<p>class of '07, now med student on west coast. glad to take any questions. (n.b. may take a while for me to reply-- not around the forum all that often)</p>
<p>fire away</p>
<p>Does Harvard interviews really matter that much as most people make you to believe?</p>
<p>A good interview is pretty necessary but not sufficient for admission. It's mainly there to weed out the people who look good on paper but are strange, crazy, or antisocial. Realistically, a good interview report won't get you in, since most other people also have good interview experiences. However, a negative report would raise some questions about whether the applicant should be admitted.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting. It's really helpful to hear from students and former students.</p>
<p>Is there something in particular you're glad you got involved with? Is there anything that in retrospect you wish you would have done?</p>
<p>^I feel the same as 2blue about students taking questions. So thanks for taking questions :)</p>
<p>What would be the 5 most important things, in your opinion, that make Harvard stand out among the similar institutions? (or if you wish, 5 things about Harvard that you liked the best?)</p>
<p>Do you have any impressions or experience with the Dept. of Neurobio or their Neuroscience Program? I'd also like to know from your experiences how easy it is to do research as an UG. Thanks.</p>
<p>how competitive are harvard pre-meds? how hard are the pre-med courses? and are there a lot of pre-meds?</p>
<p>2blue: PBHA (Phillips Brooks House Association) was one of my big activities. It's a great way to get involved in community service. And there are so many service groups that if you're really interested, you can find one, keep with it, and get to do leadership positions by sophomore/junior year.</p>
<p>Wished I had spent a semester internationally. It's not so much Harvard that's the problem, but rather that I was pre-med, and med schools don't want to see you take basic science classes abroad. If you're thinking about med school and want to study abroad at some point, you either have to really get your pre-med classes done early, or take a year off after graduation.</p>
<p>boho_girl: it's hard to make a list. the academic experience at harvard is great, of course, but realistically you could probably find classes just as good at most other top tier schools, and you'd learn just as much. i think what really made harvard a good experience for me was the people and the environment. </p>
<p>at a place like harvard, you're going to meet amazing people. and the fact that you're hanging out and taking classes with people who have done so many incredible things in their lives is very inspirational. there's a positive externality effect-- essentially, you and your classmates create a positive feedback loop that makes you more ambitious, more driven, and more productive. there are a plethora of activities, causes, events, and programs that you can be involved in, and it's an experience that shapes your growth as an individual. </p>
<p>i also really love the environment at harvard. there's a great house system where you can just go sit in your dining hall and chat with your friends at all random hours, and socialize and hangout. pretty much everybody lives on campus and you really get to know people well. also, harvard square is a great little place, lots of nice little book stores and bars-- kind of getting more yuppish these days, but still has a lot of character. boston is also very accessible via the T, half an hour away.</p>
<p>goblue10nis: the neurobio concentration at harvard is relatively new, having just split off from being a program within the bio department last year. that said, the program is strong; there are lots of big names at harvard, and getting a recc letter from somebody well known in the field definitely helps down the line. there are actually two main ways to do neurosci research at harvard. you can work in one of the many labs on the main campus, or you can take the shuttle across the river to work at harvard med. both are pretty easy. just look at the list of faculty research interests, and email the ones that look interesting. from my experience, about 1/3 to 1/2 of them would be willing to at least have you come in and visit them lab, especially if you have any experience working in a lab before. most people start in junior year, but if you're hardcore, you can probably find a lab earlier.</p>
<p>hpa10: how competitive are the pre-meds among themselves? not really that much, aside from complaining about their workload all the time just to impress their peers :) it's not that bad, but people like to pretend that it's really harder than it is. how competitive are the pre-meds vs those of other schools? quite a lot. the name recognition helps to get you to the med school interview, but after that, it's pretty much anybody's game. a lot of people (don't know the numbers) go in thinking they want to do medicine, so the intro level science classes are pretty big, but by the end, the number drops off substantially as people decide to pursue other interests. i think if you really want to do medicine, and keep with the pre-med courses, you're pretty much going to go to med school. i think acceptance rate to med school from harvard is around 95% or so.</p>
<p>How easy (or difficult) is it to maintain a job while studying? Do most people do work study?</p>
<p>On average, how hot are the girls in Harvard?</p>
<p>uhh...just curious ;)</p>
<p>QuixoticRick: It's just a matter of how much time you want to spend working. Most entry level jobs around the campus pay about $10/hr. By the time you're in junior or senior year there are a few jobs around that can pay (effectively) up to $30-40/hr if you , but that's rare. Of course, we're not talking about summer internships--if you do something like I-banking, you make lots of money; basic science research, not so much. I remember working about 5 hours a week freshman year, and maybe 15-20 hours a week by my senior year. It really depends on how much your think your time is worth.</p>
<p>friedrice: physically, a little less than average. on a 10 pt scale, maybe distributed along a right skewed curve with median around a 4, and a mean of 5. for most of my female friends, that extra hour of getting ready in the morning just isn't worth the cost in terms of potential study and EC time lost. </p>
<p>wellesley girls on the other hand...</p>
<p>Can you change major after admitted?</p>
<p>I can actually answer your question uml1958...(didn't mean to hijack your thread harv2007...sorry!) You don't actually declare a major (it's called 'concentration' at Harvard for some odd reason) until the middle of your sophomore year now. And even after that, you can change it. Of course, if you try doing that middle of junior year, it may mean taking A LOT of required classes for your new concentration as well as some adjustment of core courses...annoying and possibly difficult, but nonetheless possible.</p>
<p>That sounds nice, harv2007 :)</p>
<p>I know it varies by person, but how many hours a day do Harvardians spend studying? (weekdays and weekends)
And how often do they go out to Boston (outside Harvard square)?</p>
<p>Thanks again</p>
<p>I haven't been contacted for an interview yet. at what point should I stop waiting and start assuming they simply weren't able to interview me.
should I call them about it?</p>
<p>boho_girl: you should be studying about 2-3 hours for every hour of class that you have. that said, it really depends on the course and how well you want to do. for a class like orgo, i remember doing a ton of practice problems every week just because otherwise it's hard to do well. in contrast, some of the easier core (or GenEd as they are called now) courses you can pretty much blow off until time for a paper or midterm. </p>
<p>also, most classes have a mean around a B-/B/B+ region, and it doesn't take much effort to get a B'ish grade. But when you want to go from an A- to an A, that becomes much harder.</p>
<p>JohnC613: As far as I know, Harvard tries to interview every applicant. There's no cut before the interview. The various regional admissions subcommittees meet in february, so most interviews are done by the middle of this month. however, i think the full adcom doesn't meet until march, so you could still try to call up the admissions office and see if they can arrange an interview before then.</p>
<p>Does that mean that the studying pace doesn't really allow much time for going out to town or so?</p>
<p>you definitely have time. i remember going into the city every 3 or 4 weeks, sometimes for redsox games, but mostly for dimsum</p>
<p>what's the best freshman dorm?</p>
<p>token89:grays</p>