<p>The History and Literature program just completed 100 years as Harvard's oldest, and arguably hardest, concentration. Many people ask what makes Harvard, or any of the elites, different. This is one example. Similar interdisciplinary programs exist at Columbia and Yale among others. </p>
<p>A century later, Hist & Lit is still honors-only: every one of its concentrators completes a tutorial every year, each of them still endures an oral exam before graduating, and they all write a thesis. They may communicate the name of their concentration with fewer syllables, but today’s students are as elite as the alumni who came before them.</p>
<p>As the longest-lived, "hist and lit," as it's informally known, still has immense cache. For one, it's among the few concentrations - once called "honors concentrations" - that require a thesis. (The others: Folklore and Mythology; History and Science; Literature; Social Studies; and Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality.). And its rigor is well known. It requires oral exams in both sophomore and senior years, proficiency in reading foreign-language literature, and a three-year series of tutorials. </p>
<p>At least while you’re at Harvard you’ll be a hotshot, though—the department is all about academia, meaning that your professors will take you and any harebrained idea you have seriously. They’ll also throw their backs out to help you win money for research, recognize you for your accomplishments, and pull you out of Widener’s gutter when you become overwhelmed (you will). But Hist and Lit giveth and it taketh: jettisoning schoolwork for extracurricular commitments or a hot date will fly about as well as a hardback copy of Swann’s Way. </p>
<p>History and Literature is a program that is truly unique to Harvard, and is arguably the most personalized, student-oriented program here. There are no graduate students in Hist and Lit, which means the focus rests completely on the academic development of its undergraduates. It’s certainly not the easiest track at Harvard, but it is widely considered one of the finest.</p>