<p>I have been accepted at Harvard but I am a little concerned about attending. I have heard that it can be very cut-throat and competitive. I am certainly competitive but not at the expese of others. So really, what is the academic atmosphere like? I want to work hard and learn but I also want to have fun. When I was at Harvard competing in Model UN some of the current students told me it was very cut-throat. I just want to know honestly what you all think.</p>
<p>My son feels the same way. He's also heard of the cut-throat environment. Is it all hype? will your roomate try to sabatoge your computer etc...</p>
<p>my freshman year here is nearly ending, and I'd confidently say nope.
I've had random people I meet in class help me out, lend me notes, help out each other with homework etc. I'd say kids here do work hard, but not too hard.</p>
<p>I'm a sophomore here and actually just had this conversation with a group of friends yesterday. I don't find the academic atmosphere to be cut-throat or mean-spirited at all. It's competitive in the sense that everyone has always done well and wants to continue doing so, but sabotaging a person's computer or something would be ridiculous and is definitely unheard of. My peers have never been anything but helpful to me in terms of working on problem sets together or participating in study groups. My pre-med friends deemed the atmosphere very collaborative during our discussion yesterday, and if they're thought to be the most cut-throat, I'd say that's a good sign.</p>
<p>My wife and I went to Wake Forest; our older D is at Harvard and our younger one will start there in the fall. D #1 has seen nothing cut-throat; her friendships are remarkably loyal, mature and nurturing. I've picked up on no particular arrogance or snootiness from other students either - it's been said that being an undergrad at Harvard is the world's most humbling experience. But at Wake, you were in the in crowd or not depending upon whether your daddy owned a well-known business or belonged to a ritzy country club. Campus stereotypes can be very misleading.</p>
<p>It depends. This Crimson article says many science students change concentrations because of the competitiveness:
The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: Students Defect from Sciences
Small departments can be better - or worse - more collegiality, but competition can be more personal.
Most students have friends outside their concentrations, and there's no reason to be competitve with them.
I've never heard of anyone sabatoging someone's computer, and most roommates get along very well. Some people are naturally competitive - that's how they got here. Competition is a fact of life. Getting involved in some EC's is competitive - Crimson, Lampoon, final clubs - but there are plenty that aren't. Competition is real, but how annoying it is depends a lot on how you react to it.</p>
<p>It's competitive in the broad sense of the word (ie you are definitely competing against your peers) but with few exceptions no one actively competes on a personal level. You just kind of compete against this big meaningless thing called 'the curve'</p>
<p>Absolutely not cut-throat. I have never seen anyone do or say anything to undercut a classmate's academic life.</p>
<p>Academically - not cut throat at all! Lots of cooperation.</p>
<p>Extracurricularly - competition can get very intense at the top levels of large student groups</p>
<p>I too am worried about the competitiveness of Harvard's academics. </p>
<p>In general though, how much does grade inflation take effect at Harvard, as compared to my other choices- Stanford, Penn, Yale, Princeton, or MIT? Is anyone currently a physics, math, or economics concentrator?</p>
<p>Not cut-throat at all. Virtually non-existent compared to high school.</p>
<p>Haha, well Harvard isn't grade inflated, but Princeton is grade deflated (they cap the number of A-range grades, I believe the max is 25% of the class). Harvard and Yale grades are pretty similar from what I hear though.</p>
<p>Why would anyone cut throat someone?</p>
<p>well, its certainly good to know Harvardians/Harvarders/Havardies (whats the actual term for a student at Harvard? i know yale is yalie) are very nice + supportive</p>
<p>"cut throat someone"</p>
<p>big LOL.</p>
<p>Also, Harvard doesn't have a non-mascot nickname I think. Yale has two: "Elis" and "Yalies". Officially, they are the Bulldogs and Harvard is the Crimson.</p>
<p>So what do you call people who go to Harvard? Harvardians?</p>
<p>Thanks for all the responses. I am very competitive (as we all are - as mentioned in a previous post) which is why I have worked hard and was thankfully accepted. My successes have never been at the expense of someone else. So when I heard that this might be the case at Harvard - I just don't want to be a part of that. I am glad to hear that the rumors might not really be the case. My brother is at Duke right now and is an engineering major. He said that the courses with a curve can be very competitive but not the other courses. I want to learn and be competitive with myself - not necessarily with others. Also, I hate to ask this - but are there alot of nerdy types there? One of the things that I have liked about Duke is the fact that the student body is so "not nerdy". Do you get what I mean? I am going to the accepted student weekend and I guess I will really get a feel for the students at that time. I am a very social person. I like to have fun. I am really into sports and I want to be around kids who like the same thing. Will I find that at Harvard?</p>
<p>which classes follow a curve?</p>
<p>My brother is an engineering major at Duke and he said his engineering and science classes have all had a curve.</p>
<p>So very, very few classes at Harvard (or any college, I imagine) are graded "high school style" - in that there are announced percentages corresponding to each grade (ex. 93-100% is an A).</p>
<p>For most paper/essay based classes, you receive letter grades on each assignment, and each assignment is weighted (i.e. I have a B+ on a midterm worth 20% of my final grade).</p>
<p>For most test/problem set based classes, the system works the same as above, but there's usually some sort of "curve" to translate raw scores on a test into letter grades (i.e. 72-75 points => B-). This scaling is done after the grading, and is done in a variety of mysterious ways. Sometimes (i.e. orgo, I think), scoring the mean is a B (or B+), and the standard deviation of the results determines the ranges for the other grades. Other times, the ranges seem to be plucked out of thin air.</p>
<p>Hope this clarifies... rather than confuses. In the end, things tend to work out pretty fairly.</p>