<p>The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: Low Ranks for Large Fields</p>
<p>The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: By the Numbers</p>
<p>Can anyone comment on the student dissatisfaction with large areas of concentration? </p>
<p>I'm personally vacillating between government and molecular biology (strange, I know), and both are large fields - can anyone lend any insight as to the ups/downs to these fields in particular?</p>
<p>As I'm sure you know, you don't declare your concentration until mid-sophomore year, so there's really no need to be vacillating before you even arrive on campus!</p>
<p>In general, being in a larger concentration means less personal advising, larger classes (especially at the beginning), and a generally looser-knit feel (i.e. all of the Folk + Myth concentrators + faculty know each other, go out to dinners, etc. Not so much in the Ec department).</p>
<p>Since the survey you posted happened, Harvard has divided up the life science concentrations. You now have ~7-8 choices within the broad Life Sciences umbrella, which should lead to smaller, closer-knit concentrations. That said, I don't have the numbers to prove this... and I think MCB is still pretty big, but something like Chem + Physical Biology (or Human Evolutionary Bio, my concentration) will definitely be small + close-knit.</p>
<p>Within the social sciences, there are similar options - you could think about Social Studies instead of Gov. And this isn't to say that the only way to be happy is to be in a small concentration, it's very common to have a wonderful, personal experience in Gov, MCB, and Econ, you just have to be a bit proactive (i.e. invite the professor to dinner, instead of waiting for an invitation).</p>
<p>So that was my big vs. small concentration spiel. As for what to do if you're interested in both Gov + MCB... I'd recommend taking some classes in each area early on, especially smaller, upper level classes (if you can find some that don't have stringent prereqs). It's even better if these classes also count for the Core -- that way they "count" even if you end up doing another concentration.</p>
<p>One class to keep an eye out for is Government 1093. Ethics, Biotechnology, and the Future of Human Nature (cross listed as Biological Sciences 60). It's co-taught by Melton (big name in stem cells) + Sandel (big name in political + moral theory), and would count for either Gov or MCB.</p>