Personal & Group Tours

Comp Key

Comping Crimson Key

First-Year Talent Show!

Members dressed in their Sunday best to help out at First-Year Convocation

Love Story!

Comp is the process through which the Crimson Key Society selects its newest group of members. We are looking for enthusiastic, welcoming, and friendly people who care about service on this campus and want to share their experience with visitors and new students. Absolutely no requirements for comping except a willingness to engage with Harvard’s history and help strengthen the Crimson Key and Harvard communities.

Our comp process takes place in the spring semester, keep an eye out for comp posters and red sweaters this spring! We are gearing up for our first round interviews for spring 2026.

All information you need to succeed in the first round of comp, including the application, are accessible at 2026 Key Comp First Round Materials. Stay groovy!

Model Tours

During the comp process, CKS members will lead model tours to give compers insight as to what an hour long tour might look like for you. They will occur once a day for a week during the beginning of the second round of the comp process. Each tour is led by at least two CKS members, and since each Keyster has a unique style for their tours, it can be helpful to go to as many as possible. Nathan Oalican ’22 graciously recorded a model tour on Zoom during our online comp in 2020, and although it is outdated in some respects, you can use it to get a sense of what a full tour looks like here. If you have any lingering questions after watching this tour or about model tours in general, please reach out to your comp mentor!

Tour Stop Outline

You can view a suggested tour stop outline here. This document outlines the bare minimum information that should be presented for each option for a tour stop for the first round (you may only present one). If you have any questions about the information on this sheet, please reach out to Seattle. We strongly encourage you to do outside research and include personal stories to make your tour stops unique!

Other Comp Resources

Our guidebook, “Inside Harvard”, is another resource as you prepare your model tour stop. Find the guidebook at Harvard libraries, the Harvard Coop, and on Amazon.com.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding Crimson Key comp, feel free to email our Vice President and Comp Director, Rachel Akinla ’27, at crimsonkeycomp@gmail.com.