<p>In regards to research, HCURA (Harvard College Undergraduate Research Association) helps students find research opportunities. My daughter ( a sophomore) has done research every semester (with grant money) since she’s been there. It is very easy to do research and get money.</p>
<p>I heard that there is a lot of grade inflation at Harvard. Is this true? I understand that everyone that enrolls at Harvard is more than qualified to do the work, but from a couple friend that go there I’ve heard the work is relatively “easy.” None of theme seem stressed out ever.</p>
<p>i’m a '11. there’s only “inflation” because everyone deserves it. it may seem like there are a lot of As and Bs, but that’s because there are a lot of smart people here. i wouldn’t say work is “easy.” i’d say it is easy to get a solid B, but getting into the A range takes a lot of work. imho, just from my experience</p>
<p>My brother is majoring in engineering at MIT and I am majoring in engineering at Harvard. In terms of teaching mathematical / technical knowledge, I think both schools are about the same at the undergrad level. Obviously, MIT offers more engineering majors and course selections. For some reason, a lot of people think Harvard engineering is weak compared to MIT when you really study the same things at the undergrad level. Most of the core engineering courses are available at Harvard. However, if there is a class missing at Harvard that’s available at MIT, then you can cross register to take it.</p>
<p>I think the main difference at the undergrad level is the people and the atmosphere. Personally, I feel that I should broaden my horizon in college and learn from students from a diverse background. I think Harvard offers more opportunities for that than MIT. </p>
<p>My brother at MIT is extremely into engineering. He doesn’t like non-engineering courses. That’s what makes him happy, and that’s perfectly fine. He probably finds more people like that at MIT than at Harvard so he’s happier there. He’s less likely to take advantage of the non-engineering opportunities offered at Harvard. MIT is a perfect fit for him, but not for me. Does that mean he’ll be a better engineer than me? It’s hard to say right now.</p>
<p>Harvard09,
Since I want to do engineering as a premed, would Harvard be a better place to do that because I won’t be just taking engineering courses?</p>
<p>hi sauce remember me? can you answer my question?
“harvard2011 thanks so much for taking questions from so many Harvard wanabees. My son applied to H as a classic major. I would like to know if this dept is underpopulated and if there are any sense that they need more classic majors? thanks in advance”</p>
<p>Hi J mom, I’m a freshman at Harvard. I can try to answer your answer, and hopefully some of the upperclassment could bring more to bear on it. From my experience, the classics department seems quite small. One of my good friends is probably going to be a classics concentrator (we don’t declare until the middle of soph year), and she says that the professor to student ratio is very high.</p>
<p>Hi, Harvard2011girl - Thanks for the the info and the break from all the chances and congrats on being in the class of '11.</p>
<p>A few questions:</p>
<p>Did you go to a private h.s or a public magnet-type h.s? If not do you think that a decent non-special public h.s offers good base prep for H or will those students struggle? </p>
<p>I recently saw an article in the NYTimes that showed that many Ivies have lots of private prep school students and I wonder if there is a palpable difference on campus.</p>
<p>How do you like the winter weather? If you’re not from New England - do most students mind the snow and sleet? Maybe they enjoy it.</p>
<p>I hear all the time that H has an awesome mix of students from all over. Do you think that small town/rural students can adjust rapidly? I don’t know if you’re big city or small town.</p>
<p>Thanks again - enjoy your break!</p>
<p>J mom, I don’t think it’s going to matter unless your son has won many prestigious awards in classics or has passionately written essays about why he wants to study it. Even in that case, the admissions officers will not simply take him because he has expressed interest.</p>
<p>I once considered applying as a classics major because I have many national distinctions in latin (including perfect test scores across the board) but in the end decided against it because it doesn’t really “give one an edge.”</p>
<p>Kyzan and Jmom-</p>
<p>I recently had the fortune to meet a Harvard College adcom member off the record (my aunt’s ex-boyfriend and a Dartmouth graduate, amusingly). I also happen to be a high level classics student (test scores and titles ad nauseam, six years Latin, four years Greek) and plan to concentrate in classics.</p>
<p>He told me three things (specific to classics but they could probably apply to any rare major):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The committee looks very favorably on JCL and other classics activities. They recognize that someone with a national JCL title is as desirable a student for the humanities as someone in the Intel finals is for science.</p></li>
<li><p>The classics department needs people to teach, or they have no reason to exist. There’s no red telephone connecting the office of the chair of classics with the dean of admissions, but they have an understanding.</p></li>
