Harvard SSP

<p>that's pretty cool. dunno if anyone's an international here, but there were plenty of South Asians there (I'm Indian American).</p>

<p>And I dunno what kinds of parties to which you are referring. There were of course parties of every which kind, you just had to find them, which wasn't too hard. However, be VERY careful, they are ridiculously strict about alcohol, drugs, etc. (although smoking is allowed). If they find you at a party with alcohol, doesn't even matter if you were drinking, you're going home with no refund, and your name is prolly getting blacklisted up and down the east coast, so do NOT mess with that. Then there was the crazy acid dealer who got a LOT of people kicked out by himself, etc. You can't go into the college dorms (there are college students there separated from high schoolers), so don't mess with that either. If you're looking to drink, not much to say except be careful as hell. If not, you still need to be very careful when you're going to parties. There's my lecture for the day, haha</p>

<p>how could that acid dealer guy get people kicked out by himself</p>

<p>haha, meaning that he started singing, and named as many people as he could to avoid a felony...i do know that a few people were connected to him that had nothing to do with it, and one who actually got kicked out when there was very little evidence linking her to him...but that's just a horror story, the long and short of it is that you should just generally avoid alcohol for the 4 & 8 weeks you're there completely, for your overall health's sake</p>

<p>how are the dorms....do any of them really suck....if ur a sophmor junior senior, do the upper class get better rooms?</p>

<p>well...it varies, and a lot will prolly depend on personal preference. for example, all the soph-juniors are in one hall, stoughton (unless they change it), which as 2 people per room, and a good, large-sized room, with community bathrooms/showers. You might get that deal with a senior in a different hall, like in Matthews, or you might get something like me, with Straus, where you have 2 bedrooms and a common room for 4 people, and they have their own bathroom/shower for the 4 of them. Or you might get really lucky and get Grays, which has 4 individual bedrooms around a common room with a bathroom, or you might get off-yard, where you might get lucky enough to get the nicer rooms in the houses, or a tiny sophomore dorm in one of the houses (meaning the buildings for harvard students above freshmen), or in one of the hellholes like pennypacker or greenough. but i'm biased as hell, i know the kids in pennypacker, etc. loved their dorms, so really, it's just a wait-and-see. If you like the idea of a larger room which you share with one person, then you'd like the soph.-junior halls. if you'd rather have the study area separate from the beds, so night-owls can study fine without waking others, etc., then a dorm like mine, straus, works very well. just realize that these are all little details, the dorms are certainly not so bad or so heavenly that they'll make or break your summer, so relax</p>

<p>How does class shopping work exactly? Do you recommend it, because I’m having a really tough time deciding on my second class… And also, do they actually check up on the PR’s for a class?</p>

<p>well, shopping did work for some people...be warned that it might be somewhat tiring and/or arbitrary. some courses start off with a bang and sputter out, and vice versa. as to prereqs, it really depends on the class...for my game theory course they required macro and micro, college level, which i obviously didn't do yet, still being in high school. I called them and told them that i did macro and micro AP level, and had competed in a couple national-level econ competitions, and she immediately let me in (Rita Pandey). After that, they never challenged my qualifications, making me take a test or whatever, but if I hadn't done them, I would've been rather lost in my course, so it was a rather large necessity for me to know what I did. Some other courses actually involve placement exams, so you can't really back yourself out of that. Hope that helps</p>

<p>Thanks. Yeah, I figured the class shopping thing would be a little stressful, ive still got plenty time to decide anyways… but wow the class I wanna take needs micro and macro too! Ive taken one of them ap level, and I figured I got just read up a bit on the other before the course… do you mind telling me what class you took? I was thinking intro to capital markets and investments… Oh yeah, is rita pandley tough on letting you into those ‘upper-level’ classes, from what you’ve heard maybe? Anyone else on here talk her into one?</p>

<p>hey you guyz...........the past sspers....are we allowed to buy laptops at harvard rates</p>

<p>hmmm, honestly, i'm not sure. I THINK you are, but since most people come in either with a laptop/desktop/tower or use the computer lab, I can't think of a single person who bought a laptop upon arriving. Perhaps try e-mailing them or calling them about it?</p>

<p>Does anyone have any comments on the seminars? How do they compare to regular classes, etc? Anyone planning on taking one?</p>

<p>I dunno...I took "utopia & anti-utopia" and I had the time of my life. The class was awesome, the teacher was great, and it was particularly nice that there were only like 13 kids in the class with me...we literally sat around a table and talked, with the professor participating with us...there was no lecture, it was far more conversational. Because of this, I was able to actually get to know my professor, and as a result, I was able to get a recommendation letter from him that I could send as a supplement to all my colleges, and I know it was a good one. I would highly recommend the seminars, esp. if there's a particular subject in there that just fascinates you (i know several people who took the bob dylan one and absolutely adored it)</p>

