Outliers Found Outside Harvard University

Hiroshi Hatano
Nov 5 · 4 min read

Harvard is not the only choice

Photo by Ken Theimer on Unsplash

In chilly fall 1984, my campus life stared with a large classroom of world politics in a beautiful campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The topic covered the heated battles between the US and USSR over strategic defense initiative, playfully named Star Wars in news media. A local theater released the Star Wars movie, “The Return of Jedi.” A lot of undergraduate students went to see the movie. The political science class of Dr. Raymond Tanter attracted a lot of students who wanted to expose themselves in the political debate for Cold War. Its influence was almost everywhere on campus, hovering over the student body, faculty, and administration. The University of Michigan is one of the greatest universities in the world. Michigan is a state-run university, not a private one like Harvard. My roommate, David, turned down the letter of acceptance from Harvard graduate school. He said to me that he chose to come to Michigan because he got a scholarship from Michigan and he liked the program of graduate study in his field. I said to him, “You didn’t go to Harvard? Why? Harvard is more famous than any other schools.” His reaction was very calm. It is because he got a scholarship from Michigan and the program is fairly similar between two schools. David is a Jewish origin from New York. He was a very cool and generous American citizen. A story of the Economist published on October 11, 2019 raised the question of Harvard University guarding its decision on admissions over the minority applicants from Asian background. A group of people raised the voice to the current practice of admissions policy. The court ruled in favor of the university to justify the practice. How do I react to the ruling? It is very hard to say something very sensitive but my question is, “Is Harvard the only choice to go to?

A story of the Economist depicts the affairs with a series of somewhat provocative orientation. The claim of discrimination on Asians relative to whites began in 2014. Last month, a state judge ruled in favor of the university to support the admissions process to admit legacy students. The ground of claim is based on the system of affirmative action at elite universities. The legal activist, Edward Blum, a former stock broker, appeals the case in defense of the Asian plaintiffs. One of documents presented in the court shows the academic estimate by three economists, who are not identified in the newspaper that 43% of white students would not have got in otherwise. The newspaper makes a disturbing remark on closing paragraph. Cases against the minority race are constitutionally valid only if the process is done in the leased obtrusive way.

It is very hard to react but I painfully understand the current ruling. First, Harvard is a private institution, not public one, setting their academic admissions policy on their own without taking all factors in consideration. Second, it is located in northeast of the United States, not in California. Even in the same region, there are very competitive academic institutions like MIT. In California, they have Cal Tech. Thirdly, Harvard is still for people who want to become lawyers in New York and DC. Asians have a plenty of options to pursue for academic study at different locations. If they want to pursue engineering, there are bunch of good schools in the east such as MIT, Carnegie Melon. Lastly, this is probably the most important reason is, as Malcom Gradwell explains in his book, “Outlier” that you don’t have to go to Harvard to win Nobel Prize. He listed 25 different schools from which Nobel Prize winners studied at their undergraduate. Once students enter the fairly good school, it is up to students to perform with classmates and faculty. He also describes it very elegantly in his book that Harvard is primarily for something else. When you accept a paycheck from these people, it is going to come down to what you want to do and what you feel is right versus what man says you can do to receive another paycheck. Most Asian Americans want the former, don’t they? It has more freedom than the latter.

I remember David, who graduated from Havorford College in Pennsylvania, saying to me that you don’t have to go to Harvard. He turned down their offer and came to Michigan to study Oriental Studies at Rackham Graduate School. The program is impressive enough to dig deeper his field of interest. For the next three decades, I have never met anyone like David who didn’t go to Harvard. Perhaps, the evidence is going to show that some whites turned down Harvard because of some reasons. Most universities in U.S. provide undergraduates with fairly good education across the nation. Four years is good enough to get ahead and prepares yourself to a graduate study of your choice. I know there is an emotional disagreement over the statement with a severe anger. But it is very hard to rule against the decision by a state judge. If you shoot for being a lawyer in New York, that is the way to get into Harvard but there are a lot of career options in other places.

Hiroshi is a college instructor of international business in Tokyo, writing on management and work in Tokyo.

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