freshman at harvard...ask anything you want to know

<p>so, i just finished my first semester at harvard and i absolutely loved it! </p>

<p>i decided to check on collegeconfidential because i used this site soooo much to help guide me through the admissions process, answer my questions, etc (and i know how helpful it is to get your questions answered by someone who is at the school already...) I know i had tonnsss of insecurities regarding the whole college application process, and i would love to answer any questions anyone might have about harvard (student life, financial aid, admissions whateevvaaa)</p>

<p>just post whatever you want and ill answer as soon as i can.</p>

<p>good luck!!</p>

<p>any laid back people?</p>

<p>I can answer that.</p>

<p>Yes, if by that you mean people who are willing to have fun and shoot the wind. Most Harvard students seem to be very studious, but most of the ones I've met have been extremely entertaining. Quite frankly, a few have been bizarre (in a good way, if that makes sense).</p>

<p>So many...</p>

<ol>
<li><p>How's the social life?</p></li>
<li><p>Parties/Greek life</p></li>
<li><p>How's the Chinese language department?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Social Life/Parties--Depends on who you are. If you're someone who wants college to be about going out every night, don't go to Harvard. Pretty much Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, you can consistently find parties (with alcohol if that's your thing) to go to. But during the rest of the week most people stay in. Harvard has a few "sororities/fraternities," but not in the sense of other schools. They don't have houses, and they aren't really an important part of the social scene. Instead, Harvard has final clubs, traditionally all-male social organizations that host lavish parties in their Cambridge mansions. If you're a freshman guy, your chances of getting into a final club party is slim to none.</p>

<p>The good thing is that most of Harvard's students are laid-back down to earth people who just happen to also be quite smart. One of the best parts of freshman year is just sitting in Annenberg for hours at meals talking to these amazing people that are your classmates. Another really important part of the Harvard social scene is that everyone lives on campus pretty much all four years.</p>

<p>The Chinese Dept-- I couldn't tell you, sorry!</p>

<p>sunglasses I know there are plenty Harvard students who are beyond rich. Out of curiosity, do these students disperse with the rest of the body or do they tend to keep to themselves?</p>

<p>Asian languages at Harvard are AMAZING -- some of the very best and very toughest classes you will ever come across. They will kick your butt and rock your world at the same time. I took Japanese, but Chinese and Korean are just as good.</p>

<p>final clubs actually sound pretty cool...that is if they aren't too similar to princeton's eating clubs?</p>

<p>Final clubs are INCREDIBLY controversial. Read some articles on them--</p>

<p>wikipedia article...
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_club%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_club&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>a set of views on final clubs published in FM, the crimson's magazine a few months ago...
<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509783#%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509783#&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509785%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509785&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509791%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509791&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509793%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=509793&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>how community-like is the house system (as compared, say, to yale)?</p>

<p>How's the city of Cambridge/Boston like? Can someone please just give me a brief overview?</p>

<p>how tough are the classes? i know MIT is horrible with its science cores.</p>

<p>How hard is it to get into say, Porcellian and the other clubs?</p>

<p>I've heard to belong to Porcellian costs more than Harvard tuition in membership fees.</p>

<p>I'm almost sure that no one cares, but would I get alot of cred/crap for being a Henry Dunster decendent. Also how hard is it to get a job at the campus radio station?</p>

<p>Is it just me, or do some of the names of places on Harvard's campus and the names of past people at Harvard resemble those on Harry Potter?</p>

<p>Porcellian--REALLY hard to get into, and probably requires being from the right family, etc. If you're into the whole final club scene, then as a freshman, you might try to be punched for the Hasty Pudding.</p>

<p>The Dunster thing--I don't think anyone would really care, nor would it really come up. To be honest, I don't really know much about Henry Dunster, nor do most Harvard students. But Harvard is teeming with multi-generation legacies all over the place, not to mention people from prominent families, so it's not a big deal. Besides, lots of us are descended from famous people. And to be honest, I think that if you went around telling people you were a descendant of Dunster, most would think that was kind of random of you to say.</p>

<p>The Harvard Radio Station--Sorry, I have no clue...Do we have a campus radio station?</p>

<p>Right family? Haha, guess not.</p>

<p>Can u elaborate on this Hasty Pudding?</p>

<p><a href="http://www.whrb.org/site.php?section=About&part=Contact%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.whrb.org/site.php?section=About&part=Contact&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.hastypudding.org/new/pages/about/history.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hastypudding.org/new/pages/about/history.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>