<p>I saw a post like this on the Yale board and thought some people might find it helpful here. If you have any questions about life at Harvard, ask away. I'm a junior at Harvard studying anthropology.</p>
<p>Maybe as a rule, if you're not a Harvard student and you're not asking a question, announce where you're coming from. I think it's helpful to distinguish the opinions of current Harvard students versus parents, people who have just visited, etc.</p>
<p>Is it possible to study abroad with a science concentration?</p>
<p>Ok, this is sort of about academic life, I guess...</p>
<p>What is it like to take an English course in college or to get a response to your essays or creative writing from a Professor?</p>
<p>And, do you (did you) do research? What is it like?</p>
<p>Just wondering, do people in dorms have pets?</p>
<p>-It is possible to study abroad with a science concentration, though I know it's much harder. Most premeds don't really consider study abroad as much since their requirements tend to be year-long classes that they spread out over their four years. I'm in the social sciences so perhaps another person on CC can answer this better than me.</p>
<p>-I haven't taken an English course but I can answer this questions as it relates to anthropology, history, etc. In these classes (non cores) my papers have generally been graded by TFs and professors together. A strong structure and general good writing preparation is a given. From here, the professors and TFs tend to really challenge your ideas and how you develop them. Clarifying how you use theory is often stressed. I'm always told to bring my arguments further, and to be daring with my ideas. Grading varies. It's hard to get an A I find.</p>
<p>-My research up to this point has been limited to my own small projects. I'll be doing more serious stuff in preparation for my senior thesis (lots of library time). At th moment, I don't anticipate my senior thesis to be a publishable thing, but who knows. Many students sign on as research assistants to various professors and grad students. I think their experiences vary according to the subject matter (Astrophysics students often publish small papers before they graduate, economics students tend to sift through data, students who work in labs do more team-oriented projects). Again, hopefully another Harvard student here can better answer this question.</p>
<p>-I know students with mice, guinea pigs and fish. Only tutors are allowed to have dogs, cats, etc.</p>
<p>As a potential student from the UK:
I read that Harvard is considered to have a relatively inactive social scene, of the party/drinking variety. As someone from the UK where the drinking age is considerably lower, I am somewhat used to a drinking culture and parties most weekends. Is this the case at Harvard? Would you be hard pushed to find a party on a Saturday night, if not, what sort of student parties happen? What other social past-times do people partake in?</p>
<p>As an incoming student from the Mid-Atlantic:</p>
<p>What is the deal with finals clubs at Harvard? How do they compare to Princeton's eating clubs? Where are they located?</p>
<p>If I wanted to major in a science and minor in a language, or major in a language and minor in a science, could I do either of those?</p>
<p>Have you seen snow yet at Harvard?</p>
<p>How much do you love the Greenhouse Cafe?</p>
<p>As a potential student from New England:</p>
<p>Do any of your do Speech and Debate at Harvard and what different events are offered?</p>
<p>How easy is it to major and minor?</p>
<p>How are the professors? Are they interesting? boring? On average,I mean.</p>
<p>I can't answer any academic Qs as I don't go there. But I live like 10 minutes away from Harvard in a suburb of Bos, and there is generally a good amount of snow (anywhere from Nov - March)</p>
<p>how long does it take to get to from class to class? harvard is really huge</p>
<p>OK I'll try and reply to all of these one at a time.</p>
<p>LadyLou: At American colleges you can easily find alcohol at almost any party you go to. Generally what people do here freshman and beyond year is 'pregame' in their own suites and then go out to the larger parties that are being held that particular evening. There are almost always House parties each weekend, but ss a freshman you just need to be on the lookout for them. Also you can go to the finals clubs, where there's drinking and partying aplenty. If you can find one, a fake ID is useful to get into the bars around the square. Overall, some weekends can be kind of blah, but most are not. I had a wild time my freshman year.</p>
<p>Thefishofsorts: Finals Clubs are like small private frats. There are 8 men's clubs and 2 or 3 women's. The men's club houses are scattered between Mass Ave and Mt. Auburn St. There is only one female club house I think on Mt Auburn St. They can all have some pretty wild parties, but a downside is that they're not really accessible to the entire student body. Generally it's easier for girls to get into a club party on a regular night. For guys, it's best to find a friend who's in a club and see if you can get invited in. The clubs also hold larger parties in downtown boston on occasion that anyone can by a ticket to. Other larger parties are invite-only. Each finals club has a very different atmostphere, from Euro to waspy to plain gross. Overall, they don't really control the social atmosphere on campus but they do have a presence. A club party is almost always fun to be at, but this might be only everyone once in a while. </p>
