HEALTH AT HARVARD
Students reported being quite happy during their time in college—on average, they rated their happiness at 3.87 on a one-to-five scale, with higher numbers representing more positive feelings.
They rated their satisfaction with their Houses, on average, at 3.92, and gave even higher marks to their concentrations—4.04 on the one-to-five scale, though 27 percent said they would pick a new concentration if they could start over.
But mental health, long a cause for concern at Harvard, has again emerged at the forefront of campus conversation this year, especially after an anonymous opinion piece in The Crimson about a student’s struggles handling schizophrenia sparked a protest outside University Hall. And the survey results show that frustration with Harvard’s mental health services extends far beyond one anonymous writer.
• 39 percent of respondents said they sought some form of mental health care during their time at Harvard.
• 29 percent visited Mental Health Services, 17 percent visited the Bureau of Study Counsel, 12 percent visited an off-campus professional, and 4 percent used a peer counseling group.
• UHS received an average satisfaction rating of 2.9, while the Bureau of Study Counsel’s lesser-used therapy sessions earned a 3.5 rating. Those who received mental health care off campus were most satisfied, giving their treatment a 4.0 rating.
Sexual assault also loomed large in campus dialogue during a school year that started with two rapes reported on campus in a span of five days over the summer. Though the Harvard University Police Department announced that the two assaults were the first stranger rapes reported at Harvard in 12 years, students still voiced safety concerns as they returned to campus.
In the survey, 45 people—41 of whom were women or transgender students—said that they had been sexually assaulted at Harvard. Just eight of those victims said they reported the assault to Harvard administrators. And just one, a male victim, went to the police.
The average self-reported GPA was 3.63. While the mean self-reported GPAs of varsity athletes and of students on financial aid were slightly lower than this average, the differences were within the margin of error at a 95 percent confidence interval. The class saw little change in religiosity from the beginning to the end of college. Twenty percent of the class reported never dating anyone during their time in college. The numbers quantifying the Class of 2013 go on and on.
But perhaps one number speaks loudest of all.
Ninety-three percent: That’s the number that, given the chance to do it all over, would choose Harvard again.
—Julie M. Zauzmer can be reached at jzauzmer@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @JulieZauzmer.
—Gautam S. Kumar, E. Benjamin Samuels, and Zoe A. Y. Weinberg contributed to the reporting of this article.