If you ask any student what their favorite part of Harvard is, they will most likely say “the people.” I know, it’s cliché and unsatisfying for people to hear when trying to understand what makes Harvard so special, but it’s honestly the truth. And in this blog, I’ll tell you why. 

I just graduated from Harvard this May after five years filled with many highs and lows. My first year was punctuated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic—an event that subsequently caused me to take an unexpected gap year before returning to Harvard in the Fall of 2021 for the start of my third semester a full calendar year later than expected. Needless to say, my year off was lonely. So, after a year marked by social distancing and physical isolation, I couldn’t wait to get back on campus to see my friends, even if it was under the cloud of constant mask-wearing and COVID testing multiple times per week.

Despite these alterations in daily life that marked a stark contrast from the campus I knew during my first year, seeing my friends again on a daily basis made me feel like I truly was a part of the Harvard community again. The dinners shared with roommates in my suite common room when the dining halls were closed, the awkward interactions in class when my peers and I all had masks on, and the reunions with friends I hadn’t been in touch with since we were kicked off campus: these were all things that truly illuminated the value of the Harvard community to me, and this only became more apparent as restrictions got lighter and social life on campus started to resemble pre-pandemic levels through the rest of my sophomore and junior years.

So, when it came time for my senior year, I was scared. Many of my friends didn’t take gap years during the pandemic like I did, so I was terrified to return to a campus that wouldn't feel like the Harvard I was used to and wouldn't be filled with the students I had gotten to know so closely over the last few years. Sure, campus before and after the pandemic was different too, but at least the people who were on campus before and after the pandemic stayed the same. So, because of this fear, I decided to study abroad in Amsterdam for the first semester of my senior year to start new in a new place as opposed to starting new in a familiar place. And while this helped me avoid my fears for a little bit longer, I was forced to confront those feelings head on when I returned to Harvard’s campus for my final semester.

Despite all my fear, I was surprised to find that I didn’t have to make new friends when I got back to campus. Sure, all my roommates were gone, but I had friends in so many places at Harvard that even in their absence, I felt surrounded by people I knew and people who supported me. The thing that sets Harvard apart, and the reason “the people” is the answer you always get when asked “what is the best part of Harvard” is because the people at Harvard aren’t just made up of your classmates and peers. They are also made up of the staff, the advisers, and the faculty that you interact with daily. Sure, I didn’t have my roommates on campus anymore, but I did have my residential adviser who would eat his breakfast with me in the dining hall, my faculty deans and other support staff in my house who had been a steadfast fixture of my Harvard experience, and the same dining hall staff who welcomed me back to Harvard in my sophomore year to welcome me back during my last semester at Harvard as well. And yes, I did make a few new friends, but they were just the cherry on top.

This is all just to say that Harvard is nothing without the people that make it up. I know (or I hope) that nobody reading this will have a pandemic interrupt their time at Harvard, but I hope this message helps students in a variety of situations. If you are interested in coming to Harvard but are an introvert, know that you will have a support system beyond friends to help you navigate college life. If you are thinking of taking a gap year or taking time off, know that the weight of every person that won’t be at Harvard anymore when you return is balanced out by the countless faces that will be here to help welcome you back. And finally, if you’re a senior about to graduate like I was, know that your friends who have moved on from Cambridge are Harvard just as much as the people in Cambridge are. The people make the place, the place doesn’t make the people, and I’m so lucky that I can go into the world and experience the comfort of Harvard in every city where my friends now call home while still having Cambridge be a place where I can always come back home to. So while it may be cliché, the best part of Harvard truly is the people.