<p>With the new minors system, you can major and minor is a science and language easily. You can also get a language citation which is like a small language minor. </p>
<p>It hasn't snowed yet this year. I think the greenhouse cafe is just OK; there are many better places to go around here!</p>
<p>I'll answer these other questions later tonight. I have to meet up with a friend now.</p>
<p>How many sororities do you have? Are they active? If you have detailed information, could you elaborate on the types of these sororities and possibly give some names?</p>
<p>How hard is it to get into club activities, or join magazines? I want to write
for the Harvard Lampoon, is it hard to join?</p>
<p>Is it true that most Harvard students have 1500+ SATs
(the average SAT score for Harvard is incredibly high, and including athletes and other special admitted people, the majority must have like 1600s to make that average!)</p>
<p>How's the undergrad housing? Does it have good facilities, a nice bathroom, and good airconditioning?</p>
<p>Are there many internship opportunities (even for internationals?) Are there many people who plan to work in the Communications field at Harvard?</p>
<p>How's the general atmosphere in campus? Are there a lot of people outside doing whatever, or do most students stay in the library?</p>
<p>I'll try to help you out GOMBD. I'm a sophomore Human Evolutionary Bio concentrator.</p>
<p>Re: EarthDragon
Do any of your do Speech and Debate at Harvard and what different events are offered?</p>
<p>I know someone who did parli and someone who does policy. Both teams are very active (and very good!). Check out <a href="http://www.hspds.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.hspds.org/</a> One complaint I've heard is that sometimes teams seem to value experience over skill.</p>
<p>How easy is it to major and minor?</p>
<p>No one's exactly sure, because the official requirements for minors aren't out yet. Most students take 32 classes. There are 7 cores, a 1 class expos writing requirement, and a 2 class foreign language requirement (can be passed out of). A major requires between 12-16 classes. A minor (I think) would require around 6. Sometimes classes can count for multiple categories.</p>
<p>How are the professors? Are they interesting? boring? On average,I mean.</p>
<p>I'm sorry for copping out, but there's no way to answer this question on average! In my year and a bit here, I've had one or two boring, dull professors (+ ended up not going to class!). I've also had 2-3 amazing, riveting professors who made me excited to go to class. The rest fall somewhere in between.</p>
<p>Re: Extemp</p>
<p>how long does it take to get to from class to class? harvard is really huge</p>
<p>Harvard's not <em>that</em> big! Classes tend to all be in the same general area. Plus, even if you schedule classes back to back (ie a 12-1 class and then a 1-2 class) you get 7 minutes travel time, because classes start 7 minutes after the hour. If you end up living in some of the farther away upperclass housing, you might take a shuttle or ride a bike from your dorm to class.</p>
<p>re: pgcokie</p>
<p>How many sororities do you have? Are they active? If you have detailed information, could you elaborate on the types of these sororities and possibly give some names?</p>
<p>Three sororities: Delta Gamma, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Kappa Alpha Theta. Only a small sliver of the student body is greek, but the people who are in frats/sororities seem to like it a lot! None of the sororities have a house. There are also some sorority like organizations with no Greek affiliation (Seneca, Bee, Isis, Pliaties, Sabliere).</p>
<p>How hard is it to get into club activities, or join magazines? I want to write
for the Harvard Lampoon, is it hard to join?</p>
<p>For most organizations, joining is as simple as showing up to a meeting or signing a list! Some organizations have "comps" or introductory periods where new members are trained and have to prove their "competency." The Lampoon is a <em>very</em> small organization and has a notoriously difficult comp. Other organizations, even those who require a comp, are much more inclusive.</p>
<p>Is it true that most Harvard students have 1500+ SATs
(the average SAT score for Harvard is incredibly high, and including athletes and other special admitted people, the majority must have like 1600s to make that average!)</p>
<p>SAT scores are an extremely rare topic of discussion, which means I don't have any information beyond what you can find on the web!</p>
<p>How's the undergrad housing? Does it have good facilities, a nice bathroom, and good airconditioning?</p>
<p>I think undergrad housing is amazing!! There's no air conditioning, but this really isn't a problem (unless you're staying on campus for the summer!). We had our own air conditioner, but we didn't even bother setting it up this year. Most people live in suites, with 3-5 people sharing a few bedrooms, a common room, and a bathroom.</p>
<p>Are there many internship opportunities (even for internationals?) Are there many people who plan to work in the Communications field at Harvard?</p>
