Abroad and From Harvard

Harvard may be the only educational institution that everyone in the world has heard of. In remote southern Lebanon this summer, I told the family who was roasting some kebabs for my friends and me that I was from Harvard. A few minutes later, it seemed like the whole town had emptied out to meet me. Last spring break in Nicaragua, my Harvard Habitat for Humanity group made the rounds in Rivas, a medium-sized city in the south-east of the country. The response I got never varied: “From Harvard? Smart man!”

Harvard’s notoriety is international, but until recently its undergraduates mostly stayed shoreside during the year. With the expansion of Study Abroad programs as mandated by University President Lawrence H. Summers, this is changing, and more Harvard undergrads are choosing to leave for at least a semester of classes in a faraway land. The consequences of this shift on Harvard’s reputation throughout the world will be tough to predict. But it is in all of our interests for Harvard’s new international emissaries to nurture the mystique surrounding Harvard from which I have so often unknowingly benefited.

When confronted by friends from other schools, Harvard students tend to turtle up. Harvard, we say, is just like any other college, only the people are a little crazier and the average SAT score a little higher. This is not false modesty. Harvard’s academics, athletics and social life have their strengths and their weaknesses, just like any other college does. Budding actors go to Yale, budding mathematicians to Harvard. You probably won’t see a future first-round NBA draft pick playing for the Crimson, but you might see a future women’s hockey gold medalist. Harvard may not be as exceptional a place as it’s made out to be. Nevertheless, debunking Harvard to your friends is different from debunking Harvard to the world.

Wherever I’ve been internationally, I’ve always been struck by how honored people are to be in the presence of a Harvard student. It’s an awkward position to be in. That said, wherever I’ve been internationally has also been as a direct result of my Harvard affiliation. Being from a school with brand recognition opens doors in Latin American slums and Arab satellite new channels alike (I spent part of my summer working for Al-Jazeera). A fellow from UMASS could have had the same experiences, but he’d have to be a lot more qualified. A Harvard ID is your passport to opportunities that other students only dream of. And if you want to work and study in developing countries, it’s usually the only resume you’ll ever need.

Debunking Harvard in most places internationally is also likely to ring hollow. While students at the Sorbonne might cackle with glee as you relate to them the evils of Physics 11a sections, students at Qatar University won’t even believe you; and students from Beirut University might angrily demand that you try a couple classes in his shoes. Not to mention that any non-college educated person in any foreign country will immediately affirm their conception of Americans as spoiled if you pine away about your tough life on the banks of the Charles. Or at least that was my perception when I talked to some of these people this summer.

Most schools outside of the American bubble don’t have sections or office hours, taped classes or academic advisers. The tuition at Beirut University is $100 per semester, and it shows. Debunking Harvard to all but students from the most affluent and prestigious universities worldwide will only run others’ perceptions of Harvard’s eager study abroad-ers into the ground. By trying to be too modest, Harvard students will only come off as too arrogant.

When you received your crimson-inked acceptance letter and checked yes on the prepaid postcard, you relinquished your right to be modest about your college, at least to people who would kill to trade lives with you. The aura surrounding Harvard students throughout the world is yours to wield as you please. This aura will grant you instant respect from Aachen to Zanzibar. Wield it wisely, and don’t ruin it for others. Downplaying your Harvard credentials anywhere in the world will only reduce Harvard’s prestige and ruin any respect you’ve built up with your international peers.

The better alternative to all this is for Harvard students studying abroad to admit that they go to a great college, and to be thankful. Instead of trying to appear modest by downplaying the advantages they have, Harvard students should just be modest about everything else. My international internship is counting on it.

Alex Slack ’06, a Crimson executive, is a history concentrator in Leverett House.