<p>getalifemom, I got this email recently about hosting admitted students who are visiting during times other than the Prefrosh Weekend, and on that huge list of names that we can pick from are two girls who are coming to visit on that exact Thursday and Friday that you mentioned. What’s more, I actually paused over those two names at the time and considered signing up to host one of them :). One of them could’ve been your daughter: It’s amazing how small the world really is!</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, you’ll get an email from all the pre-orientation programs, and from there, signing up should be a breeze. The email usually comes after the May 1 deadline (although I could be wrong and it may arrive earlier).</p>
<p>^It would take me a while to come up with an exhaustive list but some things: I would have tried harder to look for good ECs freshman year rather than sophomore year. I would have taken Arabic freshman year rather than take a class of Spanish that just proved that my Spanish can only now improve from immersion in a Spanish-speaking country. I would have studied abroad freshman summer in an Arabic speaking country, which I am doing this summer but it would be nice to have bumped everything back so I’d have one more summer to do cool stuff.</p>
<p>Parental question here: The final exam schedule for this fall says 12/12 through 12/20… We have longstanding extended-family vacation plans that start on 12/17 and would be difficult to change. What are the chances that my first-year son would have exams on that Mon or Tues 12/19 or 12/20? (Are there lots of classes that have late exams? How soon do you know your exam schedule in each class?) Also, are there exams on the weekend? Of course it’s a “nice” problem to have to skip or arrive late to a vacation because you got into Harvard… Just hoping it might still work out for him to join us at the start!</p>
<p>There are exams on Saturdays but not Sundays, so there is a chance he could have an exam on the 17th as well. I don’t know what his “chances” are in reality but theoretically there are 7 days of exams and 2 exam slots per day, so if he has 4 exams there’s like less than a 10% chance that none of his exams will be on those last 3 days. But again in reality some days have more exams than others and I don’t know how it would work out, but I wouldn’t bank on it being ideal.</p>
<p>^^
Thanks, Dwight. Any other current students have pre-Christmas exam experience/advice? How soon will a student know the exam schedule once enrolled in a class?</p>
<p>beachmom59, I think it was posted on the 29th of September last fall. I was really hoping that my exams would end at least two days before the final exam date because the airfare would have been a lot cheaper, but I wasn’t that lucky.</p>
<p>Other way around. I came in with strong Spanish so I took the highest non-literature class I could. Since my goal in learning Spanish was fluency more than studying Ibero-American literature there wasn’t much point for me to continue with Spanish in the college classroom and studying abroad would have been preferable.</p>
<p>By “good ECs” I moreso meant ECs I enjoyed. Every EC here is a good EC for some people.</p>
<p>For engineering majors, is it more difficult to obtain a good GPA (3.6+) compared to other majors? (science or humanities). I’m interested in doing premed but I’m somewhat afraid that an engineering major may ruin my chances of obtaining good grades.</p>
<p>Also, regarding the AB/SM or AB/AM 4 year degree, how many people attempt it? Is it really competitive to get accepted into the program?</p>
<p>“For engineering majors, is it more difficult to obtain a good GPA (3.6+) compared to other majors?”</p>
<p>I think this is true at every college. It’s a very demanding course of study. That said, if engineering is what fascinates and motivates you, then in practice it may be easier to get a high GPA in that field.</p>
<p>“how many people attempt it? Is it really competitive to get accepted into the program?”</p>
<p>People who really want to do this generally can. The down side is that you have to go directly into your major as a freshman and it will limit the electives you can take. If you have a real passion and gift for one subject, it makes a lot of sense to do this. It is much easier to drop out of a AB/AM program later on than it is to join it after freshman year, so if you are tempted, consider planning for it now with the understanding that you can always slow things back down if you want to.</p>
<p>This is a great thread, with terrific people.
I applied to Harvard and was accepted, but rejected Harvard for Yale.
I think it was Dwight who mentioned a preference for Massachusetts and Cambridge students. True, but not necessarily. It works out to a certain regional radius of a certain amount of miles. Princeton, Columbia, Yale, and Harvard have this “radius factor”. If you live within a certain radius, you’re chances are slightly higher. This has to do with the local economy and fiscal reasons. It’s not necessarily an instate thing. Take Columbia, for example. It’ s closer to New Jersey and CT than to Buffalo and Western NY.
Anyway, I’d like to congratulate everyone for success. Although I will be in Yale for the next 4, I do immensely want to attend Harvard Law and the Kennedy School.</p>
<p>Dwight Eisenhower: Thanks!
The reason I Turned Harvard down was the dorms, I liked Yale’s style so much better. Other than that, I don’t know. Both seemed so great to me.</p>
<p>In all honesty, I prefer a semi urban location away from the bustle of the city. I’m wondering, how urban is Cambridge? While I know Boston is one of the most energetic cities, is Cambridge similarly urban and fast moving or is it more secluded and quiet? I read somewhere that one could live in the “Harvard bubble” for 4 years and not venture out into Boston all that much, is that true?</p>
Just hoping it might still work out for him to join us at the start!</p>