Would a Harvard government concentration be worth it? IMO Harvard’s gov department is among best in the world…but I have heard about its access problems with regards to its professors and horrific TA’s teaching classes. Is this true, and if so, do the cons outweigh the pros?
I guess it depends upon your definition of “worth it” and what you ultimately want to do upon graduation.
Harvard’s government concentration supposedly requires the least amount of requirements of any concentration. That may be why many recruited athletes choose government (and economics) as their concentration, as it gives them more time to spend in sports practice: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/10/14/deconstructing-the-gov-jock-with-the/?page=single
FWIW: The majority of U.S. college graduates do NOT ultimately go into jobs specifically related to their concentration (or major). For example, my daughter graduated Harvard with a degree in film studies, but is going to medical school. And my son graduated Yale with a psychology degree, but is employed as a CS Data Scientist.
Government concentrators must fulfill the same number of courses as any other major–they simply have more options within the broader realm of related fields such as economics, quantitative methods, languages, history, sociology, philosophy, as well graduate level gov courses at the JFK School of Government. With so many gov majors, one can argue the department is that much more competitive academically. Non-athletes have the time to write theses and pursue all the Honors program requirements.
Besides the top-notch professors, the Institute of Politics offers world-renowned politicians and heads of world governments,allowing students close contact through seminars, panels, and liaison positions.
If one wants to pursue easy courses, departments such as folklore and mythology, dramatic arts, gender studies and film studies would likely offer much easier paths to higher grade point averages.
In response to the OP’s concern, the large gov courses are taught by professor, small sections which meet to discuss course work are led by TAs. If there were no TA’s there would not be enough spaces in the gov classes and department for all who wished to be there. It would have to be like Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, where, for decades, one had to apply and slots in the gov major were quite limited. (It now allows all in.)