<p>@aleader Did you have a negative experience with Questbridge? If so, I had the opposite experience. I found the regular app helpful because a) I got my essays done very early and b) I had an acceptance to a great school by December 1st (which I realize is difficult, but many others have their apps put into the schools EA/ED round by request and then still have an acceptance very early). I also put Questbridge finalist on my Harvard app, and was offered admission with full aid. I did not write about economic hardship in an essay.</p>
<p>That said, it does sound like you have a lot of assets, thenumbereight, which could prevent a match. Do what you think is right as far as Questbridge (don’t let any one person’s experiences, including mine, sway you), and definitely apply for financial aid.</p>
<p>Physicsnut, my experience is that I eventually did not apply. I contacted Questbridge because I had a unique situation in that I had gone from upper-middle class to low income in the last year and wondered if that would affect my application, and I was told that it definitely would. That combined with the fact that I was not a URM and not first generation college and really had no hardship to discuss led me to believe it wouldn’t really be worth my while to apply. (Thenumbereight, you mentioned that one of your parents was “unemployed.” If they previously had some sort of income that you are required to report on the QB app and this income is greater than 60K, you may want to contact them and ask if this will play into it.)
What I experienced among my friends is that they put a lot of time into QB, and when they weren’t chosen as finalists they were not prepared to write an ED/EA application to anywhere because the questions on several apps tended to be different/more specific. (Although this could be fixed if you started on ED/EA apps while you worked on QB.) Even those that were chosen as finalists but weren’t matched were unable (at many schools) to apply through regular ED/EA programs, in which they may have had better results. </p>
<p>I’m glad to hear that QB was such a fantastic choice for you, and I believe that it is a fantastic life-changing program for many students, but I feel that thenumbereight doesn’t fit the profile of matched QB finalists, or finalists in general. I also feel that if he or she intends to apply to schools similar to Harvard, the QB program would be no more beneficial than the aid packages he or she will receive from the schools themselves. </p>
<p>I am also glad to hear you were accepted to Harvard as a QB finalist. As I said, I’m really not sure how things in the Harvard admissions office works, but based on what I’ve heard from Rice and what I imagine, I would have serious reservations, especially since thenumbereight is an ORM. (Of course, I don’t know that you aren’t.)</p>
<p>But I definitely agree with physicsnut, thenumbereight. Ultimately, this decision is up to you and you have to do what you think works best in the end. Again, good luck!</p>
<p>I am aware that Econ is the largest major at Harvard and I was wondering if this leads to an increase in the competitiveness/difficulty of maintaining a good GPA (~3.7+)?</p>
<p>Also in terms of wall street recruiting, do you know if econ majors will generally have an easier time getting internships/full time jobs at banking firms? A lot of these banks do recruit finance/econ majors but I feel like since there are so many econ majors (especially at harvard), does this make it harder for some students to break into the field?</p>
<p>Hey, I don’t know if any of you guys would know the answer to this because it’s very specific, but if you do I’d be very grateful if you could answer! :)</p>
<p>I’m thinking of continuing with Sanskrit in college. I had it since 6th till 10th standard, but I’ve been out of touch since then, and have forgotten a lot. Also, I don’t think we covered a lot of stuff very well. I didn’t think much of the Sanskrit department in my school. Still, I don’t want to start from the beginning at all. How are the Sanskrit classes at Harvard? Do I take placement exams or do I get put in the same class as everyone else?How are classes taught, discussion wise? By the end of the year, how much does a student accomplish, are we on to reading full books in sanskrit? I can (could?) do this, and understand (only) most of the stuff but very painfully and slowly. Do many students take Sanskrit? </p>
<p>Also, do you think taking two languages would be practical in frosh year? Although I do want to continue with Sanskrit, I don’t want to miss out on learning another modern language (maybe French or spanish) or maybe Latin. Do you think taking two language classes would be very exhausting? How many hours does one on an average spend on language classes homework every day?</p>
<p>Or maybe, can I take a language in the second year too? This is when I’m not majoring in anything related to languages btw, although I guess a language would always be helpful for a Social Studies concentration? (I’m also thinking of minoring in math just coz I like math)</p>
<p>Generally, by the end of the year, how fluent is one in the language? Do you have to take language for more than one year? Is there something like the intensive course or something (I read this somewhere?) where you complete the course in 1 yr instead of two? For study abroad for languages then, would one have to go at the end of one’s frosh year?</p>
<p>Can I access the Q guide (is that what it’s called?) now? Or do I have to wait for the Fall?</p>
<p>Oh! And is there AC or fans in classes?</p>
<p>That came out to be more than one question. Oh well.