<p>Check out the OCS site for more info on internships <a href="http://www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/</a> I'm not sure how that works with internationals + visas, but there are definitely people here who know how to work the system. Communications is a very broad field, but I definitely know a lot of aspiring journalists + writers.</p>
<p>How's the general atmosphere in campus? Are there a lot of people outside doing whatever, or do most students stay in the library?</p>
<p>Harvard's a big enough place that it seems like at any given time EVERYTHING is going on... from a frisbee game at the yard, to some intense studying at Lamont Library. There's definitely a lot of hanging out + relaxing, especially in the dorms, at the dining halls, and around campus. During midterm + finals time, people get to work (and the libraries end up being social places!!)</p>
<p>Majors and Minors:
There's one kid I know who's doing a concentration in anthropology and he plans to do a secondary (minor) in history once that department makes their minors official. He said that even though the history department hasn't made their requirements official yet, they've been helpful guiding him on what to take anyways.</p>
<p>Professors:
I've had some amazing professors here. While Harvard's very well known for it's big departments like ec, gov, english and biology, some of the smaller ones can be truly amazing. Anthropology has been a great experience for me. The professors have gotten to know me and I feel very comfortable talking to them and asking for their help. In any department you'll find professors who are very big in their fields. They really know what they're doing and it's a great experience to learn from them.</p>
<p>Housing:
It varies from good to amazing. The worst housing at Harvard is better than average at any other typical school. I love the house system. The dining halls are great places to get to know people and to hang out or do homework. The houses also provide cool social events, from Stein Clubs on thursdays to things like the Leverett 80s dance. The houses also have great facilities. I always use our house gym and cardio room. The library is awesome. It's also nice to have a courtyard right outside my room wheret I can go lay in the grass or lounge and talk to whoever's about.</p>
<p>General atmosphere:
I agree with everything Just<em>forget</em>me said. Your mentioning Lamont library made me chucke. It's like a running joke here how Lamont is the place to hang out. With the cafe, people now CAN spend all their time in the library and sustain all their bodily needs! But in all seriousness, I'd say the atmosphere here is generally relaxed. Things do get intense around finals and midterms, but it's nothing particularly different from other schools. I think people here are generally on top of their work, so even during non-finals/midterm periods, there's still a sense of business around campus. It's nice though. People are doing their work, but they're able to balance it with ECs and hanging out.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>just<em>forget</em>me, thank you so much! The information has helped a lot, and the fact that SAT is very rarely a topic seems nice :D
I've fallen in love with Harvard, and the more I know about it, the more I love the school! I hope I'd be able to get there next year!
(Harvard Lampoon is that exclusive?! Man, I really want to join if I get into
Harvard)</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>just<em>forget</em>me....wow! Thanks a lot to you and GOMBD12 :P</p>
<p>I like how this all sounds so I guess all I can do is just wait :) and hope for the best!</p>
<p>What are the parties like? Are most of the partiers prep types? What is the drug scene like?
What is the quality of academics REALLY like? Yes, I did just ask about the quality of academics at Harvard. I recently spoke to a couple Harvard students and interestingly several of them responded that Harvard isn't quite what they expected, and classmates aren't all geniuses. Prove them wrong or right.</p>
<p>What are the parties like? </p>
<p>It's what you make of them. It's a lot of fun, actually. There's always a party going on every weekend on campus, unless it's a weekend where the LSAT or MCAT is being held.</p>
<p>Are most of the partiers prep types? </p>
<p>No. We're not all preppy. Harvard students come from all walks of life, including preppy schools. There are "preppy" parties (if you mean formals, semi-formals, etc.), and those are really fun, since you get to dress up and spend time getting ready for a big event, whereas the normal campus parties you just go to.</p>
<p>What is the drug scene like?</p>
<p>Not big. No one really talks about it at all. However, if you want to do drugs, you can. Obviously, you'd be in big trouble if you get caught.</p>
<p>What is the quality of academics REALLY like?</p>
<p>Well, you have to keep in mind that Harvard students have high standards and everyone believes Harvard is a "perfect" place. Harvard students, for the most part, are not geniuses. There are geniuses, to be sure, but most are just kids who worked hard in high school to get the grades that they wanted. In the end, it is Harvard. You can really take any class you want or even create a class (supervised research and study, for example) if there isn't a subject offered that you want to learn about.</p>
<p>do you hang out with people from other schools in the area?</p>