Conan O'Brien tells Harvard graduates to play down their $250K Ivy League degree—and instead embrace being humble and ‘bad at things’

Conan O'Brien holds up a Harvard sports sweater given to him after he delivered the commencement address at Harvard University (Credit: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

After spending $250,000 in tuition—and four years of their time—on their degree, Harvard graduates might want to be loud and proud about their Ivy League achievement. But in his commencement address to graduates, comedian Conan O’Brien had an unusual warning: don’t let your degree define you.

“My wish for you is not that Harvard becomes the last thing people know about you,” O’Brien said during the university’s commencement ceremony on Thursday. “But instead that Harvard becomes the least important thing people know about you.”