Harvard grad 2014 - Ask questions about Harvard here!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
21

I’m definitely not an art person at all, but several of my friends at Harvard were! Harvard has a rich community of artists!

Have you looked into the various creative art concentrations?

Also, Harvard has incredible student organizations such as The Advocate that help support creative art!

22

@writergirl0316 if you are really interested in the creative arts, then you must be aware that there are few fields where the competition is more fierce and more constant. There are places that are more nurturing to young artists than Harvard, but few if any that produce more actual, successful artists. Writers of fiction and non-, armies of screenwriters, musicians and composers, pop stars, actors, directors, producers, architects. (Not so many painters or sculptors as far as I know.) Some are accomplished before they get there, but lots come into their own after they graduate, too.

Harvard is full of ambitious people with the skills to make their ambitions at least somewhat realistic. I don’t think the atmosphere is cutthroat at all – people are generally kind and supportive towards one another – but, yes, there are high standards and competition for people’s attention and for the slots that can lead somewhere meaningful. If you are serious about being a creative artist, at some point you have to be up for that, but it doesn’t have to be when you are 18.

23

Thank you all so much for answering questions! I am an incoming freshman and trying to get as much information as possible to make the best decisions these next few years.

  1. For someone who is still undecided about whether to pursue graduate school (I'm mostly thinking law school or business school), is your undergrad GPA that important? I've heard of phenomenal classes with amazing professors that grade very harshly -- do most Harvard students take these classes anyway? Do you have personal favorite classes/professors?
  2. Besides the often discussed office-hours, are there any other programs or opportunities for students to develop relationships with professors? I am planning on applying to a few Freshman seminars as well (if you have recommendations I'd love to hear them)!

I’d also love to hear about which clubs/extracurriculars you enjoyed on campus! Thanks in advance (:

24

Fun question: How frequently do you see famous people at Harvard?

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Fun answer: Pretty often! It depends on your definition of famous. In terms of people-who-are-famous-in-any-circle kinda level of famous (just this last year: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Zuckerberg, Viola Davis, Rihanna, Aung San Suu Kyi, a bunch of other actors/politicians and such, etc.) maybe a few every semester. There’s many more who show up on campus, but they’re often only there for just a few hours or so to speak at some event or such and then it’s a question of whether you want to take time out to go to that event - often you’ll only find out last minute - if you really wanted to try run into as many famous people as possible and went to all of them, it could potentially be one every couple weeks.

I think the challenge ends up being finding the time between psets and essay drafts to do so however - a lot happens virtually every week on campus and it’s very hard to find time to see it all

26

@BunnyMonster

Welcome Class of 2021!!

  1. Fairly important, but they do take into account other things like the rigor of your overall courseload and such. I think there's a mix between people who choose to take a lighter/easier courseload, perhaps because they're very concerned about gpa or have very large extracurricular commitments to balance (leadership positions in major clubs, recruited athletes, etc.) and those who focus on taking challenging interesting classes regardless of what the grade curve looks like (and some who do both!). I think you can definitely find a balance between both to protect your grades and also take interesting but harder classes if it's a concern to you so don't worry! Highly recommend CS50 - an essential Harvard experience really no matter your background.
  2. Most of the relationships I've built with professors have been at office-hours and such, or if it's a smaller class where one-on-one interaction is more viable (eg. seminars are a great way to get to know professors in a topic you're really interested in - and some of them keep in contact with you well after the seminar too!). It's a little harder if you're taking the large classes with several hundreds of students however.

Lots of clubs to enjoy - check out the Crimson, the lampoon, the robotics club, HCS, the Model UN clubs and the mock trial team off the top of my head :slight_smile:

27

I had no interest in discussing admissions chances. Sorry for the misunderstanding. What I was getting at was the answer to the question about student vibe/competitiveness and that relates to admissions policies.

There are so many myths out there about Harvard that my main advice is to pay no attention :slight_smile:

28

For those who didn’t have great tours they must have been led by someone other than our daughter. :slight_smile: (Leveritt House, class of 2018)
I cannot emphasize enough what a wonderful experience our daughter has had at Harvard.

29

We had a great tour by the student (in 2015) but the info session was cut in half by a fire alarm. We waited outside for 30 minutes and then they said they were out of time and good luck applying. The admission rep did stick around for questions which was nice. It was at the lower end of our tours but daughter did apply and will move in shortly!

