<p>@forgetme - Thanks for the response and the link regarding the winter session. When I searched on Harvard’s site, I only found the academic calender that showed it’s existence but could not find how it would be used.</p>
<p>2) How realistic is it for a freshman to obtain a reserach position in a medical lab?</p>
<p>Pretty realistic, although it is not as easy to do as it might be two stops down the T because you have to compete with Harvard seniors and Harvard grad students for the same positions, and most professors have no reason to prefer an inexperienced freshman over older students (unless you can show otherwise). However, it is definitely possible. Finding a research position your freshman year usually occurs in second semester, although I know some freshmen who were already researching first semester. It can take a good deal of persistence, applying, and interviewing before you land a research position, but I don’t know anyone who’s tried and failed, unless they’ve given up the search. Working in a lab is probably the easiest, or most numerous, of research positions to obtain. I’m an economist’s research assistant as a current second semester freshman, and I didn’t have experience in economics research before college. Proactivity and initiative on the student’s part are critical because there is unfortunately no official large research program here to guide students to mentors. The no-hand-holding approach is a common thread through all Harvard activities.</p>
<p>This is rather a late reply, I’m afraid, but thanks for all the advice - not just to me, but to others as well. This thread is really useful :).</p>
<p>Dear all,</p>
<p>Iam a sophomore in high school and am very interested in Harvard university, it has been basically my dream from the start of this year. I regret not starting earlier to establishing a great GPA and higher rank in my class, but i have great faith, and believe anything is possible.
</p>
<p>I would like ask many of you harvard students and former harvard students, 1.)Have you ever faced hardships during your freshamn and sophomore year in high school were you were lazy and couldnt really be motivated unless pushed to motivation by parents? 2) how did you overcome that? 3) What were the courses you took during your freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year? 4) What were your extraculicular activities, awards, and or sports as well? plz be honest with me. Thank You very much. :)</p>
<p>No one here is going to be able to tell you something earth-shattering about the special way they gamed their way into Harvard. Everyone here worked very hard (or was very rich and well connected). You have to be able to prove that you have something to offer the Harvard community.</p>
<p>How easy is it to get a good term job? A term-job is listed as part of my financial aid, and I was wondering if there is a lot of competition for the ‘good’ jobs, which for me would include working in a library, as a lab assistant, or as a writer for something like the Crimson. Also, are there jobs that pay considerably more or considerably less?</p>
<p>How easy is it to get a good term job?</p>
<p>Incredibly easy. Especially if you have federal work-study, but even if you don’t, it seems like there’s an unlimited supply of jobs at Harvard that pay $10-14/hr. Some of the common options are Dorm Crew (cleaning bathrooms), User Assistants (helping people with computer problems), and working in a library.</p>
<p>Until recently, The Crimson was an entirely volunteer organization. But lately they’ve added a financial aid program that will pay you for ~10 hours of work a week if you qualify. You can only apply after you finish your comp, so this wouldn’t be applicable for freshman fall.</p>
<p>Is everyone who gets into Harvard rich? How do you pay for tuition, food, etc. Is Harvard a whole different experience from other colleges? What makes it so special?</p>
<p>Is everyone who gets into Harvard rich?
No, 60% (or more?) of Harvard students receive financial aid.</p>
<p>What is the average income? And how much financial aid is there for a certain income?</p>
<p>How difficult is it to join the Lampoon? What’s the process? And by “join”, I mean write for.</p>
<p>@zaboda
I think you should do some reading on Harvard’s Financial Aid Initiative. Here’s a good site to get you started: [Financial</a> Aid Office](<a href=“http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do]Financial”>http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do)</p>
<p>@buggles
The Lampoon is one of the more exclusive extracurricular groups on campus. They have three comps - one for writing, one for illustration, and one for business. My understanding of the process is that you write pieces, you can go in to “office hours” to get feedback, and at the end the round you move on to the next round if your pieces are good enough. </p>
<p>I’ve often heard that the stuff you write to make it through the comp needs to be more funny than the stuff that gets published in the lampoon itself (which is quite frequently not funny). The lampoon also has a reputation for treating compers like crap, i.e. making them wait outside in the rain for meetings, pulling pranks on them, etc.</p>
<p>If this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, there are other humor publications on campus (i.e. [Satire</a> V – “Holding a mirror up to truth”](<a href=“http://www.satirev.com/]Satire”>http://www.satirev.com/))</p>
<p>Hey Misnomer,
you mentioned that you are a econ research assistant as a freshman in spring semester. Was this hard to do, or do I just have to ask around? Was there like any econ prereqs?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>How hard would it be to concentrate in Biomedical engineering (SB) and have a secondary concentration in Neurbio in the MBB track? How hard is it to take 5 classes a semester? Would it be recommended to take 5 classes for at least 4 of the 8 semesters, assuming we graduate in 4 years?</p>
<p>@Millerlite
