5. If you could give some advice to the Class of 2012, what would it be?
Radcliffe
Answers in relating to sex, marriage, family, friends…
Treasure the important people in your life and be sure to make time for them.
Don't be so career and money-driven. Simplify your lives. Take more time to enjoy; your children,
have dinner with them regularly, and don't worry so much about the college they will go to. Let go of the
ideal of perfectionism as a parent.
Choose your life partner carefully and don't expect to be able to make a mean person into a kind
one.
Be careful who you marry. If you want a child, you will have to forego the fast-track at work.
Value personal relationships; If at all possible, follow your heart in making career choices.
Have children or think about helping the children there are; seek a balance between career, family
and enjoyment of other things.
Take time to be with you family
Cherish those friends and the new ones that come along. Business friends are not always forever.
Make time for friendships
Be sure to establish close bonds with one or several adults in your life. These relationships will help
carry you through difficult times and will rejoice with you when you triumph.
Borrowed Answers
Follow your bliss (thanks, Joseph Campbell)
Follow your interests; work on yourself if you have interpersonal difficulties; Freud was right: it's all
about love and work. The rest will follow.
The advice Mary Bunting, President of Radcliffe beginning in 1960, told our class: (As women) you
will do a great many things in your life...you won't be able to do them all simultaneously!
Live your core values, e.g., honor, courage and commitment; Follow your passion, and build on your
strengths; be charitable towards others; Leave the world a better place for having been here
'But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God hath prepared for them that love him.' (First Corinthians 2:9)
Incredibly practical advice
Get medical treatment if you become ill at Harvard; Vacuum your room once in a while; don’t try to
compete. There will always be people at Harvard who are smarter/funnier/cooler/edgier than you; Go to
Boston at least occasionally.
Live well within your means - if you aren't trapped by a high-maintenance lifestyle you'll have the
flexibility to take advantage of new opportunities
Be patient with yourself and others. Let your life evolve. This does not mean passivity, but rather
openness to what life and others bring to the plate, as well as to your own hopes, dreams, strivings; But
then, how can any 21-22 year old be patient?
Advice Against Advice:
I don't think they'd want to listen to me!
I don't give advice.
Career advice
Don’t expect there to be straight lines in your career path. What happened to women graduates in
1962 is now happening to all grads.
In terms of career and other decisions choose what you love to do, not what you think you SHOULD
do. Let your gut help your head. Persevere.
You will not have a single career so engage in what opportunities come your way, expect to work in
the public, for profit and not for profit sectors, commit to working for positive social change.
Become accomplished at something that can get you employed, and use the rest of the time
studying what you love. Someday maybe you can put it to use in your career.
Be kind and supportive to your colleagues as well as your family, and listen carefully before you
speak.
Advice along the lines of leap before you look
Enjoy, explore.
Be open to a variety of opportunities, and think outside the box.
Don't take life too seriously.
Take advantage of your opportunities, they may be disguised as something else
Listen more, talk less, worry about nothing, and love hugely, everyone and everything. In an inner
sense—the only one that ultimately matters—we already are what we aspire to become.
Be open to change, and keep on learning, value your Harvard education.
Be flexible and fearless
Go a little wild and choose as many interesting courses as you can fit in. Never again will you be
faced with such a luxurious intellectual buffet.
Follow your heart and don't be afraid to make commitments.
Keep your options open—be available to take advantage of new opportunities; Go with the flow.
Be open to all kinds of people and experiences, and don't assume you have to live up to anyone
else's assumptions or expectations.
With thought, pursue what you care most about, even if you have to take some chances and if it
does not lead directly to your long term goal, if you have one.
Find out what you love to do and do it.
Go for it. The external conditions of the economy will make things harder for you than it was for us,
but persevere. Be flexible; think about what you would like to be able to accomplish; and in some
surprising way, you'll find a way to do it.
Follow your interest, keeping your eyes and mind open for opportunities you don't expect. And try to
live in another country for at least a year - it will help you see the world differently, but most important it
will make you see 'home' differently when you return.
Explore the opportunities of liberal education as much as you can. The richness of the experience
will allow you to have many careers and make many contributions
Do good
Put your leadership skills in the service of humanity.
