He entered Harvard at age 15, having skipped several grades. Everyone
applying for admission to Harvard was required to include an example of
their written work. Lehrer submitted a long verse, in the style of
W.S. Gilbert &
Arthur Sullivan, which concluded: "I will leave movie thrillers/And
watch caterpillars/Get born and pupated and larva'd/And I'll work like
a slave/And always behave/And maybe I'll get into Harva'd." The poem in
its entirety appeared in "Scholastic Magazine" in 1943. It was Lehrer's
first published work.
