<p>Thoughts on the literature major at Harvard? If you could compare to Yale and Columbia, that would be great.</p>
<p>Is there a Harvard equivalent to the Directed Studies program at Yale?</p>
<p>Finally: how much math/science do I have to take if I go to Harvard? I'm rubbish at those subjects and don't want distribution requirements to take away from the fun of studying other good stuff. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>There is no Harvard equivalent to DS.</p>
<p>Humanities majors are required to take one quantitative reasoning class (includes math and computer science), one science a (quantitative science, mostly physics and chemistry), and one science b (non-quantitative science, mostly biology), although what with the curricular review, this will likely change during your tenure at H, should you attend. It's definitely possible to get away with taking very easy classes to satisfy these requirements, but if you're willing to do a little more work and take a more advanced course instead they can be extremely rewarding.</p>
<p>As to the literature department...I'm sure it's great if you go in for that sort of thing. I'm an English major who wouldn't touch a literature class with a ten-foot pole.</p>
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<p>this will likely change during your tenure at H, should you attend.</p>
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<p>If the rules change, they will not affect students who are already enrolled. They don't alter program rules midstream.</p>
<p>There are science/math core classes designed for poets. Don't worry. If you want to give these minimal attention, you can (I recommend Matter in the Universe for Science A and Sex for Science B -- easy, but still very entertaining & interesting).</p>
<p>One of my good friends (the director of a play I was in) was a literature major and loved it. She liked Spanish and French as much as she liked English, so it was a big plus for her to be able to combine her interests. Virtually all of her classes were tiny seminars. The history & literature program is also amazing if you're interested in interdisciplinary humanities work. I had a friend in this program who'd transferred from Deep Springs and he felt there was good continuity with what he'd experienced there academically.</p>
<p>Excellent! Thanks very much.</p>