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2011 Senior Survey

By Emma M. Benintende

May 24, 2011

Describe Your Harvard Experience in One Word - The Harvard experience in one word, collected from responses made by members of the Class of 2011 who took The Harvard Crimson’s annual senior survey. By Crimson Design Staff

Where Will They Go? - WHERE IN THE WORLD WILL YOUR CLASSMATES BE? CLOSE BY: Roughly 43 percent of senior class survey respondents said that they would be living in either Boston or New York next year. With another 6.9 percent living in the nation’s capital and 4.4 percent living elsewhere in the Northeast, over half of the class is anticipating living within 500 miles of Cambridge, Mass. HOTEL CALIFORNIA: Over one-tenth of the class plans on heading to The Golden State after receiving their diplomas. Roughly another tenth plans on moving to the South and Midwest. ABROAD: Almost 20 percent of survey respondents say they will be living outside the United States next year, with nearly half of those individuals planning on heading to Europe. By Emma M. Benintende

Work or Grad School? - The number of students seeking full-time employment rose from 2010, as well as the number planning on going to graduate school. The proportion working in finance and consulting has stayed relatively flat. By Emma M. Benintende

Finding Work - There remains a large gap between what students will do next year and what they want to do. The crimson boxes are what students are doing but would rather not do, while the blue boxes indicate fields that students would like to pursue if salary were not a factor. The steepness of the lines between the two sides shows the extent of the disconnect. By Crimson Design Staff

Drug Use (Pot) - Over one-third of respondents reported using marijuana with some frequency. Use of hard drugs and study drugs is far less common, with well over 90 percent of respondents self-reporting as non-users. By Emma M. Benintende

Drug Use (Study, e.g. Adderall, Ritalin) - Over one-third of respondents reported using marijuana with some frequency. Use of hard drugs and study drugs is far less common, with well over 90 percent of respondents self-reporting as non-users. By Emma M. Benintende

Drug Use (Hard, e.g. cocaine, heroin) - Over one-third of respondents reported using marijuana with some frequency. Use of hard drugs and study drugs is far less common, with well over 90 percent of respondents self-reporting as non-users. By Emma M. Benintende

Base Salary - The proportion of respondents whose salaries will exceed $50,000 a year next year has increased by 41 percent year-over-year. By Crimson Design Staff

Sexuality - Respondents were asked how they identified themselves at the beginning and end of college. The number of students identifying as gay, questioning, and other at the end of college has stayed relatively flat compared to last year’s data, while the number of respondents identifying as bisexual has decreased slightly. By Emma M. Benintende

Alcohol - Nearly three-quarters of respondents reported drinking alcohol at least once a week. Roughly 10 percent reported drinking once a month, while almost 7 percent said they never drink at all. By Crimson Design Staff

Sex and Dating - Both male and female respondents reported a median of two sexual partners and two dating partners during their time at Harvard. A substantially greater proportion of male respondents reported having had five or more sexual partners during their time at Harvard, but the distribution of the number of dating partners is similar among males and females. By Emma M. Benintende

House Satisfaction - Overall, Harvard students were very satisfied with Harvard’s housing system, with Pfoho and Currier ranking highest among the 12 Houses by proportion of residents who were satisfied with their House life experiences. House satisfaction results in this particular survey should be taken with a grain of salt, as the margin of error increases substantially when responses are broken down by House. By Crimson Design Staff

Politics at Harvard - Politics relative to the average American and to Harvard By Emma M. Benintende

The results of this year's Senior Survey

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