To 'think outside the box'; to enrich your life by working as much for society as for yourself or your
family.
Work Hard
Work hard, but intersperse it with lots of fun and laughter and physical exercise. Being joyous affects
creativity and absorption of information and knowledge.
Work hard, play hard, and be generous in spirit.
Work hard and don't get discouraged
Buckle down, quit whining, work hard, speak good English, contribute something to the world, fight
for peace, and don’t fall into the clutches of religion.
Enjoy and Be Kind to Yourself
Try to be realistic about yourself and others, be good to each other, and go easy on yourself.
Get a dog; Keep stillness in your life; Love as much as you can.; Never stop laughing.
Don’t be or take yourself too seriously; I think the best complement I have received is: I hear you
do something very serious but you are a lot of fun
More one-liners
Follow your own heart.
Be yourselves.
Stay curious.
Graduate!
Live your life to the fullest every day.
Go for it
Follow your interests.
Go outwards.
Be confident, motivated but have fun!
Keep learning and keep yourself open to new ideas and people
Don't be too serious.
Don't just take practical classes leading to a profession.
Individualize and steer your own ship.
And more advice
It's your world now; make it what you want. Take yourself seriously
Pay attention to your physical, mental/emotional and spiritual health.
Become mindful, awake and aware of yourself and your world.
Make timely choices—don't rush, but don't let things slide.
Harvard
Answers with the word “learn…”
make learning a lifetime experience
Keep learning
Learn, enjoy: all knowledge and culture are equal and important
Give at least some of your time to causes beyond your own immediate career. Learn to be a citizen
of the world.
Be yourself. Pursue your dreams. True joy lies in your family relationships. Building character and
learning are lifelong pursuits.
Facts first, then beliefs. Learn to discern what really works.
Complete all your academic assignments faithfully and conscientiously. Make friends who will stay
friends for life. Develop new interests and try to learn about things that don't at first appeal to you.
1. Choose a career field that you thoroughly enjoy. if you're headed toward one that doesn't feel that
way, change. 2. Don't put off having balance in your life (family, career, community, recreation). learn the
skills of 'doing it all' early. 3. Eat right and exercise regularly, all your life.
Keep learning always
Learn about family life (you won't get that in most universities). take time in selecting a spouse
Care. Pay attention to what is going on around you. Find a way to help your community become
better than it is.
Learn to work with discipline horizontally, across borders, as a global generation.
Try to rise above careerism, and continue to pursue learning for the sheer joy of it.
Become educated before you become trained, and NEVER STOP LEARNING.
Be flexible, learn to improvise, be attuned to your times and your society.
When picking a profession, ask how life is in that profession when you are 50 and older. When
honing your skills in any profession, remember that it is easy to teach you hand and mechanical skills.
What is most valuable to learn is good judgment, the cornerstone to life's successful journey.
Follow your own star, and don't give too much credence to advice from oldsters. And remember, you
can learn from anyone, no matter how wrong he normally is, and from any experience, however painful.
When you get your diploma, you begin a whole new stage of learning. No matter what your age,
expand your knowledge and exercise your thinking to the greatest possible degree. As for success and
esteem, I cite the old saying: 'What you think of me is none of my business.'
Soak up every opportunity to learn something of value to you and others every waking moment.
Learn from history, enjoy art, and travel often. Fall in love.
know thyself / learn the rules of the arena you select
Find your passion and learn to build a life around and in it.
Cherish friends and family. Don't pay much attention to 'shoulds.' Don't choose your work for the
wrong reasons. find something to do that you like. Never stop learning. Don't pursue wealth for its own
sake, but invest early and regularly, even if it's only a little, and ignore ups and downs in the markets.
Answers with the word “study…”
Study hard (it pays off in many ways) and make friends (they'll be there long after the details of most
courses are lost in the mist of time).
Set challenging goals for yourself, and if (when) you fail to meet them, greet that failure as a blessed
opportunity for self-study and goal revision.
Study.
Character is destiny. Define your principles, decide who you want to be, and become that person.
Study American history and be proud to be a part of the greatest nation in the world.