You can get a secondary field in MBB or a secondary field in Neurobio - not both.</p>
<p>Taking five classes can be very easy or impossible - it depends on the classes. In general, doing research for credit (or other “classes” without finals) or taking a class pass/fail can make doing 5 classes low stress.</p>
<p>In general, I hope you’ll realize that doing X (where X is “concentrating in BME” or “getting a secondary in MBB”) is only worthwhile if the requirements you need to get X are worthwhile. If you wouldn’t take the five courses that make up the M/B/B secondary on their own accord, then it’s not worth it to get the M/B/B secondary – no employer is going to give you a job based on your secondary field.</p>
<p>What is the difference between Math 21 and Applied Math 21 (other than the bio focus in the latter)? Can both count for med school? Is one noticeably harder/easier?</p>
<p>(sorry for all of these boring course questions…)</p>
<p>Ec 1010 vs. 1011? If I enjoyed AP Macro more than micro in high school and want to learn more about the policy aspect, would electing to take 1011 (and not take 1010) be possible?</p>
<p>From my experience, and I took Math 21, normal Math 21 is taught and structured more like a high school math class with pretty self-explanatory textbook, homework due each class and taught in a section by grad students. Applied Math 21 (my roommate took this) is taught by a professor in a medium sized class and the teaching style is not the “feed me” as it is in Math 21. The mean test scores show this difference - Math 21 usually has means in the high 70s, low 80s, but my roommate has told me about mean scores of around 50 in Applied Math 21. They both count for med school. Applied Math 21 is not really bio-focused, that’s more Math 19.</p>
<p>The only thing I know about Ec 1010 vs Ec 1011 is that Ec 1011 is more mathy.</p>
<p>Hey Misnomer,
you mentioned that you are a econ research assistant as a freshman in spring semester. Was this hard to do, or do I just have to ask around? Was there like any econ prereqs?</p>
<p>Thanks </p>
<p>It took me several months of applying for and interviewing for different positions to find this position, which I’m enjoying even more than I expected; if you join a lot of student group mailing lists, check the student job database (jobx), go onto the economics department website where there are sometimes job postings, talk to the professor of an economics class you are taking, ask your academic advisor if he/she has any connections in economics who are looking for RAs, or even just browse the list of faculty in economics and send emails to professors whose work you find interesting, these are all viable ways that students find jobs. Many professors/postdocs who are looking for interns will have a set of criteria that they are looking for in potential interns, like having taken a basic statistics class, knowing how to use certain kinds of software like STATA, or just have background knowledge about a specific field in economics - however, in all my interviews I’ve never had a professor ask me if I had taken a certain class, although they typically DO ask you what year you are, it seems more important what knowledge you have than what courses you take. However, I personally didn’t fit all the criteria my mentor asked for, and interviewed along with a lot of other older, more experienced upperclassmen for the position, but got it anyway because I demonstrated more interest in the position and stressed certain intangible things my mentor was looking for (reliability, long-term availability, creativity, etc). From my own experiences and those of friends, finding a research position as a freshmen typically requires being rejected from a few positions before you do a successful interview and get what you are looking for. But it really does seem like if you persist you will eventually get a research position, even in your freshman year. And of course, as you get older and take more advanced courses, finding a position will get easier and easier, as it does at any other University.</p>
<p>I took Applied Math 21a and it was a pretty terrible experience (bad professor + bad TFs ==> bad, bad, bad). You should shop it, as it’s definitely less day-to-day work than Math 21a. But if the professor is a bad lecturer, definitely steer clear.</p>
<p>(The reason I took it instead of Math 21a was that Math 21a had midterms on the same day as Ec10 and Chem27, two other classes I was taking).</p>
<p>Ec1010a and 1011a are very different classes. One description I’ve heard is that 1010a is an economics class, while 1011a is a “math class.” Your decision about which one to take should be based on your comfort level with multivariable calculus more than anything else.</p>
<p>For my financial aid packet, I have to make up almost $3,000 in federal work study for my freshman year. How is that accomplished? I have never worked a day in my life (except for one paid volunteer work and one internship I did). I’m just fortunate to have very hardworking parents who take care of most of my needs…now I kind of regret not having work experience.</p>
<p>Is it easy to find a campus job without the job interfering with the academic and social life at Harvard? Is it possible to just use a scholarship I won (which gives me the option to use the money directly for books and personal expenses) to cover my federal work study? Can my parents just pay for it all (through my own bank account, of course)…I’ve saved almost enough to cover my fall semester in work study.</p>
<p>I also plan on having a summer job doing retail. Can I transfer my earnings from there to cover my work study, as well?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Also, I am confused…what exactly does the parent and student contribution cover? And is the student contribution the same as the federal work study? If they are in fact different, can the federal work study be used to help cover my student contribution if I happen to make more than what is required from me in work study?</p>