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his expectations may collapse on him and hurt him even more
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<p>Not really.. I'm applying knowing that there is a possiblity that I might be rejected so its not that big of a deal... </p>
<p>Shall try and get my ACT scores up and work on my essay... I appreciate all your opinions and tips. Thanks much :)..</p>
<p>Harvard is not a good fit for someone interested in business or mechanical engineering.</p>
<p>Isn't Harvard's Econ major the most popular one for undergrads studying there marite?</p>
<p>Well, it is, but is is not a business major. You have to be quite clear about what you want to study. Students interested in business should apply to Sloan, Wharton or Cornell. There are also colleges such as Babson that have undergraduate business majors.</p>
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Harvard is not a good fit for someone interested in business or mechanical engineering.
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<p>Doesn't Harvard have a good business undergrad school?!!!</p>
<p>No. This is the kind of question that college websites can easily answer.</p>
<p>No, that's U Penn with Wharton. Harvard undergrad doesn't have business</p>
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No, that's U Penn with Wharton. Harvard undergrad doesn't have business
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<p>Damn!!!!!!! I was always under the impressoin that Harvard has a great undergrad business school. Its probably grad now that I think about it! Doh! So what is Harvard a good fit? Someone looking for a liberals arts kind of curriculum?</p>
<p>Would applying EA improve my chances or would that only give me a slight boost still keeping me out of it?</p>
<p>I like your ECs, they are very unique. I would definitely apply to Harvard and the other places you mention. Just bump your scores up - you have two more shots if you're applying early, which is plenty.</p>
<p>Also I reckon going to undergraduate business school would be a rubbish experience. Strictly speaking, you don't need to learn business. I would say go for a liberal arts curriculum first, get a broad base of knowledge, take time to explore your academic interests, and then if you still want to go off into the world of business.. take an MBA or whatever. I'm no expert but it seems to me that studying a 'proper' subject at undergraduate, especially Economics, and then taking business later, would be a much better preparation for decent business than just learning it straight. Besides you've only really got undergraduate to explore your academic interests - you've got the rest of your life to do business.</p>
<p>Oh and Harvard is probably a good fit for most things, apart from people who are serious about science/engineering.</p>
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Just bump your scores up - you have two more shots if you're applying early, which is plenty.
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<p>By scores, you mean my ACT scores? I will be retaking my ACT this month as well as in October so lets see if it goes up. As for my SATII, I'm reluctant to take it since I doubt i'm gonna notice much of an increase. </p>
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Oh and Harvard is probably a good fit for most things, apart from people who are serious about science/engineering.
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<p>Is the engineering program at Harvard decent or is it just not worth it?</p>
<p>THanks</p>
<p>The Ace is Back's statement about Harvard:</p>
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Oh and Harvard is probably a good fit for most things, apart from people who are serious about science/engineering.
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<p>is both true and untrue.</p>
<p>If you are serious about the hard/(or pure) sciences such as physics, chemistry and bio, Harvard is quite strong and certainly quite worth it. </p>
<p>On the other hand, the engineering department has always been on a limbo. It's certainly nowhere near the strength of its local neighbor MIT. However, that isn't to say that it's a waste of time. For one thing, you can cross register and take classes at MIT. That's long been the policy. With that said however, I don't recommend Harvard if you want a well structured focus in undergraduate engineering. There are better places.</p>
<p>Well I wanted to try Engineering out and see if it is something I can manage and like. Else I was hoping to switch to maybe Business or Economics. </p>
<p>1) How old is the Engineering program? The tour guide told me it was started recently ( a few years ago ). However, when I visisted the ENgineering department site, there is no indication of this.
2) Is the Engineering program ABET accredited?
3) Is the employability for the engineering students good? As good as the Harvard graduates in other majors?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>
Seriously, unless it's going to break the bank, you might as well retake those SAT II's. You have two dates.. you could do Maths, Physics + a language on one, and then on the other retake the ones you're still low on, or take another language and something like Literature on the second time. If you're proficient in Mandarin (!!) definitely look into their SAT II. I've taken a look at some questions on the collegeboard website and they have romanization for about two thirds of the paper, and none of it looks very difficult. The listening looked quite easy as well. I don't do Spanish but it seems like a fairly basic language, you might want to look into that as well.</p>
<p>I speak a few languages but unfortunately, Mandarin is not one of them and the languages I speak are not offered by Collegeboard :(. I guess my only option for a third subject test is World History since Literature is not my strong point.</p>
<p>Submitting my SATII scores will mean that Harvard will get to see my SATI score which I took the first time and got a 1680 ( 1080 without writing ). Oh well! Nothing I can do about it I guess.</p>
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You have two dates.. you could do Maths, Physics + a language on one, and then on the other retake the ones you're still low on, or take another language and something like Literature on the second time.
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<p>Won't retaking it look bad to the harvard admission officers?</p>
<p>no it'll show them you try very hard to get the best grades possible</p>
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Oh and Harvard is probably a good fit for most things, apart from people who are serious about science/engineering.
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<p>That's not to say tech companies don't recruit from Harvard. I know of at least one Harvard CS grad who got a starting salary of $90,000 from Google (and a nice EOYB, too). But caution: this guy graduated from Harvard with a single B+ (expository writing) and 2 A-s. If you think you're bright, in other words, going to Harvard really wont hamper you, even though Google almost definitely recruits more talent from MIT.</p>
<p>jai6638, from what I gather retaking is fine so long as it's not excessive (more than three times). I don't think your SAT I score will hurt you too much, because you have the ACT to compensate. Just work hard towards it.</p>
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Oh and Harvard is probably a good fit for most things, apart from people who are serious about science/engineering.
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<p>The perception that Harvard's science program is weak is, as I have to explain to people again and again, completely untrue...</p>
<p>No one can doubt that Harvard's graduate program in every one of the sciences is among the best in the country. For example, from the US News and World Report rankings: </p>
<p>Harvard is tied for #2 best biological sciences program
Tied for #3 best chemistry program
Tied for #2 best math program
Has the #1 best medical school in the country</p>
<p>Of course, a school's quality at undergraduate and graduate education can be different. However, Harvard's excellent graduate school guarantees that the professors and teaching fellows who give the undergraduate lectures are among the best in their fields, and that the undergraduate research opportunities for students in the sciences are cutting-edge. </p>
<p>Obviously, Harvard is often overshadowed in the sciences by MIT. However, so is every other school in the country (with the possible exception of Caltech). Harvard is by no means subpar in the sciences- in fact, it consistently rivals MIT, Caltech, and Stanford in the field.</p>
<p>Anyway, that perception always bothers me... (My one concession is that Harvard isn't nearly as good at engineering, which is seperate from hard science. Of course, the USNWR still puts it in the top 25 grad schools when it comes to engineering, which isn't awful anyway.)</p>
<p>By the way...one of the most interesting physicists- String Theorist Brian Greene got his AB in physics at Harvard.<br>
The math department houses such luminaries as Fields Medalist and a leader in topology/differential geometry Shing-Tung Yau in the math department.<br>
And that's just off the top of my head. The math and sciences are certainly the best of the best at Harvard.</p>
<p>You guys think applying Early action will improve my chances of getting into Harvard or should I just do RD and apply early to 3-4 others schools in my list ( northeastern, bc, umass amherst ) ???</p>
<p>Thanks</p>