Take advantage (more than I did) of everything, academic and otherwise, that Harvard offers. Study
long and frequently (more than I did), and leave time for fun. These four years are your only time in
college - don't miss out!
Don't spend so much time studying.
Study and inform yourself of BOTH sides of the issue. Try hard not to be in a 'bubble'
Study hard and ace your courses. Make personal connections with your professors.
Study something useful, and do what you love.
Answers with the word “love…”
Choose what you love for your work, not what is most remunerative.
Be ethical. If you fall in love stay there. Buy a house to live in not as an 'investment'.
See No. 3. . . Also: It seems to me that there's a disturbing trend among privileged young people to
replace love with ambition. I'm not even sure that for many young people, romantic love is anything more
than movie pap and sexual fantasy. That troubles me, because love is about connection to other people,
while ambition is often nothing more than solipsism. . . Also: Talent, intelligence, etc.—all the stuff that
kids bring to Harvard— are pure genetic accident. They're nothing to be particularly proud of. But how
one treats other people is something one can actually do well or poorly. It's what used to be called
'character.'
Do what you truly love and are truly good at. Be passionate and outstanding. If you do these things,
you'll make enough money, if not get rich.
Find and work hard at a job you love. Develop a strong sense of tolerance and determination to
understand the views and experiences of others. Use your Harvard education to make the world a
happier and more peaceful place.
Settle for nothing less than life career(s) that will pay you a living wage for work that you love both for
itself and for its benefit to living kind.
Follow your Bliss and pursue what you love and try to help others live in a better world than you
found it.
As the Germans say: Work and love. That means full, deep love of any kind: family, music, career,
nature—just nothing casual or shallow. Don't waste time on anything else.
Whatever you choose to do, love it. Pace yourself and balance work and family.
Making money has to be a goal, but make it a lesser one. Do what you love. Be curious. Be creative.
Be thankful. Give back.
Answers with the word “work…”
Trust God, work hard and be honest. Don't forget to play along the way.
Live simply, work at something that makes a difference to others, and get over having graduated
from Harvard as soon as you can.
Always be skeptical, especially of the absolutist claims of right-wing conservatives and left-wing
radicals. Particularly oppose and work to reverse the appalling gap between both the assets owned by,
and the annual incomes of, the richest few versus the wealth and incomes the many increasingly poor
people in the world. History teaches that gaps this wide lead to social dislocations and stresses that are
bad for everyone, including the wealthy.
Work hard but recognize the miracle that is every other person.
Work hard and enjoy your family and friends.
Don't take for granted that your Harvard degree will favorably influence the opinion. of potential
employers and associates. Recognize that hard work, dedication and. honesty will take you far.
I think that it is important to get a good, stable long-term career-type job early in the game, preferably
by age 30 if not sooner. At least for the past few decades long-term jobs have resulted in good pensions,
and I have no problems with what I now have. Naturally the job must be in something that you really enjoy
doing. Since I have never married, I cannot offer advice here, but marriages too early in life can often
result in severe financial problems that can take far too long to work out. I have always paid for things that
I own, but far too many persons live in houses too large and expensive for them to own, buy too many
appliances, big cars, clothes, etc. I do not like paying interest on debt, and I would suggest avoid that as
much as is possible.
Work hard, have fun, be true to yourself
Pursue lots of interests while an undergraduate—work hard but don't be consumed by only preparing
for some future fulfillment, such as career, wealth, fame, or whatever. Take some courses just because
they seem interesting. Do some different things during the summer.
Decide what you want to do and work at it. Don't spend your time worrying about what choice is best.
There is not a best choice, only what you want to accomplish.
You can do anything you want, find a mentor who is there and work hard in following her advice.
Doing less than your capacity is a choice but should be made late in your career so as not to regret
opportunities lost.
Don't assume that just because you do good work that you will have a good outcome (as they tend
to tell you at Harvard)
Find something you enjoy doing and then work very hard to be even better in doing it.
Work at what you want to do that you are good at.
Go to work and follow your dream
You have to be your own person to feel gratified with your life — but you also have to work hard.
Work hard and pick a life you enjoy.
