Talk:Harvard College/Archive 1

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Archive 1

specific organisations

(from the deleted HCS article; there should be a brief table with entries for each org with dozens of students)

The Harvard Computer Society is a student group in Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The object of the society is to to promote and develop interest in computing and information technologies among members of the Harvard community.

i came to give more to this but it is great and it doesn't need any thing at all. You guys have to put where Harvard College is for all of those dumbos out there!!!!! DAH

You need to include requirements to get into Harvard.

I don't think that's necessary, as the admissions information communicates the competitiveness. The "requirements" are no different than those for any other US university.DMCer 03:19, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Myopia

1. there's a strange link at the top of the page: http://tools.wikimedia.de/~magnus/geo/geohack.php?pagename=Harvard_College&params=42.376253_N_-71.116433_E_type:landmark_region:US&title=Harvard+College Why is it there? Should someone get rid of it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.211.181.169 (talk) 23:25, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?db=*&q=Myopia 2. lack of foresight or discernment; obtuseness. 3. narrow-mindedness; intolerance.

Which could be used to describe that ridiculous bite about Harvard being the best uni in the world. It's absolutely utterly ridiculous and it shows what arrogant blowhards people in the US are. Oxford, Cambridge, Sorbonne - need one go on? I think many people resent your attitude and I'm on their side.

What a lovely article. I came here to contribute but I don't see any need. -Ikkyu2 21:59, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

First paragraph

The first paragraph, it seems to me, sets up a false parallel. The New York Times is explicitly discussing prestige, and points out that quality is not necessarily the same; U.S. News is discussing quality only. Chick Bowen 19:45, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

I sort* of see your point. I think they're both related in a sense, but perhaps the word "conversely" should be changed to further the point of the preceding sentence? -DMCer 03:22, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

How about this? Accurate and neutral, and as prose it works fine, I think. Chick Bowen 19:39, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Looks good.-DMCer 01:53, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

No Crest?

How about a College Crest? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.134.204.129 (talk) 03:38, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Box at bottom

42°22′26″N 71°07′01″W / 42.374°N 71.117°W / 42.374; -71.117

Surely the Red/dead links in this box should be removed and just made bold? The red just ruins the whole box. Imo. Deanybabeh (talk) 23:11, 14 October 2010 (UTC) Or just compltetely removed all together? Deanybabeh (talk) 23:13, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Admissions

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521594 This is the link that verifies the edit that I have put in, in regards to the 27,000+ applicants. I do not know how to put in the reference code though.

"Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said Wednesday that the figure now stands at 27,278—up from last year’s pool of 22,955—and may increase slightly in the coming days." Quixotic Rick (talk) 19:05, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, Wikipedia really needs to work on making reference formatting more accessible. I'll put this in for now.—DMCer ™ 20:07, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

80% a list of campus groups

This article's current quality is very poor due to the long, badly-structured list that counts for most of the content. For any future contributors, I'd suggest looking at some university/college FAs, then beginning to improve the quality of this article so it reflects [at least the sections] of the featured articles.--DMCer ™ 07:12, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Other school?

So... what is the other school at Harvard University that grants undergraduate degrees? Neither this article nor the Harvard University article explains that. Tad Lincoln (talk) 03:50, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

This one: Harvard Extension School. Hertz1888 (talk) 04:01, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

There are actually thirteen schools according to Harvard University Trevori 1:04 27 July 2013

Only two granting undergrad degrees (and even of those, one of them... well, I won't say). EEng (talk) 12:20, 27 July 2013 (UTC)

Notable alumni alphabetic order

There has been a discussion between me and Hertz1888 regarding the alphabetical order of this section. Most Wikipedia articles don't follow a certain order when adding names, last added name is usually the last, so I liked the note that this article has "!-- Please maintain alphabetical order --". Therefore, I suggested the alphabetical order based on English Standard Language,[1][2] because the current sequence don't follow any rules. Any suggestions, as I don't want to waste time, over and over, on the same topic. Thanks AdvertAdam^talk 07:55, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