<p>wow what happened. this thread was so alive....heh
so how about a question...?
i dont remember if i asked before but are there open art studios for people to use(free??), and a pool? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm</p>

<p>i hope the number of m's increases the importance of the question.</p>

<p>hmmm, definitely a pool to use, coz i used that...as to an art studio, i have absolutely no idea. they had "practice rooms", but i can't specifically recall any place to do art, as it were...perhaps someone else would know?</p>

<p>Anybody who can answer these questions for me will be dubbed Grand Elite RULER of College Confidential (what a title right?) and wil win a date with the animal of his/her choice. I shall arrange it.</p>

<p>What is a typical day like in the fabulous world of a Harvard SSP student?? Will I be dreadfully bored if I only have classes twice a week? ALSO- what if I hate my roomates- can I sleep in someone else's room?</p>

<p>What's the student body like? Are most kids uninterested in actually enjoying their summer because of class obligations? </p>

<p>ALSO- Are the counselors pains in the butt? Or are they laid back and fun to be with. </p>

<p>I am NOT sorry for asking all these questions. Farewell lads and ladies.</p>

<p>I can't answer you question, but I'm wondering the same things. If kids there are totally into studying and can't chill I'm gonna have a problem. Its summer after all, work is good but we have to be able to relax and chill.</p>

<p>hmph, I thought I had already addressed some of these questions, but if I didn't my bad, I'll do what I can here. Teah, they are good questions, so my apologies for not dealing with them earlier.</p>

<p>There is no real "typical day" to give the stereotypical answer. If it's a class day, you'll go to class whenever it is, morning, afternoon, or evening, you might to go a study session, or lab, later at night, etc. You might spend some time reading out in harvard yard, or anywhere outdoors, you might get some studying done in Widener library, which has AWESOME study areas...yuou might go to the Coop and enjoy a book and a coffee or hot chocolate. You might go to the gym, play soccer with your friends, just walk around cambridge, even go into boston (thoug that's more common for non-class-days). Anything more specific you want on that, let me know.</p>

<p>Having classes twice a week certainly does not make you bored. This summer program is particularly wonderful in that most of the interest isn't necessarily from your classes, but from the living experience. One of my friend there only had classes twice a week, so we didn't see him much during the day on tuesdays and thursdays, but he was always chilling with us the rest of the week. There's always something to do, there're always friends to hang out with when you have nothing to do, always something you can find to entertain yourself.</p>

<p>As to whether students are obsessed with classes/have no fun, etc., I will give you a generic answer that I'm pretty sure I've said before: SSP is what you make of it. There are soem peopel there who spend all their time obsessively studying, playing computer games, and/or generally isolating themselves. That was their decision, and I respect that. There were a few there who didn't care so much about their grades, and spent most of their time socializing. Their grades suffered, but most of them didn't care, and enjoyed their summers, and that was their call. Most of us struck a sort of balance. We found friends who we could hang out with whenever, and had a blast with them, but remembered that on occasion we had to stop and study. I worked at my classes, but never enough to sacrifice chilling with my friends.</p>

<p>As to the roommate, mine was great, so I couldn't provide that perspective, but you can, at least for awhile, sleep in another guy's room...one of my suitemates "sexiled" us one night, and we just had a blast down the stairs in another room, all of us spreading out in a common room of another suite and relaxing. A couple people in my entryway who got together ended up spending a lot of nights in the other's bed, and as a result, there was always an open bed in one room, if someone wanted it. If you have such severe problems with your roommate, then i imagine there's some recourse for moving, but truly I'd advise at least makign a concerted effort to tolerate one another.</p>

<p>I'm guessing by "counselors" you mean proctors (essentially RAs). Of course, I can't speak for them all, and some of them were asses, but mine was really chill. Once a week we'd watch a movie in her room, she was always ready to talk about anything, and was generally a fun person. We're technically supposed to be in our dorms by a certain time at night, but as long as we called by 1am, she was chilled with us staying out. The proctors in the entryways around us were pretty cool too...but it is somewhat of a crapshoot, perhaps you'll get a pain-in-the-ass proctor, like half the juniors did last year, but there's only so much they can really do to be a pain (unless you're a junior, then they can raise hell, if they want).</p>

<p>Hope that answers your questions for the most part, let me know if you have any other issues. Later</p>

<p>oh yeah, sorry Lights_Out, I'm afraid I spaced out one of your questions a few weeks ago...</p>

<p>I took "Strategy, Conflict, and Cooperation" (essentially, game theory in economics). If any of you have seen "A Beautiful Mind", the main character is one of the major developers of game theory (John Nash). Ms. Pandey let me in almost immediately, but I did have qualifications...if you havne't already, obviously you need to talk to her about getting into your course. I've never heard of her being a particular hardass, but I really couldn't attest to it. Sorry, let me know if you have any other questions.</p>

<p>Thanks, your commentary was gorgeous!</p>

<p>so how is grays hall, greenough hall, and canaday hall</p>