I find that daily exercise is essential for both mental and physical health. When I come home from
work, I am usually totally wiped out. Then, I never feel like doing ANYTHING. But if I go do some weight
lifting or swimming, then I feel completely rejuvenated.
Keep on working for the common good, and fight against special interests.
Keep on asking questions, doubting the 'truth', broadening your interests. Keep on learning. Forever.
Answers in Latin or borrowed
Carpe Diem
Illigitimi non carborundum.
Illegitamatum non carborundum.
'If you can keep your head when all about are losing theirs, or walk with kings—nor lose the common
touch, you'll be a Man, my son'
'To thine own self be true.'
Be true to yourself, and follow the Golden Rule.
Advice against advice or Harvard
Don't listen to advice.
I wouldn't presume to give advice.
Don't let having gotten into Harvard go to your head
Leave Harvard immediately and go live in a Third World Country for a while. Go to one that we have
recently ruined like Iraq or Afghanistan. Then decide what you want to do with your life.
Many people who don't get into Harvard will turn out to know lots more than you do.
Answers in relating to sex, marriage, family, friends…
I told the girl I loved how bad I was and she decided to marry me. Best decision I ever made.
Enjoy yourselves and each other for the rest of our time on earth
Your two most important choices are who you marry and your career. The first is probably the more
important.
Recognize the importance of family and friends.
The secret to staying sane: lots of exercise and lots of sex.
take advantage of making friends in your class
Get married young (as I did at age 22), and don't let your career dominate your life.
Make and stay in touch with lots of friends.
Wait to choose a spouse until you are sure that person does not abuse alcohol and will not abuse
you emotionally or physically. Half of marriages end in divorce.
Don't sweat the small stuff. Marry the right person. Travel. Follow your heart but be sure you can
make a living.
Choose your parents, your mates, and your children well.
Seek achievement but give priority to family, close relationships etc.
Keep an appropriate balance in your life among family, friends, career and vigorous exercise.
Incredibly practical advice
Pay back any student loans as soon as possible. Try to avoid Wall Street.
Remember to breathe.
Stay out of trouble.
Remember to have a life.
Don't bring a car to Cambridge.
Incredibly impractical advice
Stay in school as long as you can :)
?? [sic]
Understand what is meant by steeped-in-the-variables intuitive creativity
There are over six billion people on this earth. Have a moment of positive personal interaction with
as many of them as you can each day.
Career advice
pursue careers in productive areas as opposed to financial, legal etc.
Hope that the employment situation will improve and urge students not to become too competitively
focused. There's more to life than ranking first.
Choose field of concentration and extracurricular activities which offer best opportunities for careers
in 2012.
Find a career that gives you both professional satisfaction and the time to follow your non-career
dreams.
Along with a passion for what you are doing, it is critical to develop and maintain a sense of
professionalism in chosen career.
Start in 2012 putting aside resources for retirement.
Planning for the long term is illusory. Pursue your current interests and be ever alert for opportunities
for professional and personal development
Before beginning your career, serve as an officer in the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps.
Life is long, don't fret too much about your first post-college job
Follow your most generous impulses. Serve the community well. Recall the adage: 'those to whom
much is given, much is asked.'
Find a career that allows you to make a contribution & is satisfying. Try to marry monetary outcomes
and self-fulfillment. Money does make a difference as you age and your familial responsibilities increase.
Your career must center on something you enjoy doing on a daily basis
Find a job you like and continue to pay attention to family
think of yourself as having serial careers and lives—don't box yourself in by thinking you 'are' only
one thing or can live happily in only one way
Try a number of careers. I have tried 6 or 7. Boredom is the worst
Do good
Pick a vocation that helps others.
Try to help turn this country into a place where there is a real sense of community, where people are
valued because they add value to society rather than just manipulate money and people.
We live on a seriously shrinking planet, in terms of wild places and resources. Global population is
out of control. There is a need for wisdom and commitment far earlier than that expected of our
generation.
Find some way to serve your country for a couple of years before beginning a career.
Look for ways to nudge mankind toward a more nearly sustainable path. On a more personal note,
take more care than our generation did to assure your employability.
Do not ignore our collective responsibilities in the pursuit of individual interests
Don't over-focus on making money. consider careers in Government if you want to help others.