The order followed in this article, as in multitudes of other Wikipedia articles (a few examples: Harvard Law School#Notable professors, List of people from Berkeley, California, List of people from Newton, Massachusetts, Sharon, Massachusetts#Notable residents) has been what appears to be the common convention, first name last name, with alphabetization by last name. The section has been stable long-term in that order. The "English for students" link, notwithstanding, I see no justification to changing the order to alphabetization by first name, or any other arrangement. I am putting it back in the established, very unremarkable order pending a consensus for change. Often new names are added on the fly to existing lists simply at the bottom, until someone gets around to alphabetizing or re-alphabetizing the list. The convention for doing so on WP appears to be exactly as has been done in the present article—first name last name, listed in order of last name. I have never seen any other objection to that practice in this or any other article, and believe we should leave it be. Comments invited. Hertz1888 (talk) 09:13, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

I see that Adam quoted 2 references which sort by last name, but his reverts, by contrast, were trying to sort by first name. Last name is certainly the sensible, and usual, way. - David Biddulph (talk) 16:40, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Standard practice in the English language is to sort by family name first, then by personal name secondarily. So a list of names should be sorted thusly:
- Jane Doe
- John Doe
- Bill Evans
- Andrew Peters
- Jane Smith
- Peter Smith
- Zoe Smith
- Alexander Zane
I have never seen any ordering of names done differently, or any style guide, ever written which recommends any differently. --Jayron32 17:08, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Sounds fair enough guys. I insisted to sort them because they aren't sorted either way. The continues reverts were only insisting on one part of the section, while a private discussion was open. I'll take the time to sort the whole section by last name tonight. Concluding that the names will end up written with British English Standard and sorted by American English Standard. Thanks everyone AdvertAdam^talk 19:44, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

No need—and no justification—for any further alteration. All parts of the section are already done, exactly according to the standard practice demonstrated by User:Jayron32 above. Please let's leave it alone now. Any further changes in the ordering or structuring on your part will be in violation of consensus and could be viewed as disruptive editing. There's been enough time spent (or wasted) preserving the status quo. Thanks to those who commented. Hertz1888 (talk) 20:56, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

AGAIN, I saw it weird at first to use both American and British Academic English Standards at the same place; however, I appreciate and accepted everyone's opinion. I JUST thanked everyone and said that I will check the article when I have time. Guess the un-ordered parts that I previously saw were sorted during the reverts. AdvertAdam^talk 06:19, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Maths

Harvard's mathematicians are an odd collection. Kaczynsky is doing a life sentence for murder and Lehrer's maths were slight or none. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.153.68.30 (talk) 14:26, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

On the plus side, Andrew Gleason solved Hilbert's fifth problem. EEng (talk) 15:29, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

You are quite right. Gleason's contributions to maths are much bigger than Lehrer's. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.153.69.58 (talk) 09:25, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Kaczynsky also made more of a contribution than many to maths. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.153.69.58 (talk) 09:59, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Khurana quote

User:Mj thenovelatre inserted and re-inserted a quote from Dean Khurana. I removed it, because per WP:SELFPUB, self-published sources must not be used for "unduly self-serving material" like this, and a message written by Dean Khurana in his official capacity about Harvard on the College website is a self-published source (essentially Harvard writing about itself, and in a promotional manner). This is necessary to ensure that Wikipedia is not used for promotion and maintains a neutral point of view. WP:Consensus from others? FourViolas (talk) 16:21, 17 July 2016 (UTC)

See my edit summary in reverting its second insertion: [3]. This is fluff that tells the reader nothing except that Harvard espouses the same lofty goals all educational institutions do (... all except Trump University, of course). If there were some larger, noteworthy controversy over the mission of Harvard College, this might be one tiny part of a larger discussion, but on its own it's filler. E Eng 17:34, 17 July 2016 (UTC)

AfDs

The following may perhaps be of interest:

--Tryptofish (talk) 17:53, 28 January 2015 (UTC)

Request to add Robert Rubin

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hello to whomever may have this page watchlisted, I'd like to request an addition to the Notable alumni section. Robert Rubin, the former U.S. Treasury Secretary, graduated from Harvard in 1960, as noted in The Washington Post. I think he would best fit in the Economics subsection. Please let me know what you think. WWB Too (Talk · COI) 13:32, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

If anything that bloated list needs to be cut down. I've added Rubin to Harvard University people. E Eng 15:38, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

Closing this request as answered, per above. Z1720 (talk) 17:32, 19 October 2022 (UTC)