<p>Since I am interested in a particular concentration at the college, I want to send an email to the department asking for more information in general. But I am not sure which questions I should be asking. Can anyone help with regards to what kind of information I should be looking for, or what kind of contacts I should make? Appreciated.</p>
<p>Read the department's web site and if you still have questions, ask them.</p>
<p>There is no need to fish for questions if you don't have any. Harvard does not care about demonstrated interest. Harvard also knows that a large proportion of students will not major in the subject that they had planned to when they applied.</p>
<p>Ah...but the thing is, I do have questions. I just don't know if any are appropriate. For example, I'd like to know which professors are in a particular department, and whether I can contact any of them. But I don't know if these are revelant questions or whether it is at all possible to contact these professors at this stage.</p>
<p>The departments page will list the info you ask.
Anyone can contact professors. Just have real questions to ask them, not bogus questions designed to impress the adcoms (who won't be impressed by students who waste professors' time). Take the time, too, to use Google if your questions might be answered on the Net.</p>
<p>Interesting. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>Just curious, though, where are you located, Northstarmom?</p>
<p>You can also look at the online course catalog. A full list of members of the faculty precedes the list of course offerings by each department. If you wish to ask specific questions, you should contact the Director of Undergraduate studies of the department (s) that interest you. However, as NSM suggested, there is a lot of information about concentration requirements on the departmental home pages.</p>
<p>"Harvard also knows that a large proportion of students will not major in the subject that they had planned to when they applied."</p>
<p>NSM, what if you have a strong interest in a certain department (backed up by supplemental material, awards, and recommendations)...and the reason you applied to Harvard was because they had a strong department in this area? Would this help during admissions?</p>
<p>I don't know about Harvard, but I know that my S's application was looked at by the Stanford math dept which sent him a couple of recruiting messages.</p>