The importance of public service.
Do all you can to build a more equal democracy and help save our environment.
Be true to yourself and generous to the needs of the country.
Enjoy your family and friends, and do good in the community, particularly for those less fortunate.
The digital information revolution is an unstoppable dynamic that will bring huge advances in human
knowledge. It also will up-end classic economic structures that have created stable 'middle class' strata
for billions of people. This instability, combined with human-caused climate change, and continuing
population growth, will pose very hard challenges to H '12 — and all others on the planet as well.
Set your eyes not on your personal achievement but on goals in which realization of genuine human
and social good is paramount
Weigh the implications for the future and vote. Become involved in the process, if possible.
Advice along the lines of leap before you look
Explore all options. don't close doors.
Increase the number of widely different experiences.
Do not delay jumping into life. There are no perfect solutions.
Don't be afraid to take chances. And don't make the pursuit of money a significant part of your life.
Don't be discouraged. Stay nimble. Be creative. Roll with the punches.
Do everything! Live your dreams!
Dare to be yourself and, in the process, to discover the wonders and values of the people and world
around you.
Act like it's the 1960's. Make some noise in the world.
Go for it! Now is the time in your life to seek your dream. You'll have plenty of time to recover if you
miss your dream. It's tough to seek your dream in mid-career, mid-marriage, and middle-age.
Pursue your passion.
Do what you want to do, and don't worry too much about earning lot of money.
Enjoy every breath and every heartbeat! Regret nothing
l'audace, l'audace. l'audace
DARE!
try anything different
Embrace your mistakes.
More one-liners
Don't let anybody do your thinking for you.
Start things you can finish, finish things you start.
Be clear what your goals are, be sure they are worthwhile goals, then pursue them with dedication.
Don't take yourself too seriously, have fun for these are your salad days.
Stay away from the 'quick and easy'
Take off a year or two to live abroad before continuing your professional career.
Hang out with your elders. listen to them if you choose, but watch what they do.
Be a keen observer of what goes on around you
If something will matter 'in a hundred years.' get upset about it. Otherwise, retain your perspective.
Check your assumptions
Spend some time by yourself to figure out what you really want in life.
Make your minds a more interesting place in which to live.
Get out of the United States and see the rest of the world.
Be grateful for the opportunity you have as you will always be special for having attended Harvard
keep veritas in all you do.
Do what you have a passion for, not what pays the best or what you feel you're expected to do.
Personal integrity and building trust are the keys to success and satisfaction.
Explore. Do not commit fully too early to person or path.
Keep options open. plastics
Remain as open, as curious, as interested in the world as possible.
Question all assumptions. In particular, never assume something is impossible without proof.
Try to arrange things so that you can be self-respecting, not merely self-admiring.
See the world—and not just for two week vacations.
At the end of the day only one thing really matters - Have you been kind?
Relax and enjoy Harvard
Value other people and listen while communicating.
Spend a few years in the real world before you go to graduate school.
Give a lot of thought to ethics and morality.
Be more entrepreneurial.
Apply yourself. There is plenty of time to party later.
Devote as much time and effort as possible to your metier, to what you apparently do best.
If a door opens, walk through it, with your eyes open, of course.
Do things of lasting value, but don't postpone doing them. You never know what is around the
corner.
Have a vision and take calculated risks
Privilege relationships over careers
Take life seriously, yourself not so much.
Wring all you can out of the experience.
Don't pursue money. pursue feeling helpful
Don't waste time on anything that does not totally grip you.
Be better than average in as many things as possible.
Be bold and imaginative, but also find good mentors.
Hang in there—life has its ups and downs.
Make sure you take a step backwards and pause to realize how lucky you are with your education
Be courageous, generous and use your intellect
be willing to take intellectual and personal risks
Dream big, set specific goals and go for them.
Be hopeful and optimistic, but don't take anything for granted, especially your good fortunes.
Don't settle.
Follow your center of interest, no matter
See Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford commencement address.
don't worry about what others around you might think
Follow your heart and your right brain, not the advice of others.
Attitude is everything. Keep laughing, and keep praying.
Explore meaningfully all of your options — giving the appropriate personal 'weight' to each.
