‘Home for the Next 4 Years’: Admitted Students Experience Harvard at Visitas 2024

More than 1,300 admitted students flocked to campus for Visitas — Harvard’s two-day admitted students event — this past weekend.

Throughout Sunday and Monday, prefrosh attended activities and panels from a selection of over 200 events, including a welcome event featuring interim Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 and select courses with current Harvard students.

More than 900 current Harvard students hosted admitted students in their dorms while more than 100 volunteered elsewhere, handing shirts and guiding students around campus.

Jack R. Damon, an admitted student from New York, said he “quintuple booked” himself throughout his weekend at Harvard.

“I will try to see if I can go to as much as possible. It won’t be everything because there’s too much to go to, but that’s just the great thing about Visitas,” Damon said.

Daniel Zhao, an admitted student from California, said that he had missed meals because he was so busy with Visitas programming.

“There’s honestly a lot to do at Visitas, so I haven’t really eaten,” Zhao said. “But I think I’ll find some late night eats today.”

To begin the weekend, students attended Visitas Thinks Big: an annual event, held in Sanders Theatre, where Harvard professors present the work they do with students, along with the chance to attend open houses hosted by different academic departments, an academic fair, and the chance to sit in on class.

“It was also just a cool showing,” Eve C. Weiner, an admitted student from Colorado, said of Visitas Thinks Big, “Just seeing that you’re gonna get so much experience to work with these amazing professors, which is super cool.”

Elise A. Spenner said that among other courses, she was planning on attending English 183TS: Taylor Swift and Her World, which attracted significant media attention when it was announced.

“I’ve heard mixed reviews, but I want to judge it for myself because I’m a huge Swiftie,” Spenner said.

Student organizations — from athletic teams to music clubs — also held events and programming for admitted students.

Ty D. Fein, a student who committed to Harvard for football, said he was excited to meet and work out with the team.

“I had a football meeting, and I went to the workout this morning. It was a little early, but I didn’t mind,” Fein said. “We met with our next year’s position coaches. That was super cool.”

The Harvard University Band plays for admitted students during Visitas on Sunday in Harvard Yard. By Melissa C. Suquisupa

Damon said that he was “blown away by the sheer amount of just extracurriculars and academic classes that there are here,” including things he had not previously considered.

“There was a linguistics club, and I just saw that and I had not previously thought about doing anything like that,” he said. “But I went over and just talked about language and linguistics, which I’m very interested in minoring in.”

Several students said that Visitas helped them in making their college decision and getting a sense of life at Harvard. Admitted students have until May 1 to respond to their offer of admission.

“Before I came I already accepted the offer, but this has been really reassuring,” admitted student Muhammed U. Khan said. “It just makes me really excited for the fall.”

Zhao said that Visitas has been “really fantastic” and that his experience “makes him want to come to this school.”

“I’m not yet committed, I’m choosing but meeting these people, hearing their opinions, especially these upperclassmen and, obviously, my prefrosh people, right? That’s been such an enjoyable experience,” he said. “Both the education and the people, it’s been really pulling me towards Harvard.”

“I hadn’t properly toured before,” admitted student Eshaan S. Mani said. “Getting out of the T station, and immediately feeling like, ‘Okay, this is where I want to call home for the next four years,’ was a really special feeling.”

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at elyse.goncalves@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves or on Threads @elyse.goncalves.

—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.