<p>@NO295208 - I read through the link you provided and I think the reviewer conflated difficult science classes with cut-throat competitiveness. These are not the same thing. My D is a senior physics concentrator at H and the workload is high. I did my undergrad in chemical engineering at a top public and what she has described to me is exactly what I would expect from any technical major at a top school both in terms of workload and in difficulty to get top grades. At most schools the STEM majors are considered to be more difficult than those in the humanities. Exams are often designed so that it is impossible for most students to get an A without a curve, but they do apply a curve so there is a normal distribution of grades. By definition this means that very few will be able to maintain a 4.0 GPA. What my D has said that her peers are not outwardly competitive. They don’t compare grades or try to get ahead by bringing others down. However, they are inwardly competitive meaning that they are driven to perform well and thus put in the hours doing their p-sets and studying. And the norm for her and her peers is to have study groups for all of the STEM classes where they work collaboratively to make sure everyone understands the material and can work through the p-sets. That hardly sounds brutally competitive to me.</p>
<p>My guess is that, if you polled Harvard pre-med juniors about whether anyone in their class was inappropriately competitive, and who that might be, the answer would be the guy who wrote that evaluation. He’s writing about himself as much as he’s writing about Harvard. As an old Yalie, I would love all that stuff to be true, but it isn’t.</p>
<p>I will say that, in my view at least, the biggest downside to Harvard is that it attracts lots of students who are enthralled and intimidated by, as that student puts it, “the name.” If you have a lot of insecurities, the pressure of trying to live up to your image of “Harvard” can be debilitating, and make you feel the kind of negativity reflected in that post. It’s a risk to some extent at any place with a big name, but it happens most often at Harvard. It doesn’t happen to everyone, of course, or to most people, but I believe it happens enough to notice.</p>
<p>@EnoughAlready. Thank you. He will be taking a red-eye and arriving in the morning (Saturday) around rush hour. We are still debating whether he should take the taxi into Cambridge or the Red Line since this will be his first time in Boston on his “own.”</p>
<p>How’s the food? Lol, since I’ll be eating there for 4 years, this is kind of important haha</p>
<p>How has the workload been for you? Has it ever been intimidating being surrounded by other really smart people?</p>
<p>And I noticed in your 2016 stats that you like languages! Could you articulate how the language classes at Harvard are and what opportunities exist for language lovers?</p>
<p>@moonstaff:</p>
<p>The food’s pretty decent - we like to complain about it (especially the food served in the freshman dining hall in particular) but it’s actually not bad at all, and in the upperclassmen houses it’s delicious. (I think it was ranked in the top 10-15 in the country recently.) There are also tons of great places at which to each in the Square and surrounding area.</p>
<p>The workload is what you make of it; mine’s been heavy but that’s just because of the number of difficult classes I’ve decided to take. It definitely gets overwhelming at times being surrounded by such incredible people, but it’s an amazing experience as well - there are what seem like infinitely many opportunities to learn from everyone around you, which is awesome.</p>
<p>I do indeed! I’ve been taking Arabic here and loving it; the Arabic program here is really strong (and from what I gather the language programs are strong across the board). There are lots of opportunities for polyglots and language lovers generally; there are weekly language tables scattered around campus and various cultural/language groups as well.</p>
<p>Can you give an honest review of the social life at Harvard for someone who tends to be very social? When I visited last year, the people seemed (from what I could tell) to be pretty uptight. I’m from LA, and am a bit more bohemian. I know I could eventually find people I’d get along with, but do you find many people outgoing, free-spirited, etc.? Also, how are the parties? I’ve heard the weekends in Cambridge are pretty quiet.</p>
<p>@freeuh</p>
<p>I’m not a huge partier so I might not be the best person to ask, but I have good friends who go out basically every weekend - if you’re social and looking for a party scene, there definitely is one. I know this is kind of a generic answer, but there really are people of all kinds here: some are more uptight, but many are outgoing and very social. (Boston is also a giant college town, so if on any given weekend there don’t seem to be any great parties on campus, there are bound to be some at neighboring schools like MIT or BU.)</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Everything that citdad said about his daughter was true for my son, who was also a physics concentrator (now in grad school).</p>
<p>@ohmmho, there is NO rush hour on Sunday. His trip from the airport should be a breeze on public transportation. It will cost about $50 (or so) for a cab. We live 3 miles west of campus (a 15-minute bus ride from Harvard Square) and we take public transportation to the airport when we only have carry-on luggage. However, he will find plenty of cabs if he decides to take one.</p>
<p>@EnoughAlready. That’s good to know. Thanks once again.</p>
<p>Oops - I meant that there is no rush hour on Saturday (Sunday either).</p>
<p>^^I knew what you meant. No worries.</p>
<p>do you know if I can do a joint concentration of biomedical engineering and computer science? I know that I cannot do a joint concentration of biology and another field, but would biomedical engineering qualifies for a joint concentration?
I tried to find this information on the internet but I couldn’t.</p>
<p>You probably should contact SEAS directly if the information on joint concentrations is not on their website. But from the computer science section of the site it looks like the closest option is:
[Combining</a> with Other Areas ? Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences](<a href=“http://www.seas.harvard.edu/academics/undergraduate/computer-science/areas-of-specialization]Combining”>http://www.seas.harvard.edu/academics/undergraduate/computer-science/areas-of-specialization)</p>
<p>Due to the distraction of Boston and all of the other nearby colleges and opportunities, do you still think that Harvard feels like ‘home’? My concern is that it will be more difficult to form strong bonds with many people because there’s so much going on.</p>
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<p>Two Harvard Arabic students on CC? What are the odds?</p>
<p>@Savannahlee: I’ve never found that to be the case. There’s definitely a lot going on both on campus and in the area, but that hasn’t ever interfered with bonding with classmates or forming friendships - if anything, it’s enhanced it, since there’s so much to experience and bond over with friends!</p>
<p>@Dwight: Small world, apparently :)</p>