Do Harvard students have the option to not declare their major until the end of their sophomore year? I know a lot of schools do this, and I wasn’t sure whether Harvard was one of them.
I do not think so. All students must declare their concentration by that time. However, you have to understand that the first two years, there will be a academic guidance to help guide what field you should be in so that’s not too worry too much. Of course you can switch concentration after you declared it but generally it will be really hard
@hola1997 Oh okay. What do you mean by “concentration?” I have a sibling at Yale who doesn’t have to declare his major until the end of his sophomore year (although most kids going into a science or engineering major have to know earlier than that in order to fulfill STEM major reqs)
@swim1128 : Looks like I misunderstood your question. All students at Harvard must declare their concentration by the end of their sophomore year. And at Harvard, “concentration” is just a fancy term for major. Apologize for the vague explanation 
@hola1997 ah okay, thanks 
@swim1128 : No problem 
At Harvard, sophomores must declare their major, called a concentration, by the END OF THEIR FIRST SEMESTER of sophomore year. In addition, student’s must also list their **plan of study ** – meaning they must name all the courses they will be taking over the next 2.5 years in order to graduate with a degree in their concentration. See: http://handbook.fas.harvard.edu/book/concentration-requirement#one
Sophomores can change their decision up until the deadline at the end of their 2nd semester of their sophomore year. This is all done electronically with consultation with a student’s advisor:
http://about.my.harvard.edu/declare_concentration_college_students
http://about.my.harvard.edu/faq/support-information/degree-tools
After the deadline towards the end of a student’s sophomore year, a change in concentration can only be made with permission from Harvard’s Administrative Board.
@gibby thanks so much!
@hola, indeed you can switch concentration afterwards.
I would not count on advising alone for help in deciding, however. At least as of the recent past, academic advising has been uneven. This works out fine for typical students because they already have a general idea of their interests, and the fine-tuning can be done later by switching majors; too much academic advising can actually be intrusive. But if you are starting from square one, you’re going to have to use that first year really well to make some choices for yourself.
@4thfloor : I thought that with the overall “liberal arts curriculum” and “concentration requirements”, it is possible to have an idea of what one wants to do no? Lots of exposures, academic advising, and a freedom to choose classes, it is certain if not so that one will be able to find one’s passion in life?
P.S: Would you mind if I ask why would you say academic advising has been uneven? Is it because there are too many students?
It’s not a matter of too many students, it’s more a matter of the advisors being hit or miss. Harvard dioesnt do a great job of recruiting knowledgable advisors., imo.
@Falcon1 : I see. But IMO, isn’t the environment there foster students to take the initiative and forge their own path?
FWIW: An advisor’s job is NOT to help a student choose their major — that’s true at Harvard and other colleges. An advisor’s job is to help the student understand what courses he or she needs to take in order to graduate with the major THEY have chosen.
Keep in mind that many colleges will not allow a student to major in something they haven’t taken the introduction course for — so a student can’t just say “I want to major in Computer Science” without having taken an intro Computer Science course like CS50. Freshman at Harvard (and everywhere else) really need to hit the ground running as they only have 3 semesters to select basic intro courses in areas they might want to ultimately major in. For students who already know what they want, this shouldn’t present a problem. But, for students who are undecided about a major, this requires strategic planning which only THEY can do based upon their interests.
@gibby : Do you think that the “shopping period” and open curriculum allows students who are unsure what they want to major in find their passion?
@hola1997: My kids, who were both undecided about their major, liked shopping period because it allowed them to choose courses based upon how much they enjoyed the professor and the curriculum being taught. However, it’s really not possible, or practical, to shop that many courses, as ultimately students are responsible for all the work in each class starting on day 1 of the course, even though shopping period lasts for 2 weeks. Shopping period did not help my kids find their major (or passion) – that was something they found by slowly eliminating majors they knew they absolutely didn’t want and choosing a major from what was left.
@gibby : I see. Thank you for the insight.
@swim1128 : You’re welcome!
What do you mean by open curriculum? Harvard does not have an open curriculum like Brown or Amherst, for instance. There are required gen ed courses to cover as well as courses for the concentration.
Harvard does not have an open curriculum. For me, I entered with a pretty good idea of my concentration, so the shopping period was really a time to scope out classes to fulfill gen ed requirements. Others have a different experience.