<p>Oh... sorry for the double post, I was just wondering if anyone had been accepted at Harvard with a rejection from MIT? I just got mine, am in a state of... well, not sure, something like desolation and wondering if it is even possible to get into the big H when MIT rejected me ... :( thanks...</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Oh... sorry for the double post, I was just wondering if anyone had been accepted at Harvard with a rejection from MIT?
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>You're talking to one. :)</p>
<p>Honestly, you don't know until it comes out. The less you try to predict it, the happier you'll be.</p>
<p>I wasn't really bummed when I was rejected from MIT last year (really- it's a very exclusive school, it's nothing to be depressed about!), but I did have somewhat low expectations for the rest of the process. Then, two days later, I got a letter telling me I had gotten into Caltech, which was one of my favorite schools. After that, I was pretty happy about the whole process. Getting into Harvard a week and a half later was almost an afterthought.</p>
<p>ETA: serious question (if you don't mind answering, of course- it's none of my business)- what schools did you apply to? What schools would you be thrilled to go to?</p>
<p>The only people that "lose" in the college application process are the ones that focus so much on going to the "top" school that they ignore other schools that they'd love. I made sure to apply to a LOT of schools I would have loved to go to. As a result, I got into most of them. If I hadn't gotten into Harvard, I'd be just as happy at Caltech.</p>
<p>I've heard people say that Harvard is not for everyone and I wanted to ask people currently at Harvard if they know anyone who has regretted their decision to go there?</p>
<p>Hmmm. I really regret it now but I only applied to 6: UW honors, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Harvard and MIT. So far, UWH and NYU decided that I'm not too subpar and took me, and MIT just flung rejection in my face. :( Ahh well... I guess I should have studied incessantly instead of going to all those parties junior year.....:( ahh well.... cheers to mediocrity</p>
<p>You can't worry about it so much, Inaina. You did the best you could--we all did. I wished I partied to be honest....missed out on social life. lol</p>
<p>Lhslexingtonorg- I don't know anyone who regrets their decision to come here. I'm sure they exist, I just haven't met anyone that feels that way (that I know of).</p>
<p>I am personally thrilled to be here, as are most people I know. Let me quickly note that once you're here, one thing nobody cares about are bogus "rankings" and "prestige." I'm not happy to be here because of rankings or statistics or history. I'm happy to be here because I love the friends I've made, the classes I'm taking, and the pizza places that are nearby.</p>
<p>The reason I bring this up is to explain that different people feel differently about these things. Some people might not like going to college in a city. Some people might not like Harvard's nasty weather. Some people might not fit in with the social life at Harvard. (I haven't had a problem with the parties, but I know a lot of people do- they say there are too few, or that they get shut down too often, or whatever. I mean, hey, I'm posting on a college discussion website on a Saturday night- I'm not the person who should judge.)</p>
<p>If you are accepted into Harvard and are considering coming, I VERY strongly recommend you go to the prefrosh weekend (should be about April 21). If you don't have a good time staying with Harvard students, trying out some classes, going to some parties, and eating at the restaurants, well, it might not be a good fit.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Hmmm. I really regret it now but I only applied to 6: UW honors, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Columbia, Harvard and MIT. So far, UWH and NYU decided that I'm not too subpar and took me, and MIT just flung rejection in my face. Ahh well... I guess I should have studied incessantly instead of going to all those parties junior year..... ahh well.... cheers to mediocrity
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>First of all, there's nothing at all mediocre about NYU or UW, and certainly nothing mediocre about not getting into MIT. I'm not going to try to cheer you up, but seriously, you're making a big deal out of something that isn't.</p>
<p>And trust me, "I should have studied incessantly" is never a healthy attitude.</p>
<p>Good luck on getting into Columbia, JHU, and Harvard- but if you don't get in, it's really not a big deal. I live in Manhattan, and I'm a huge fan of NYU's neighborhood, so if you do decide to go there, I have some pizza places to recommend :).</p>
<p>I have no idea what your chances are, and neither does anyone else on this thread, so just see what happens. I wish you the best, though.</p>
<p>Hey! Thanks so much for offering to answer our qs!</p>
<p>I've read some stuff on Yale boards where they're boasting about how Harvard students don't have TV's in their rooms and their dorms are harsh cramped and uncomfortable, unlike their "luxurious" rooms.</p>
<p>Your POV?</p>
<p>hahaha, QUITE THE OPPOSITE!!!! We are so spoiled!!! In fact, even the so called "projects" of Canaday where I live are really nice. I have my own room, I control my heating, I have a TV in my room, I live with 4 other girls (5 total), we have a HUGE common room, and an awesome dorm life. Other dorms are even NICER than that. I don't think we are cramped at all- I have lots of wiggle room.</p>
<p>I don't know of anyone that has said explicitly, "I regret my decision to go here." I feel like, at times, people may think that because they are buried under mounds of work or just have too much going on but not because they actually do. Harvard is a place where they throw you in the water and tell you "swim." If you don't, they are not like other schools that will throw you a life jacket. It is your responsibility to find the help you need and seek out everything. It is all up to you- perhaps that is why some find Harvard "mean" and "cruel" but I think it is a real learning experience. You will find that you get so much better at doing things for yourself and not relying on other people to do it for you. That is why Harvard people are so pro-active.
