<p>What is Harvard's policy on majors and minors? How many majors can you have? How many minors? Also, what can anyone tell me about the undergraduate degree programs? Can anyone take them? How many can you take?</p>
<p>Any help would be wonderful!</p>
<p>Thank you</p>
<p>Hi Olive_Tree, great question!</p>
<p>It's a simple system, but it does have some rules that are good to know, so I'll walk through them.</p>
<p>First of all, almost irrelevantly, they're not called majors or minors, they're called "concentrations" and "secondary fields." (I know, it's a little odd).</p>
<p>A list of the undergraduate concentrations is here:</p>
<p>FAS</a> Handbook for Students: Chapter 3: Fields of Concentration</p>
<p>You must pick at least one concentration, and you do so in the middle of your sophomore year (deadline for last year was something like December 3). You have a lot of great help and advising along the way, both from your house advisers and from the concentration tutors.</p>
<p>You can decide to do a joint concentration between two (no more than two!) concentrations. For example, you could try Physics + Philosophy, if that's what you're into. Joint concentrations aren't too rare but they must be approved by the concentration tutor (if you have a good explanation of why you'd like to do a joint concentration, you'll probably be allowed to do one).</p>
<p>Two things to note: Joint concentrations have a primary and a secondary field (the difference between Physics + Philosophy and Philosophy + Physics), and joint concentrations are normally honors concentrations that culminate in a senior thesis. Therefore, if you pick a joint concentration, make sure you're willing to write a thesis that combines the two disciplines.</p>
<p>One issue is that some departments don't allow you to do a joint concentration. Most prominently, Economics and Psychology (two of the three largest concentrations) just recently announced they would no longer participate in joint concentrations. Each concentration has a different policy on this- look at their page on the website above, and you can see both whether they allow joint concentrations and how popular a joint concentration is (look at the table on the bottom of the page).</p>
<p>If you wish to change your concentration after declaring it, you can (it just requires a couple of signatures). This obviously gets more difficult the later you wait (it would usually happen sometime junior year), since you have to catch up on courses you missed.</p>
<p>That's enough about the main concentrations. As for secondary fields, the most helpful site is here:</p>
<p>Secondary</a> Fields</p>
<p>There you can find frequently asked questions and a list of secondary fields, as well as their requirements. The basic summary:</p>
<p>Secondary fields are not rare, but they are completely optional- they are not required or expected of students. You are not permitted to have more than one secondary field.</p>
<p>Secondary fields each require either 4, 5, or 6 courses. Each secondary field has its own requirements for what courses can be taken to satisfy it- they could be general (allowing you to take any courses in the department) or specific (requiring a couple of key courses, for example). See the list of programs for details on each secondary field.</p>
<p>Secondary</a> Fields: List of Current Programs</p>
<p>Finally, you can "double count" only one course. That is, you can use only one course to count towards both your concentration or core requirements and your secondary field. So I can count CS 50 towards both my Stat concentration and my CS secondary field, but once I have I cannot also count CS 51 towards both.</p>
<p>I hope I've made the process clear. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. Are there specific concentrations you're interested in, or particular concerns you have about the process?</p>
<p>Incidentally, I'm afraid I don't really know anything about the Extension school, if that's what you meant by the undergraduate degree programs.</p>
<p>^^
Sorry to barge in, but does this mean that at Harvard, you're not allowed to double major in certain fields? I was personally thinking of double majoring or possibly majoring in Psychology and minoring in Political science... Does the latter option work?</p>
<p>Hi unefile,</p>
<p>Like I said, most concentrations do allow double majors (joint concentrations), but not Psychology. However, the latter option is possible: you're definitely able to major in Psych and minor in Government (note that there is no Political Science concentration at Harvard).</p>
<p>Just look in the course guide/fields of concentration books. I believe all of the restrictions and guidelines are in those...</p>
<p>Is it possible/feasible to joint concentrate with a secondary field/double major with a minor?</p>
<p>Yes, but it's obviously harder than doing either by itself, since each requires a higher course commitment.</p>
<p>That's not to say it's not feasible. Here's the math: A typical joint concentration will consist of about 15 courses (on average- often more), and a typical secondary field consists of about 5 courses. You are also required to take 7 core courses (out of 11 total, each concentration is exempt from 4).</p>
<p>That adds up to 27 courses. You're allowed to double count one course, so there would be 26 you would have to take. If you take 4 courses a semester (very reasonable, and many students take 5 one or multiple semesters), you'd end up taking 32 courses, meaning you would have 6 courses for electives or wiggle room.</p>
<p>Of course, some joint concentrations require more than 15 courses, and some secondary fields require 6 courses. Most importantly, people change their concentrations, meaning some courses they took no longer count, so it's slightly more constricting than it looks. However, it is quite possible.</p>
<p>I would ask why- a joint concentration should be sufficiently interdisciplinary. Many students go to college expecting to double or (yikes) triple major, since they assume that the more fields they take, the more impressive their resume will be. However, they quickly discover it's good to focus their real energy on a single area, like their thesis, rather than try to take everything.</p>
<p>The Secondary Fields FAQ, by the way, answers your question:</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
Can a student who is pursuing a joint concentration also do a secondary field?</p>
<p>Yes, but this policy is currently under review. Students and their advisers should carefully discuss the benefits and drawbacks of pursuing a joint concentration and a secondary field.
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>Secondary</a> Fields: Student FAQs</p>
<p>I recommend you check out the FAQ, as well as on any other subjects you are interested in.</p>
I am an international student and going to take the SAT in may 2016.
How big is the difference between double majoring in MIT and a dual concentration in Harvard in the fields of physics and biology? Will I be taking all the courses if I sign up for joint concentration in Harvard, which I will be taking while double majoring in MIT? I want to learn as much as I can, so I want to take more courses if possible. I don’t want to take any shortcuts because there is no shortcuts in education.
My intention is to do a double major in physics and biology if I get selected to a top rank college, the other option maybe physics and an engineering degree with a minor (secondary field) in biology. I am committed to it, therefore I am gonna do it no matter how hard it gets. Can you give me some advice.
UC BERKELEY offers triple major, so that would have been the best. But Harvard is the number 1 brand in university education. I wish Harvard was a bit more flexible allowing triple concentrations too.
Btw one of my main questions was, am I going to learn everything if I choose joint concentration at Harvard, which I would while doing a double major in a college like MIT?
This is a seven year old thread. Please use old threads only for research. Start a new one with your question.