Listen to some of the Steve jobs rhetoric of the past few days and follow your heart.
Be eclectic
Life isn't what you get, it is what you give.
And more advice
For some of us, possibly many. It's hard to grow up. It's not your fault, or Harvard's fault, or
whatever. It's just really hard sometimes. Talk to your friends.
'Self-respect is the fruit of discipline. the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.' Abraham Heschel.
.what you will be doing five years from now will be more a function of what happens between now
and then than some decision you made some time back. And that's ok, so don't make long term plans
that you think are firm.
After you graduate, there will be a wall in front of you. Go over it, around it, through it, underneath it - just be determined to get to the other side.
You have no way of knowing the opportunities life will present, which to choose, or how gratifying
they will be. Ask yourself every so often if you are pleased with your life. If so, do everything to protect it.
it not, change it.
Have faith in yourself. don't get discouraged. keep looking for your gifts. . 'Rediscover yourself as
you age'
Don't be afraid to question situations which do not appear to be satisfactory. Appreciate the diversity
of students and faculty (better today than 50 years ago.
Enjoy and take advantage of the opportunities only available when young but try not to close any
doors behind you.
Follow your passions and live your life with the 'TV Test' as your guide. That is, imagine yourself on
TV talking about what you did or failed to do, when your family and friends are watching. If you don't want
to talk openly about your actions on TV, change your actions.
Make sure you have at least some sense of humor. You will need a lot of it given the challenges of
the next half-century.
Think for yourself but realize that what you do can (and should) effect the lives of others and
remember you are not the center of the universe.
Keep an open mind. don't discard other opinions. look for new friends of all types. don't ignore
opportunities to do some good.
Life is a long journey and developing the discipline/skill of postponing instant gratification for a worthy
goal is a key to a successful/happy life
Try to do things that you like with people who you like. Make an effort to understand and appreciate
the point of view of others, particularly those closest to you. Select and pursue 'destinations' in life, but
feel free to change them at any point. Respect your parents, but live the life YOU want to live!
Don't be driven by grades and achievement measured by how others (like professors) evaluate you.
Do things.
Give your full heart to whatever you choose to do, but remember that, whatever it is, it is not the only
path. Walk your path with curiosity as to what will be around the next corner. Don't assume you know in
advance, because there is no way you can.
Seek to understand — within the contexts of their times — wellsprings of the achievements,
tribulations, and shortcomings of your parents' and grandparents' generations and, if possible, those of
still earlier generations.
take risks. It is a long life and there is time to do many things so don't rush into something just to
make money.
This will be the only four year of your life when your only responsibility will be to read. Don't waste it.
All other pleasures can come later.
Courage! You will need it to face an extraordinarily difficult time in the history of our country and the
other nations on Earth.
The answer to just about every question in life is, 'It depends.' And the difference between ignorance
and expertise is knowing what it depends on.
Seek the broadest educational experiences that you can before specializing toward a profession or
career. Choose your own path with what you think will have long-term value. No need at this stage of your
life to think of rapid advancement on the next step.
Think about what you want to accomplish in your life. Investigate how to do it. Set ambitious goals.
Don't sell yourself short.
Enjoy your years at college! Explore every serious and whimsical part of your life. Join clubs, start a
club, join the band, or orchestra. Go out for crew or single sculling. Don't insulate or isolate yourself. Get
involved. You'll not regret it. Don't spend every waking hour trying to get better grades. Life at college is a
great smorgasbord. Try all of the dishes!
Be wary of being seduced by short-term gain, but rather think about having a long-term impact on
the lives of others. And, if it isn't fun, it isn't worth doing!
If you can afford it, do some extended travel, particularly in third-world countries, before you have
kids. . Do something about climate change, which will affect you a lot more than it will me.
Set priorities carefully and review them often (each 6 months, maybe more). Take time to establish a
'Life Wheel' - a representation of your values, goals, priorities. I have only started doing this in a formal
way recently, recognizing that with life shortening it becomes even more important to stay focused on
what is important to you.
Be optimistic, persistent, resolute and determined in pursuit of your goal which is to be happy and
productive in the time allocated to us.