Harvard College Global Health and Leadership Conference

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

Hi I made this account to ask this question since I can’t find anything about this anywhere: I am thinking of applying to Harvard’s global health and leadership conference on april 29th but I am wondering if I should?

Pros:
-Harvard
-On a Saturday
-The conference itself is free
-Seems to offer a lot of opportunities for actual initiative and impact for conference students (you get to pair with a global health group, present on a global health initiative, and implement a project)

Cons:
-AP tests are the following week
-They don’t have aid for travel to the conference (which I guess is OK since the conference itself is free)
-It is their first year having this conference (seems like a wildcard)

Overall, it seems like a great opportunity but I am hesitant since it is new so there is no feedback available about it.
I would greatly appreciate if you could share your thoughts :slight_smile:

Here is the link to their website if that helps you get a clearer idea: http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/eyesee/VISION/GHS/High_School_Conference.html

2

It’s a one-day conference, so attend if your parents are willing to fund the travel expenses and if you have an interest in the subject. However, I wouldn’t have any expectations beyond that. In other words, attending this conference will NOT help you get accepted to Harvard, nor will it give you a leg-up with any other admissions office.

3

Thanks so much for replying! I think that makes sense that the conference itself won’t help.
Do you think that the project implementation part they mention will help at all? Like the part about being able to “create a vision based initiative in the local community.”
Also, do you think going to this conference will help me see the “fit” people talk about when visiting campuses/ help me during an interview to relate to being on campus?
sorry for so many questions.
Thank you again, and if anyone else has any input or feedback it is greatly appreciated :slight_smile:

4

IMHO, that’s academic speak and I have no idea what that means or what applicable tools you’ll be able to take-away from the course.

In a word: no. “Fit” isn’t something you can easily observe by visiting a college campus for a day. It has MORE to do with the culture of the school and whether the teaching style of that school fits with your abilities and style of learning. That requires doing your due-diligence on the college by looking at a college’s course catalog, and viewing the syllabus of courses you would be interested in taking, and comparing them to other colleges.

Question: At your high school, do you often get bored because you’ve already mastered the material while other students are still struggling with the basics?

Well, just as course rigor varies among high schools, there are also varying levels of course rigor at different colleges. Harvard – rightly, or wrongly – believes they are teaching to the gifted and talented students of this world, so to challenge those “best of the best” students, professors are encouraged to pour on the work. Some courses normally taught over an entire year at another college are taught during one semester at Harvard. LS2 is good example of that (Evolutionary Human Physiology and Anatomy), which is the Bio course recommended for students interested in pursing medical school.

LS2 is jammed-packed with things you wouldn’t be asked to do at another college, like identifying every bone in the human body by week two in the course, something most students usually don’t do until medical school! That means Harvard students are required to master the same material at another college (and sometimes more) in half the amount of time. If that’s the kind of learning environment you excel in, then Harvard is going to be a “good fit” for you and you’ll have a fabulous experience. On the other hand, if that kind of pressure-cooker environment gives you an ulcer, chances are Harvard (or Stanford, Yale, Princeton, MIT etc) will not be a good “fit” for you.

To wit: One look at LS2’s syllabus will demonstrate the expectations of a Harvard student taking this course exceed that of many other colleges, including those in the top-20 list from US News & World report: http://scholar.harvard.edu/adamfrange/files/life_sciences_2_evolutionary_human_physiology_and_anatomy_syllabus_2012.pdf.

Now, not all Harvard courses are like LS2, but it’s something to consider as you choose which colleges are the best “fit” for you. A top high school student might actually be in a better position for medical school having received a 4.0 in science courses from another college than receiving a 3.5 to 3.6 at Harvard in the same basic science courses.

5

Thank you so much for your detailed response, clarification and feedback. I really appreciate you taking the time! LS2 sounds intense!

I think I will take the time to mull it over since the topic sounds interesting and see if it is worth the travel cost.

Thanks again!

6

I think there is a wide variance of the intensity of courses at Harvard. On the other end of the spectrum from LS2 and Physics 16 there is a class nicknamed Bro Bible. From the nickname I am sure you can figure out it is not super intense.

Going to the conference will not help you get into Harvard but you may find it enjoyable

7

Thank you for offering an example of a less intense class to balance it out :slight_smile:
Yeah, I didn’t think going to the conference would get me into Harvard (which is why I never asked that). I was more curious if it sounds like an enriching experience and worthwhile. Both of you have mentioned that I might enjoy it even if it doesn’t help my admission, so I think I’ll apply and see what happens. On the plus side if I get accepted I could talk to some current students to hear about their personal experiences. Thanks so much!

8

While you could, current students will be in the midst of preparing for finals, so even you get one to talk to you, you might get a clouded picture. :slight_smile: Good luck.

9

This looks a little fishy, to be honest. Although (based on the “hcs” extension) the website seems to be hosted on Harvard servers, the grammar looks shaky, it’s quite short on specifics (including names of associated faculty and staff) and (although I might have missed it) I don’t see anything about it on the website for the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, where you’d expect it to be promoted. There has been a conference at the school in the past that sounds something like it, though: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/diversity/yphc/

10

I agree that the website seems fishy. Here is a list of sponsors and people involved. It seems to be entirely student-organized.

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/eyesee/VISION/GHS/High_School_Conference_Collaboration.html

I think I’ll apply if I have time. I don’t live far from Harvard, so I don’t have much to lose by attending a free conference. It’d be appreciated if I could have more detailed information about it, however. Maybe someone/I could contact them? Not sure what to ask for, though.

11

I definitely recommend filling out the contact form if you have any questions
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/eyesee/VISION/GHS/High_School_Conference_Contact_Us.html

I filled out the form, and the conference chair got back to me the same day from a college.harvard.edu email, so it seems legit. He was really friendly and answered all of my questions. He seems really passionate about global health, “holistic health and wellness” (he said like “sleep, physical activity, and nutrition”), and youth education and seems to genuinely just want to increase global health understanding and impact.

Even if it sucks, we would still get to visit Harvard’s campus, meet some current Harvard students/ other high school students interested in global health, learn about global health, get some practice filling out an application, have an opportunity to make and give a presentation (and tell people “I gave a presentation at Harvard”), be paired with a Harvard student as a mentor, and maybe make an impact by working on one of the global health projects.

Listing out all that stuff does sound too good to be true for something free. I think since it is the first year and there doesn’t seem to be anything else like it available, it is kind of a wild card as I mentioned initially, but they seem to offer a lot for a free conference, are hosted on a Harvard server as DeepBlue86 mentioned, and have harvard emails, so I for one am going to trust it. I also doubt that Harvard would allow and fund the conference if it was a scam.

Wishing everyone the best who chooses to apply!