That’s probably not far from the truth. At least in the 80’s they seemed to have one spot each year for diversity for people from rural western (possibly southwestern) Oregon that my high school keyed in on, and managed to get about half the time (we were the biggest school in the region and had some good faculty). In my year three of us applied, and we were pretty sure that only one of us was going to get in. One of the guys wanted to go so badly that he went out for the football team to better round out his application. He snagged the spot, and I am so grateful. He hated it and ended up leaving after a year, and I probably would have as well.
I hated Cornell too, but in that case hate (or practicality) motivated me to cram four years worth of courses into three (almost four years—I did have a handful of credits that I transferred in, but I believe 6 at most). So sometimes I can be motivated. I also saved a bundle.
Hey, I’ve lost a fair amount of motivation too as I’ve gotten older. Can’t say that I miss it.
And Cornell ain’t bad and it’s got a much more beautiful campus than Harvard, and Ithaca has some great restaurants.
Why do all the lib college towns always have great restaurants?
I went to Berkeley and it’s the same there.