<li><p>The committee gets ****ed when people who have taken like two years of Latin put down that they want to be classics concentrators (without having “passion” in essays etc.). They didn’t get to sit on the Harvard adcom by being dumb enough to fall for that.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>philoglossia and others, thank you so much for your reply!!</p>
<p>Philoglossia, what you have to say is certainly very interesting. However, I am confused by what you mean “national JCL title.” In my opinion, it is very easy to win in the academic contests at national JCL conventions. They give out countless prizes, 1-10 for each category. I myself have gotten several firsts in Latin and Greek Lit, but considered them somewhat meaningless in face of more prestigious awards like my Siemens and ISEF. If what you say if true though, I may have gravely misjudged the situation and really screwed myself over. lol</p>
<p>The example the person I mentioned gave was of someone who had won first prize in multiple exam contests at national advanced level (not, I think, all of them, but several). I also personally know a girl who did win every exam contest in her division (not advanced) at National JCLs. That = Siemens, not “I got a third in Nationals in Roman Culture!”</p>
<p>Unfortunately I have never been to NJCL due to time problems (mostly because of being in eastern Europe with the actual Hellenes). I hope to go this year but I got a scholarship to go to Macedonia, which may preclude such.</p>
<p>Hello People. It is indeed great that all the people who have posted above have given a lot of information indeed about the various aspects of Harvard University.</p>
<p>I am a student from India and aspire to get into Harvard for Electrical Engineering in 2009.
Here are a few questions that I would like to ask :</p>
<p>1] Is Harvard College a good choice for EE?
2] Is the salary for Engineering immediately after graduation comparable to the ones that students who pass out of MIT, Caltech, Stanford etc. get?
3] Are the research opportunities good in Harvard for Engineering?
4] How many people approximately are accepted into Harvard Engineering every year?
5] Is Harvard’s Engineering School underrated ?</p>
<p>Thank You.</p>
<ol>
<li>harvard doesn’t choose ee majors separately, you apply in the regular applicant pool. it is just as difficult to get in.</li>
<li>i would say so, but i am no expert. if you are concerned about salary, why would you not look into getting a finance job instead? anything is possible if you can get into harvard.</li>
<li>research is plentiful, but you have to ask. no one will ask you.</li>
<li>admissions rates are going to be insane. for instance, this year will likely be ~7.5% – for every 100 applicants, 92 will not get in. you’d better be pretty good.</li>
<li>school recently separated into its own division (at the graduate, post-grad, professoship level). probably is underrated, but it always felt less of an engineering school (that’d be MIT) and more of an applied sciences school. kids don’t necessarily build sofas that they can drive like go karts for fun here. the passion of play is still there, but not in that kind of let’s see if we can build-it kind of way, more like the “what if?” style.</li>
</ol>
<p>Hi Shiloh, though your questions were addressed to Harvard2011girl, but I hope you don’t mind if I answer them too.</p>
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<p>I went to a well-ranked public school, and didn’t find the transition to Harvard academics difficult or particularly jarring. I do hear from people from schools you might consider “decent non-special” (though I’m not positive) who do well, though I also know others who said they weren’t well prepared at all for some courses, particularly in math, science and in writing. My guess is that this is the same at most selective colleges- I really don’t think Harvard is particularly difficult to adjust to.</p>
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<p>Not at all, as far as I can tell. There’s certainly no “class system” with regard to public and private schools- in fact, if you didn’t know in advance, there’s usually no way you could tell the difference between public and private school students.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you’re referring to fashion, or academics, or social status. One thing I would quickly dismiss is the myth that Harvard is filled with “preppy” students- a quick visit to the campus will dispel this myth.</p>
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<p>This is my only serious criticism of Harvard- it’s true that its really cold in the winter and really foggy in the spring. I’m from a suburb near New York City, so the weather was similar to my home weather, only colder and wetter, so I generally find it tolerable but not very pleasant. If you want sunny weather and palm trees year round, try southern California.</p>
<p>However, many of my friends from outside New England (including one from Texas) actually enjoy the weather. Some have never been in a snowball fight before, and this makes late December, when the snow REALLY starts falling, a really fun time.</p>
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<p>I’m from a large suburb outside of New York City (so not really a small town or a large city), and I really, really enjoy the new atmosphere. I don’t know anyone who said they couldn’t “adjust.” Of course, almost everyone finds college a very different environment than they grew up in, whether they lived in a large city, a small town, or even from the same city, so pretty much everyone has to get used to the vast differences. For most people (certainly for me), this is a very positive experience.</p>