Famous First Words

As an incoming first-year, you will have no shortage of ‘firsts’ at Harvard ( it’s almost like it’s in the name). To prepare you for this inevitability, we here at Flyby have decided to expedite some of that process and provide you with an ironclad list of some of the famous first words you are guaranteed to hear in your first few weeks — and, with any luck, will stop hearing soon.

“I’m pre-med”

Aren’t we all? Kidding — but it will definitely feel like our campus is aspiring to take over five whole floors of Massachusetts General Hospital until the first LS1a PIE (an examination known to kill the hopes of future doctors). If it isn’t pre-med, it’s pre-law, or pre-business, or pre-pretty much anything that sounds like it guarantees you a career.

“Greenough isn’t that far.”

It’s this or an aggrieved Pennypacker resident insisting that they’re at least an extra three minutes further from the Yard than everyone else. The union dorms — a.k.a. the freshman Quad — will be a source of some controversy until people find out about the actual Quad.

“I’m double concentrating in... with a joint and secondary in….”

This is not unlike the pre-professional conundrum, but no one is more confident that they can complete an extra concentration or two than a first-semester freshman. Academic ambition stops being all the rage around October, coincidentally right when midterm season begins..

“Party in Holworthy Basement tonight”

These are some first words you’ll wish were your last. Unfortunately, basement hopping for the first two weeks of school is a rite of passage that all Harvard students must undertake. My best advice? Have Flyby open to dull some of the pain while you’re sweating in the confines of your first college party.

“I’m not getting Quadded”

Saying “the Quad” to a first year is like cueing a black cat, dramatic music, and lightning all at once. Anti-Quad propaganda spreads early and it spreads fast, so while you’ll hear this mantra throughout the year, nothing hits the same as those first horror stories of the treacherous 15-minute walk to Cabot.

These happy phrases will echo through Berg as you begin your days at Harvard, but remember not to take them too seriously. Life would look very different if we were all held to our first words on campus, so at most, these should give you some emergency conversation starters if you’re in a pinch. (Or, let’s be real, conversation enders.) Good luck, and remember that Flyby is here to guide you through all the canon events you’re sure to experience during your first year.