So to the everyone coming here next year...</p>
<p>"SWIM!"</p>
<p>thanks for your reply!
hopefully i will be in the position to be told to swim next year =D</p>
<p>also, how much storage space do you get for your clothing, etc? I don't live in the country so I might have to bring all my fall/winter/spring clothing and stuff over at once... if i don't have anywhere to put it it would suck =S</p>
<p>ALSO, sorry if this sounds ignorant, but are there any mountains for ski/snowboarding around the Boston area?</p>
<p>I can't dog paddle... but I can do breast stroke... how wierd is that? I learned to swim without knowing what the dog paddle is...lol
Sorry... stress from anticipation has finally taken a crack into my sanity</p>
<p>I don't know if this is too personal to ask you guys, and you certainly don't have to answer, but the main problem for my family, even though Harvard is probably not a school I'm even looking at (I only wish..), but how was your aid package/loans, etc.? It's hard for me as a 16 year old high school junior and have to be thinking 10 yeard down the road and decide if I'm willing to be paying $300/mo. or whatever crazy amount it is. Did you receive any scholarships, or are there any available at all from the school?</p>
<p>Inaina and grad07, just to let you know- they do NOT have a swim test. Not anymore. It's gone.</p>
<p>Grad07- you get a closet and a dresser. Maybe you'll have to grab something at target to help you organize your clothes (one of those hanging drawer things), but I don't know people that have had a problem with them.</p>
<p>Skiing and snowboarding- I personally go to VT, where my family skiis at a mountain called Okemo, but it's a long way. There are closer mountains, but I honestly don't know much about them. The best mountains are in VT or NH and can take over 2 hours to get to.</p>
<p>I don't know if somebody already asked this, but do Harvard exams take place before or after Christmas break? And if the answer is after, is there any way we can go ahead and take finals before we leave. I would like to have a non-stressful break off...</p>
<p>re: dorms -- My D shares a room that's approximately 300 square feet with one other girl. It's very spacious.</p>
<p>re: just being thrown in the water and told to swim -- That's exactly what my D expected, and she's actually been very pleasantly surprised at the support available and offered. Her freshman advisor, proctor and peer advising fellow have been very helpful in suggesting ways to cope with difficult material and general adjustment-to-college issues. And her instructors have been very available to help, too, although mostly they make themselves available by publicizing their office hours.</p>
<p>re: exams -- Yes, they're after the holidays. I don't know about any possibility of taking them early. You should know that reading period takes place after the holidays, too, and precedes the exam period, so technically you shouldn't need to study over the December break (unless you're way behind in your reading). While it's not my D's favorite part of Harvard, it does have the advantage of allowing students to be well rested going into exams. You can find the academic calendar on the Harvard website.</p>
<p>admiral, thanks so much for your reply =)</p>
<p>well, where i live the best mountain to ski at is like a 3 hr drive away, so it shouldn't be too bad. if the local mountains have one or two decent runs i'll be happy =) hopefully there'll be a place to put my board haha =D i have a hunch that us girls take up a bit more closet room than the guys =)</p>
<p>yeah, a tad more room... maybe an inch :D</p>
<p>i'm not sure if this is the right thread for this, BUT...i am considering playing softball next year at harvard, and i was wondering how much time that would take and how difficult that would be considering the difficulty of the work and the classes. my time management skills are fairly decent, but not outstanding. also, i was wondering how the harvard classes compare to other college classes?? (i'm currently in a middle college program where i'm taking 4 college classes as well as 4 high school classes, 1 independent study, and i play varsity softball, among other things.) i'm curious as to how much more difficult it will be next year.</p>
<p>Hi diamonddoll1212,</p>
<p>I can't answer the question about softball, since I don't know much about sports here.</p>
<p>I can tell you that the difficulty of the classes COMPLETELY depends on which ones you take. You can choose to take mainly easy courses (Government is usually considered to be the easiest concentration), or you can choose to take classes like Math 55, Physics 16, Chemistry 20 or others that are incredibly difficult. (I named the harder courses in the science departments because that's what I'm familiar with- it doesn't mean that science classes are necessarily harder overall than other areas).</p>
<p>So while I or other forum members might be able to answer specific questions about particular courses, it's hard to give a generalized statement about how hard or easy the school is. For example, I can tell you that Life Sci 1a and 1b are pretty easy (though many people who don't like biology can find them difficult or boring), that Physics 15a (a mechanics course) is also somewhat easy, that 15b (electromagnetism) is mildly more difficult, that Math 21a is pretty challenging, and that Chemistry 20 (organic chemistry) is one of the hardest courses I've ever taken. But I can't tell you about courses in other concentrations, or even other levels of the courses I took (like Chemistry 17 or Physics 16).</p>
<p>Most importantly, I can't tell you how difficult you'll find the work. Different people have different responses to courses! Maybe you'd find Life Sci 1a difficult, but breeze through Math 21a. Maybe you're a faster reader than I am, or maybe you're more organized or better able to manage your time. It's impossible to give any good answer to your question.</p>
<p>One thing that's certain is that it is easy to create a difficult and challenging schedule no matter what. No one ever complains that their classes are "too easy"- if people take an easier class, they did so intending to take an easier class.</p>
<p>okay, well thanks for trying. i appreciate it. i'm actually interested in concentrating in science. i'd like to go into the biomedical engineering field; i believe that they are currently upgrading that program right now. isn't that the case? however, there are not massive amounts of opportunites in central texas for excessive research and experiences in this field, so i was wondering if i would be behind everyone else if i haven't worked with this and that famous person and had stuff published already...</p>
<p>Guys, it's really a very late question, since my app has been sent for months and months now.... But I never really got that. In the app it asked about a possible concentration you're considering. I don't remember what I wrote, but it has probably changed. Does it matter for your chances of admission WHICH CONCENTRATION you said you were interested in? Like, if I said Neuroscience, would it be better for me since I have a very strong record in Science?
I thought it was not binding at all... and from what I read here it seems it is a binding and important choice for your admission... Help, anyone???</p>