Thanks everyone! :)</p>
<p>I don’t know very much about Sanskrit at Harvard but regarding placement tests, most (all?) language departments offer a placement test in the Fall that will enable you to find the level most appropriate for your skills. Since Sanskrit isn’t one of the bigger languages you will likely take it after you get to campus, whereas Spanish, French, etc. are taken online before that.</p>
<p>Taking two languages is very very difficult to schedule unless you plan to concentrate in one (preferably both) of them. I am most likely going to take both Arabic and Persian next year and even that is tough for me to schedule despite both languages counting for my concentration. Plus freshman year you will have to take expos and you will most likely take a freshman seminar. What are you thinking about for concentrations? If you’re pre-med, you definitely won’t be able to fit in two languages.</p>
<p>As for difficulty, it depends on the language. I have no idea how hard the Sanskrit program is but some languages at Harvard are very easy and some are very difficult. I would advise against trying to take two languages freshman year (if I haven’t made that clear already haha) because you should wait until you get a feel for language workloads as well as your workload in general in college.</p>
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<p>Oops, should have read this first. It will be very very difficult to take two languages and social studies, unless you want to take 5 classes almost every semester (you don’t.) Of course, you could spend a semester or two taking a second language…but you won’t achieve fluency after a semester or two and you would want to ask if it’s worth it to use up your class slots that way.</p>
<p>If you take 4 classes per semester, which is recommended, you’ll take 32 classes. 13 of which are social studies, 8 will be gen ed, 1 will be expos, and let’s say you want to take a freshman seminar. You have 9 classes left. Even if you only want to take 3 years of 2 languages, you need 12 classes for that. So you have to take 5 classes for three semesters, and that’s leaving you with no electives whatsoever. Of course you can reduce this by double counting gen eds and such but the point is that you’d make things too difficult for yourself.</p>
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<p>Oops, I should have read this first again. This depends on the language itself but I think I can safely say that a year is never enough to become fluent regardless of the language program. I mean, sometimes 4 years isn’t enough either (it isn’t for Arabic), so the question is what do you hope to gain from learning languages? If you want to learn enough Spanish to have a (halting) conversation and get around Madrid, a year of Spanish at Harvard is probably fine. This doesn’t apply to Chinese or Arabic, so it does really depend on the language.</p>
<p>Almost all language classes at Harvard tend to be more “intensive” than those of other institutions, but yes Harvard does have some specifically marked “intensive” versions of language classes. I think Urdu and Spanish are examples of this, and many others. A lot of people study abroad after one year of language learning (I am this summer) but it depends upon the program. Some are direct enrollment in a foreign university, which require excellent command of the language. Some are language-learning study abroad programs that are tailored to your level, which is what mine is. </p>
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<p>Gotta wait until you get your Harvard ID and Pin, which I think you get sometime in the late summer.</p>
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<p>I don’t know if I’ve ever noticed. I doubt that most buildings have AC but maybe the Science Center does?</p>
<p>(1) Woah, your high school had a Sanskrit department? (2) It’s hard to conceive of in high school, but college is full of Random Crazy Things that are really great to learn. Up until fairly recently, I planned to take 3-4 credits of Spanish in my time here (starting from scratch) so that I’d know a modern language. The thing is, while languages only get harder to learn as you get older, that’s 3-4 credits I can’t spend on things like creative writing or the Sanskrit-literature-in-translation distribution-req-filling class. At this point, I doubt that I will give up those 3-4 credits of fun! and interesting! and random! and great! in order to learn a bit of Spanish. I may, but I doubt it.</p>
<p>Thank you for your replies Dwight and exultationsy! :)</p>
<p>Dwight, I looked at the 2nd yr exam you linked me to (we got the Harvard ID in our red folder and created the PIN soon after); I saw a lot of words that I <em>should</em> have known but have forgotten, many that I knew, and many that I didn’t know.
