<p>I'm curious to know, why you guys chose Harvard for undergrad over smaller schools such as LACs.
How would you say that a large class size is better than the smaller ones at LACs? Wouldn't an intimate personal experience be better? How does a larger class size win in any way?</p>
<p>And would you say that you feel you are getting the proper 'undergraduate' experience at Harvard college and that there's nothing significant that you wish to change?</p>
<p>Also, since Harvard is composed of highly competitive individuals, would you say that all students get ample opportunities in internships, research, study abroad etc. or is competition very tough for them?</p>
<p>If a person is from Harvard college, is competition for scholarships such as Rhodes/ Fulbright he faces more than what a student at a smaller school would face because Harvard college entails a much more competitive pool of applicants? Is the bar set much higher for him?</p>
<p>Some of these doubts might sound silly but I seriously do want to know.
Thank you :)</p>
<p>Most courses at Harvard actually have less than 20 people per class. It’s those introductory courses and the super popular ones, like Science of Cooking, Economics 10/Life science 1a, or that course taught by Paul Farmer that have tons of people. I shopped some classes at the beginning of the year and the linguistic course I listened to only had about 7 people. The language classes also tend to be small. Also, the bigger classes are almost always backed up by smaller “sections” of around ten people led by teaching fellows, and sometimes there’re even study sessions led by course assistants/ preceptors, and the professors all hold weekly office hours, so if you want “an intimate personal experience” I don’t think it would be too hard to find one to your liking, though as a huge research university Harvard can also feel very impersonal.</p>
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<p>The most obvious answer I think of on the top of my head is that you can occasionally skip lecture if you don’t feel like showing up and just watch the recorded videos of the lectures on the comfort of your bed instead…</p>
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<p>There are so many opportunities at Harvard for internship, study abroad, and research that you can definitely find what you need if you take the effort to look for them. I found a lab to work in basically after being on campus for a week. The problem is that the opportunities out there are not well advertised and nothing is ever simply just presented to you. I don’t know about being “competitive” (In what way? I found student here to be the most eager to help out whenever I have any problem in any of my courseworks) but Harvard students do tend to be very good at being well informed, knowing what they want to do, and keeping track of everything.</p>
<p>Smaller class size does not always equate with a better lecture/professor/experience. For example, search Youtube for "Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do? Episode 01 “THE MORAL SIDE OF MURDER” and watch Michael Sandell’s engaging class at Harvard with over 1,000 students.</p>
<p>Agreed with that. Nobody really holds your hand here and tells you what you should do. Student A can spend 4 years in his room and Student B can take advantage of a breathtaking amount of resources available to him, the only difference being that Student B got off his ass and did it.</p>