<p>^ haha, I just found my Financial Aid and Student Employment booklet that Harvard sent me with my acceptance packet…it just about answered all my questions…</p>
<p>There went valuable sleep time that I won’t be getting back (even if it did take like 10 whole minutes to type and think out those questions. lol :))</p>
<p>What software do I NOT have to buy (as in Harvard will give me licenses)?</p>
<p>laststop - are you going to the admitted students weekend? If I understood correctly (at the Boston Harvard Club admitted students weekend there will be a computer/technology event (presentation?) late on Saturday morning. If you are there and I am right, you might be able to get a lot of questions answered.</p>
<p>smoda, if you could answer that question anyway for those who arent going to the weekend lol…</p>
<p>Once you have a Harvard ID you’ll be able to download programs like Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, Indesign, Dreamweaver, Mathematica, VirusScan, and other specialized programs. Things more commonly used like Microsoft Office, however, is unfortunately not provided for free.</p>
<p>** What software do I NOT have to buy (as in Harvard will give me licenses)? **
You’ll want to buy Microsoft Office - Harvard doesn’t hook you up with that. A student version shouldn’t cost more than $100. </p>
<p>Harvard provides licensed copies of the Adobe CS3 suite, as well as a bunch of academic software (i.e. Mathematica, ChemDraw, EndNote, etc). You can also jump through a few hoops to become part of the MSDNAA program to get free copies of Windows (XP + Vista) and Visual Studio.</p>
<p>millerl1te - I am looking back at what I wrote and there should have been a “)” after club. W/o it the meaning might have come across wrong. Anyhow, we will be at Harvard the admitted weekend. D will stay over Sat/Sun and we adults will drive down for Saturday day and Sunday day. At the admitted students Harvard Club reception, two Sundays ago, we were talking w/ the ad com who gave my daughter her second interview. She mentioned that 11:00 on the Saturday would be some sort of computer info thing (yet to see that in writing). I plan to plant my husband at it and let him absorb all the info. He will be primarily concentrating on Mac information. I’ll ask him to find out about software also while there. But I will not know anything until after that weekend. If need be, PM to remind me that I need to get back to you.</p>
<p>PS I think you may have gotten your question answered by other posters already.</p>
<p>You can get a student discount on ordering the Office Suite from Harvard.</p>
<p>@twinmom: is this student discount better than the Ultimate Steal offer microsoft has?</p>
<p>Once you have a HUID/PIN, you can get Office 2007 Pro for Windows or Office 2008 for Mac for $69. (So in other words, Ultimate Steal is a better deal).</p>
<p>Do you think its worth it to bring a printer from home. I looked at past threads and people said that you get free printing in the Woman’s Center. How far is this from Harvard yard?</p>
<p>I don’t know with respect to Harvard, but son @ Tufts has had his own printer in his room/apartment all four years. When you are working on project/papers at odd hours, it might be nice.</p>
<p>The Woman’s Center is in Harvard Yard - I believe in Canaday. I do not think it is open 24/7. I agree that it is worthwhile to have your own printer as you may want to print at odd hours. When you have large articles to print out, then print them out on campus computers (I think there is a semester allotment) and save ink.</p>
<p>Haxor: I don’t know the answer to that question, sorry. I believe that the software from Harvard comes with a license to put it on three computers, if that helps.</p>
<p>A lot of your readings will be in PDF form. If you’re fine reading them on your computer, then you probably don’t need a printer. But if you want to print them all out, having a laser printer is a good idea (you can get a solid HP laserjet for ~$150, and generic toner is only ~$30 and lasts for a few thousand pages).</p>
<p>If you just want a printer to print out papers you’re going to hand in, it’s probably not worth it to have your own. There are tons of computer labs with university printers you can print to for ~$0.05 per page (no free printing, unfortunately).</p>
<p>Ink jet printers are really worthless, in my opinion. Ink costs a fortune, they print slowly, you really don’t need color, etc.</p>
<p>thanks for your help, both just<em>forget</em>me and twinmom. i figure ill just wait until i get info from harvard about software before i search for comparative deals etc.</p>
<p>One more question: Does Harvard feel very vocational? Like most people pretty much know what they’re going to do with their lives/have very specific goals, instead of just trying out different things for fun.</p>
<p>^^More the latter in my experience. There are some kids, such as premeds or ones who aspire to Wall Street, who are very focused on a specific career goal, but I also know plenty who get all the way to graduation with no clear career plan - just learning what they enjoy, English concentrators or Archaeology concentrators and the like.</p>
<p>c_v - As for the curriculum, it’s almost entirely non-vocational - econ but no business, music theory over music performance, etc.</p>
<p>i have no idea why there can’t be some sort of licensing deal set up for ms office</p>
<p>also using a legal copy of photoshop feels weird</p>