Oh Harvard

I didn't get into Harvard -- which, frankly, is fine. I've always found America's oldest university a little too pretentious for my taste. Their rejection letter managed to be both pretentious and cheap.

In the pretentious category, we have the absurdly legalistic phrasing: the Graduate School "is unable to take favorable action on your applicationto the Department of X." "Favorable action," please. It gets better, though. The second paragraph begins with "I know that this decision comes as a disappointment." Whatever happened to some humility: "this decision MIGHT come as a disappoinment"? In my case, for example, while it sucks not to get in, I know it wouldn't be the mest climate for me and I simply would have preferred to turn them down (perhaps that's why I didn't get in). And if my application did "receive full consideration by faculty members in the department to which [I] applied," then why is said department unable to send the letter themselves. I don't think it's fear (how scary are we rejected applicants?), but I hate the facade of he enitity known as "the graduate school" when, as the letter itself plainly states, it's the department that makes the decision. I'd much prefer a letter from the people who actually rejected me rather than the tepid response from the people who just rubber stamp the decision and incur the postage coasts.

Speaking of the postage, the letter was cheap because it was printed on black and white paper (in courier new font, no less -- what they want me to think that some poor secretary, err administrative assistant, actually typed them). For the amount of money it costs to apply, they could have spared some colored letterhead. I know this is petty but schools have this amazing ability to forget that the rejected applicants did, in fact, pay money to apply. If the Javots Fellowship folks at the Department of Education send me a rejection letter on black and white standard paper stock, that's cool -- they didn't charge me to apply and they shouldn't waste taxpayer money on color printing. In fact, they (and every school out there) can just send me an email. But Harvard could send me something with their little red shield in red, especially since the paper should suit the language printed on it.