve been reading “Crime and Punishment” and watching “Amelie” again. Everyone has heard of Harvard, and this makes a wider range of people want to come. It also means that your average Harvard student is more—dare I say?—normal than your average Yalie. Harvard’s sheer world fame draws excellent students from all countries and backgrounds while Yale, less-known, still feeds off more exclusive, east-coast-preppy sources. 46 percent of Yale’s freshman class came from private and parochial schools. Only 36 percent of Harvard’s did.

Some people say that by putting an end to early action, Harvard will open floodgates to people who are applying on a whim “because it’s Harvard.” But when these people get in—as they frequently do—it is because they deserve to do so. Everyone praises Harvard “for the students.” But what makes Harvard’s students so great is that they are in many ways a cross-section of the larger world. They are normal people who happen to be excellent, and this sets them apart. People who go to Yale go because they want to attend Yale. People who go to Harvard go because they can.

I’ve read some of Petri’s columns before and I’ve been wholly entertained, but I find this piece particularly brilliant. Some could argue she’s extrapolating but who would’ve thought one could glean so much insight from listed interests on Facebook and then use that to compare it to the social implications of admissions policies?

Like I said, I think the rivalry is all in good fun, but ending early action is something I take quite seriously and I believe that equality of access at Harvard is pretty unparalleled, especially in comparison to Yale, which – for reasons incomprehensible to me – hasn’t followed suit. Even though my mother luckily had the foresight to encourage me to apply early to Harvard, my situation is very unique compared to others in my income bracket. Eliminating a system that has historically favored wealthy white students has major implications. When Petri wrote “people who go to Harvard go because they can”, she wasn’t just referring to my peers being smart enough to get accepted. She’s also saying that Harvard made it possible for us to find our way here in the first place, that the school cared enough to not just grab the first people who lined up with tutors and counselors at the ready.

I’m a recipient of HFAI and I wouldn’t have applied or been able to afford tuition without it. Early action is a bit more nuanced than a financial aid program but taken collectively, the two demonstrate Harvard’s real commitment to socioeconomic diversity. I know personally that this is true because Harvard in numerous small ways made it that much easier for me to choose where to go for college. I frequently air my continued frustrations with this institution, but I felt and still feel incredibly welcome here despite my family income being in the lowest five percent compared to my peers. I’m not at Yale so I can’t testify to how much more or less comfortable I’d feel there, but I think it’s fair to say that Harvard’s done more than probably any other college in advancing equal access (though admittedly we have more as well). For the most part, we’re not terribly different from our New Haven cousin, but this may be the one area in which the difference matters.