"There are resources here that may not be available at other schools," Berg says. "And there's the opportunity to teach the best undergraduates in the country."

But recruiters also emphasize the strength of the minority community at Harvard, which is rooted, administrators say, in the W.E. B. Du Bois Society.

The society provides an academic and social forum for GSAS minority students and meets with accepted students when they visit the campus courtesy of the University.

Gardenhire, a member of the society's steering committee, says that besides the group's monthly "mixers" in Dudley house, they have also organized ongoing research forums where graduate students at various points in their studies gather over dinner and then present their research.

The GSAS Experience

Students say that in general, life as a minority in GSAS is pretty good.

"In a lot of ways, Harvard is race neutral, at least that's been my experience," Gardenhire says. "I had a few bad experiences when I first came, of professors being inappropriate. But I set them straight and I don't work with those people. Race hasn't affected my ability to learn."

Gardenhire emphasizes that students' experiences vary from department to department, as a student spends the majority of their time working in their academic field.