I don’t know where that puts me. Anyway, maybe I would have to take lesser number of classes in sanskrit than a normal student would if I already know some Sanskrit? That would mean I don’t have to take too many semesters with 5 classes if I end up deciding on taking two languages, maybe I won’t continue with sanskrit for long, I anyway just want to be able to read scriptures without having to keep referring to the dictionary all the time.
Wait, you said all four years??! How long would you recommend someone to take language classes if they want to become fluent?
Lol, got it. I won’t do that then.
Okay, so give us the inside goop! Which are the easy ones?
Tougher I’m guessing are Japanese, Chinese,Arabic etc?
Hey, but in tougher classes, I’m guessing the curve would be more lenient?</p>
<p>@exultationsy: I’m from India haha. We are given the option of choosing b/w sanskrit, hindi and french in my school, and I chose sanskrit because 1) it “supposedly” was easier to score in (than hindi), 2) I am fluent in hindi anyway 3) Sanskrit exams meant I have to write less (and hence could actually complete my paper) and 4) I wanted to keep in touch with this language, since a lot of parts of my culture are fascinating and aren’t given as much importance as they should. Believe me, the way Sanskrit was taught in my school was almost depressing and my tutor wasn’t too jolly either. She was this ancient lady who looked like a walking corpse, and spoke like one too and I didn’t like her either.</p>
<p>Btw, that it gets harder to learn languages once you grow older is actually the reason why I want to learn now!</p>
<p>I’ve recently heard a lot about having to have one particular spike that comes through your application in order to get into an Ivy League university. I am currently studying at a School in South Africa and am in grade 10. My average here is 90% (which on the American system converts to about 96.5%). I am in my schools orchestra, A choir, wind band, flute ensemble and a capella singing group (all of which have an application progress). By the time I leave school I will have a diploma on the piano, grade 8 on flute and grade 8 on organ. I recently attended the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships in Brisbane, Australia - and placed 3rd overall for persuasive speaking, placing 28th for all events combined out of 108 participants. I am the president of my schools Public Speaking society, have nationals colors for Public Speaking and debating. I am the vice-president of an academic group called historical bench, the president of my schools Global Issues Network and on my schools debate team. I did IGCSE exams in secret, as I felt they were a better syllabus, when I was 15 years old. I got 100% for physics and 97% for english. All of my other results were A’s. I did this by waking up at 5AM for days a week to teach myself the work using textbooks I bought with my birthday money. I am the president of a charity organisation called M4K which partners with a disadvantaged-youth care home by donating money, clothing, textbooks, easter eggs, christmas presents, old toys… Anything that can be used to brighten the lives of the children within them. I am a member of Equal Education, which strives for the right to education in South Africa and for the next 3 years will be in charge of organizing live entertainment and sponsorship for a charity run that raises about R80 000 for various charities every year (about $16 000). I captained my sports team for 6 years, untill I had to swap to social squash and surfing due to weak knees. I participate in music and art eisteddfods on a regular basis. I have never got less than a diploma for a work I have submitted or performed. I take Maths, Science, Biology, History, Music, English, Afrikaans (2nd language), Life Orientation and AP Maths (my school only offers one advanced placement course and I am currently getting 97% for it - which would be a 5 on the American system) I am the major scholarship holder at my school. Top 5 national public speakers. I am currently co-authoring and creating an investigation into shack fires in Africa which includes distributing home-made fire extinguishers to people living in shacks and several other initiatives for keeping them safe. I will attend the World Individual and Debating Championships another 2 times, am hoping to tour Greece next year with my a Capella group and attend my country’s national science expo. I have received distinction honors from my school 3 times, and about 15 other honors awards such as ties, badges and colors. The way things are now, I should graduate (in terms of academics) in the top 0.00005% of all grade 12’s in South Africa. I am still too young to campaign for a leadership position in my school, though I am already the president of several societies and movements and play a big part in organizing events within my school house (like the houses in Harry Potter) I am also in the process of creating an organization which raises fund for AIDS orphans. I write articles for a national magazine called Simply Green (which looks at how you can green your lifestyle) and have been featured in several local newspapers for achievements in music and speech. I am also in charge of my school’s environmental affairs portfolio. So there’s all this and a couple other small things, but as