■"Does Harvard 'brand' matter anymore? 1980 grads reflect on what they learned," by Greg Farrell, USA Today, 7 June 2005, p. 1B .

It's called the ultimate brand: the degree from Harvard. But not all are equal. To be the classic "Harvard man," you had to go there for an undergraduate degree (there were no "Harvard women" for the first three centuries or so; they went to Radcliffe).

I was never a Harvard man, but I got two graduate degrees there: one in Soviet studies (now called Russia, East European and Central Asian studies, and yes, I did take all those classes too), and the PhD in political science from the Government Department (major international relations; minor comparative politics). I went to the "real" Gov department in Arts and Sciences, not the Kennedy School, which was a separate trade school outside of the graduate school system, like the med and biz schools.

I barely got into the Soviet Studies program at the Russian Research Center, as I was the last selectee in the group of 12. Big key: secretary to director was Wisconsin-born, and she thought it would be great to have someone from there (not too common). I had gotten Phi Beta Kappa as a Junior (one of 3 selected in a class of 5,000), so I was certainly no slouch. That's just how tight the competition was then. I had been accepted at Yale as well, as was offered more money, but took Harvard because of the Sox, Celtics and Bruins. Plus I really wanted to work for Adam Ulam.

After year one, I was one of two selected as the top students of the 12, getting a special fellowship. At that point, the Director's secretary had determined I had the right personality to serve as Ulam's personal research assistant, a job I held longer than just about anyone at five years. He taught me how to play tennis, drink Scotch and love the Soxóin that order. Amazingly, we discussed everything under the sun except the Soviet Union. Adam was a dear friend and mentor who passed a few years back, the first of my father figures to go.

At that time, the Government department had an unofficial quota of regional studies students that they let into the PhD program each year. Of the 12, about 8 wanted in. I got in thanks to Adam's personal pull and my record. The other was Alison Stanger, who went on to academia, I believe.

At the Government department, I came in with the class that included Andrew Sullivan, Fareed Zakaria and Mark Medish, who later was one of Bob Rubin's whiz kids at Treasury. I took a year of classes, passed my comps at the end (instead of the usual two years of classes; my AM gave me advance standing). Then a year to learn just enough Romanian and German to read while I figured out my PhD topic. Then a year to research it and one to write it. The only other of my original class who got out that fast was Sullivan, who had advance standing from his Oxford degree.

When I look back on Harvard, it was a tough place on your ego, but you can't beat the quality of the profs, like Huntington, Hoffman, Sandel, Shklar, Ulam, Pipes, Nye and on and on.

Did it make a difference in my career? Mostly in that people expected big things from me, and that expectation gave me more leeway to be bold.

Interesting fact: until recently Harvard grads accounted for biggest number of Fortune 500 CEOs, until recently being overtaken by Wisconsin.

I got my undergrad from Wisconsin (double major in Russian and American foreign policy.

Also got my wife thereóthe best part.