Harvard's "atmosphere"?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
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<p>I have a keen interest in harvard and I'm wondering what the atmosphere is like. I have heard it is fiercely competitive from some people. I feel that it may be like everywhere you go people are having deep, probing discussions about everything, from the Higgs boson particle to political affairs (which would be awesome). </p>

<p>I really want a deeply cerebal environment that still likes to party....is Harvard like that?</p>

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<p>spectacularly friendly - in your house/dorm</p>

<p>fiercely competitive - in the classroom - especially curved science courses</p>

<p>deep, probing discussions- definitely in your ec groups and hall entryways</p>

<p>about everything - you will find one of everything here :)</p>

<p>likes to party - LoL Yes! :D</p>

<p>gets to party - Depends if you are a dumb schmuck like me and took too
many pset courses</p>

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<p>Harvard’s atmosphere is probably a lot more “normal” than you’d expect, except for the fact that everyone’s amazing in some regard.</p>

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<p>thank you synth!! that is exactly what i was hoping for</p>

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<p>I agree with Synth on a lot of these questions, but disagree that the atmosphere can be described as “fiercely competitive.” </p>

<p>I’ve taken almost exclusively science courses in my three years here and have found the exact opposite. I’ve discussed this at some length in other threads, so please forgive me if I quote.</p>

<p><a href=“Anyone have questions? - Harvard University - College Confidential Forums”>Anyone have questions? - Harvard University - College Confidential Forums;

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/485971-harvard-cut-throat.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/485971-harvard-cut-throat.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Admiral - I have a question:</p>

<p>I am going to Harvard next year and have received mixed views on grading at Harvard in science / math courses v. humanities courses. In high school, I spent significantly less time on math and science courses and found them much easier than history / english courses. However, I have heard many say that at Harvard math / science courses (especially courses taken for premed reqs) are heavily curved and are therefore more difficult to obtain higher grades in than humanities courses. I have also heard that pset-based courses take much more time than humanities courses. Do you find that to be true? </p>

<p>I understand that Harvard will be nothing like my high school, but such claims surprise me.</p>

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<p>Agreed, I have yet to find any of my science courses fiercely competitive. I mean, I’ve taken both a couple of challenging science courses (Physics 15a and Chem 160) as well a couple pre-med courses (Phy Sci 1 and Phy Sci 3), and I can definitely say that in all four people were eager to work in a very cooperative setting.</p>

<p>Granted, it seems like many of my friends who are humanities concentrators have far more attractive GPAs than many of the science concentrators I know. And yes, a problem set every now and then can run you ragged, but at the same time I have not written anything longer than 15 pages in my three years here, while many of my friends have written a collection of 25-50 page tutorial/junior honors papers. With that said, do I sleep a lot - here and there.</p>

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<p>Not a Harvard student, but I probably can shed some light on this. The short answer is that a humanities course is usually based in college on large amounts of reading (so large that it may be impossible to do all of it equally carefully, and you really pick and choose and budget your time) plus essays. Problem sets come weekly, at least usually, and are obviously require very definitive results – you actually have to sit down and try to finish them. </p>

<p>Even at the most competitive schools (Harvard should be one of the most intellectual schools, not one of the most competitive, and if I’m wrong I’d be pretty sad), math and science majors typically cooperate a lot, because material is challenging, and usually only people who care a lot about their work major in things like math and science. Even if there is a curve, it is usually not about gaining petty points on a test to beat the curve, but rather to understand the material presented better. Only in a competitive course where the material is easy do people really compete for a few petty points. Here, the material’s hard enough that any curve probably helps, rather than hurts. </p>

<p>Also, your experience with high school math and physics and English/history, kd, actually is only just your experience. There are many schools I know of where AP Physics or AP Calculus is the hardest course offered. If the AP Physics teacher were to assign very long problem sets, it could become the most time-consuming class.</p>

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<p>I read the above posts and wanted to clarify ‘fiercely competitive’
as in ‘not in every science course’ (defintiely not the ones cited above)
and also ‘not amongst all cadre of students’.
fierce != cutthroat just fierce ==super-efforts.</p>

<p>The fierce competition exists and it is for the A grade doled out to
atmost 2 freshman in a section amongst sophs and juniors. The competition
is not ‘petty’ either it is about going above and beyond in demonstrated mastery
of the material.</p>

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<p>In my 2 years at Harvard, I have come to the conclusion that the competitiveness level here is “all in your head.” Very competitive people (and there are LOTS here) find the place very competitive; more laid back types who are just glad to be here and soak up all the place offers, don’t find it especially competitive. </p>

<p>Science gpa’s tend to be a little lower, but the grading process is set and mostly unbiased. In humanities, grades tend to be a little fickle – you just can’t tell how a prof is going to react to a paper or be biased against you because of the jerky comments you’ve been making in class/ tutorials.</p>

<p>For whatever reason, Harvard does seem to have the reputation of having a more competitive culture than some of its peers. It is hard to say. My sister went to Yale and that place at least does seem a little more toned down on the competition front than here.</p>