I’ll toss a question in this thread. How much are books on average per semester? There is another thread about codes and new text books. Is this an issue at Harvard?

I loved used books to save money and hated when a book was changed every semester to keep students buying new books. Looks like publishers are still trying to find ways to turn over text books every year even for static subjects.

30

Books can be returned I believe (to the Coop), and I had good success selling my son’s (different school) on Amazon.

My Harvard kid majored in one of the arts and chose Harvard for the curriculum, courses and professors in that department. She was not a knee jerk I want to go to Harvard type but took the entire month of April to decide between H and a more applied art kind of school. She loved her experience at Harvard. Her friends are all pretty chill too.

31
  1. I've heard that oftentimes people feel isolated at Harvard and that friends are usually so involved in their own work that they don't really spend time together. Is that true? Have you ever felt that way at Harvard?
  2. Are extracurriculars super exclusive due to the comping process?
  3. What happens if you end up not being friends with people in your blocking group say, junior year? Would you still have other friends in the house? Would you feel isolated?
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  1. I don’t think that is the case. You would expect when work loads are heavy that your friends are going to have to commit more time to their studies than they ordinarily would, just as you will. Our daughter has never felt that way and she is a modest and humble young woman.
  2. Some EC’s can be competitive and some are not. There are so many clubs and activities there are always interesting and enjoyable things to do.
  3. These things take there natural course, some of your blocking group may become involved in relationships and as a result you see much less of them. You may develop other close friendships and as a result spend more time with friends outside of your blocking group. It is natural to be concerned about these things. My sense is that there is no need to be. If you want friends put yourself out there and be interested in other people, everything else will take care of itself.
33

This varies a lot depending on the classes you’re taking, some classes (like a lot in the CS department) often don’t have any required texts, whereas humanities classes may require several, etc.

Virtually all books can be bought either new or used (via the Coop or through one of several large facebook groups that sell/pass on books after students have taken the class). If you really want all of your textbooks to be brand new (highly do not recommend this as all the used books I’ve had have been in really good condition) then it can get rather expensive, maybe $200-250 a semester, but on the other hand, if you’re fine with used books from upperclassmen then maybe ~$100 a semester on average.

Note, your financial aid package also takes into account the average textbook cost at Harvard, so as long as you qualify for FA (pretty much everyone I know who needs it does) it shouldn’t be too much of a concern :slight_smile:

34

Thanks! I loved used books and my daughter is frugal as well so she will go for the savings. Humanities kid so I guess higher side. I forget what the financial aid estimate was for books. Maybe $1,000/semester?

35

I’m visiting in a few weeks on a Saturday. Anything I should do/visit while I’m there?

36

I don’t know where people hear these things. People may be involved with work but still have time for each other, and of course work fluctuates according to different times in the semester.

You can change blocking group or roommates and would make friends in your department and activities.

37

@geekfromsb, I think the regular tour and info session from the Admissions Office isn’t available on weekends. There are other tours by for-profit operators, however. Here are a few other suggestions: buy lunch at the trucks outside the Science Center and eat at the tables there or buy pastries from Mike’s and eat them in the Yard or both. There are often interesting free small exhibits in Pusey and Houghton. If you have more time, the glass flowers, minerals, and dinosaur bones at the Peabody Museum are well worth a visit. Walk straight down JFK to Mem Drive, cross the Anderson Bridge, continue down on the HBS (Boston) side of the river, then cross back over the Weeks Footbridge and walk back up to Mass Ave and the Square via DeWolfe or Plympton Street. (The Fogg has a great art collection, but I would go to the Gardner or the MFA before I visited the Fogg.)

38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7uEQEXgQ2o

Any comments about this?

39

Great thank you! Unfortunately when I was booking my trip the tour was booked so I shifted the Harvard/Boston schools for the weekend. While I know I’ll be missing out on a tour, I am trying to find out what I can do meanwhile to get a general feel for what students like to do. Your suggestions are great!!

40

fluffysimba, you are aware of what is going on with Harvard and final clubs, right? That video is not really relevant as a result. Also, dorms are being renovated with a focus on common spaces.

If anyone takes a tour, I suggest one run by admissions.

The square is full of tourists all summer.