far as I can see, I don’t have one ‘spike’ or a really compelling story. I’m passionate about everything I do. There’s nothing in my day to day activities that I don’t enjoy. I come from a divorced background within which both of my parents have psychological disorders and had to fight to stay at the school I loved as my father refused to pay for it (so I got a scholarship) but still it seems that I don’t have that one big thing. And I’m an international student who would need to get a full financial aid package to one of the big universities. Plus I can’t exactly go for campus visits or have an interview. One thing is that I plan to write my SAT’s next year. I’ve bought the book and am reading through it in my free time. But other than that I don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any advice they could give me? And an opinion on what my chances are? Thanks so much, and sorry for the really long message!</p>
<p>My son (class 2015) want to try Wall Street job after graduation and he is thinking of the 2 combinations. Is the biomedical engineering “harder” than Econ on the course load and grade distribution? If he chose to do BME+premed, would it allow him space in his schedule to explore Econ courses? Would the BME major give him less chance to find Wall Street job than Econ major?</p>
<p>Google “past Harvard final exams” and there should be the 1st year exam listed on the website too. Unfortunately it only offers spring semester finals because I assume fall semesters have in-class finals or something.</p>
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<p>Depends on the language, depends on the department at Harvard, and depends on what you consider fluency. </p>
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<p>I know very little about the majority of language programs at Harvard so I don’t want to speculate too much or rely on hearsay. Some classes are conceptually difficult but graded easily (Japanese is an example of this, according to my roommate anyway). Some classes are difficult and don’t really grade on a high curve, like Arabic, but there are plenty of people who get As if they put in the work. The Q guide will be more helpful for this than me.</p>
<p>But if you wait until you graduate to learn Gregorian Chanting (another from my list of “random gen eds that would be really fun, and always end up being applicable at least for fun trivia”), it’s not going to be harder to learn it. You’re never going to learn it. Languages are legit–I’m going to take ~6 credits of them here. But don’t tie yourself too strongly to the idea of taking 10000 credits of language.</p>
<p>^Yeah seconded. College is great for learning languages because your transcript is a good motivator for you to put the time in, and Harvard’s programs are generally pretty good. But note that there are thousands of places and contexts in which you can learn Spanish but some classes at Harvard are truly unique.</p>
<p>Extremely diverse. Boston offers some of the best classical music offerings, from the BSO, to performances at the New England Conservatory and the other local music schools and several professional early music ensembles among others. Harvard itself is home to some incredible student-run orchestras, chamber music groups and opera companies. Beyond that, The Middle East in Central Square (somewhere between Harvard and MIT) is one of the must-play spots for lots of trendy indie bands, and regularly hosts some of the up-and-coming groups. There’s also no shortage of jazz clubs (though Boston is not quite the hotbeds that NYC, Chicago or New Orleans are) either. </p>
<p>As for Led Zeppelin fans–I can’t imagine any liberal artsy institution without its fair share of classic rock adherents and Harvard is no exception.</p>
<p>Sorry for intruding - I’m a mom - but I’m wondering if you could tell me about the best care packages you’ve received during reading period or finals. Other parents (on the Harvard parents thread) have suggested gift cards for Berryline or Pinnochio’s or just a little extra money for brain breaks. Do you have any other suggestions?</p>
<p>Hi! I have another question. I know questions about SAT scores are annoying, but I don’t know how to, or if I should, email Harvard Admissions about this. I got a 2250 the first time I took it, and I’m deciding whether or not to retake it in June. I’m a junior this year. I already get all As and have two 790 SAT Subject Tests. Should I waste my time studying to get above a 2300? Will it make the difference or be worth it? Is it safe to email Admissions for advice on this? I’m confident that if I put in the time and effort to study then I could get an above-2300 score, but I would much prefer spending the time doing something else. Thanks!</p>
<p>@Lynda. Just send things! Food is always appreciated, but anything, really, is better than nothing. Gift cards are a good idea, but ask your kid what they’d specifically prefer. I personally would not use a Pinocchio’s gift card, for example.</p>
<p>@eight Retake it if one of your sections is <700. If you have 750-750-750 or something? Definitely don’t bother.</p>
<p>^The Yard mail center accepts packages that arrive at the center on Saturdays, but it’s not open to students and you’ll have to wait for Monday to pick it up :).</p>
<p>Lynda- It’s very kind of you to be so thoughtful!</p>
