<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I am a freshman at Harvard, and I am wondering if I can help any of you with questions you might have about academics at Harvard or the admissions process. I'd be more than happy to help you with your queries.</p>
<p>I’ll PM you. thank you!</p>
<p>The only criticism I’ve heard about Harvard is that while it’s great for grad students…there are better colleges for undergrads. One alum (a friend) told me, “My professors would have walked over my dead body if I died on campus or in class.” </p>
<p>I guess I would ask:</p>
<p>How do you feel about your profs? Did you feel like they were connected to the students or more concerned by there own research?</p>
<p>Are most classes taught by grad students or actual professors? </p>
<p>Is it a sink or swim mentality?</p>
<p>What is a typical Wednesday like? Friday?</p>
<p>BTW, thanks!</p>
<p>Professors will know your face but not your name in most large lecture classes. But nobody here really cares and this is, I imagine, is like large lecture classes anywhere. For seminars and smaller classes, they will know you pretty well. And some of the most prominent faculty prefer smaller classes. This year, for instance, the former Chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors taught a sixteen person seminar and had his class over his home for dinner once. Not too bad, if you ask me. </p>
<p>Maybe some classes exist that aren’t taught by Professor’s. But they are very very few and far between. Grad students do lead discussion sections, though. Many of them are exceptionally good at doing this, and Harvard does have a pretty effective internal rating system to weed out those who aren’t.</p>
<p>The sink or swim mentality does exist to some extent. But most of the people here do not mind this. In fact, this is one of the reasons I chose Harvard over some schools with reputations for more of the hand-holding sort of stuff. I had my hand held throughout high school, and I felt like it was time me for to strike it on my own at this point. Many here feel the same way. Harvard is a place for the ambitious and self-motivated, for those who take initiative and do not need an institution to feed them their lives for them. If you are the kind of student that needs mommy to wake them up for the morning classes and tell them what parties to go to, then Harvard probably isn’t the place for you. But then again, you probably won’t get into Harvard to begin with so this shouldn’t be an issue for you.</p>
<p>The Harvard social life varies to an enormous degree. People self-assort. Some students have social lives that would make students at a vast majority of American universities jealous. Others have non-existent ones. Most have friends very similar to themselves, for better or worse.</p>
<p>To be very honest, there certainly are better universities out there for undergrads. When I made my final choice, it was between Harvard and Willaims College. I wanted Williams because it certainly had a higher student to faculty ratio and the just give undergraduates a lot of attention - you get to interact with tenured professors a lot and there are these things called Oxford tutorials. At least thats what they say…</p>
<p>At Harvard things are slighty different. Harvard’s a research university with an enormous faculty and an equally comparatively enormous student body. Classes can be HUGE and some not so much. Consider this, EC 10, which is a full year intro economics course, enrolled approx. 800 students last year. It would be simply IMPOSSIBLE for the professors to interact with all of the students on a personal basis. So Harvard provides the following solution. We have sections and lectures. We go to lectures where we get to listen to world renowned leaders speak on various topics in economics. The main goal of this is to give you some idea of how what you are studying in the text book relates to the world out there. Then you have the sections. These are small classroom settings with about 20 students in them and are taught by Teaching Fellows [TFs] who basically are grad students. The teaching fellows explain everything to you, build on the lectures you watched and pretty much talk to you about all the material covered in the course. This might sound disappointing at first, that you have TFs for actual professors, but do you really need a world renowned professor to come and explain to you what supply and demand is, or what a monopoly is, or give you examples of monopolies out there for that matter? The 09/10 Ec 10 course is being taught by Professor N. Gregory Mankiw, who was President Bush’s Chairman of the Economic Adivsory Board. It was great to have him give us an insight into the economics of the world today and before as well. And we got that all right. We even got to listen to Professor Cutler who is President Obama’s Heathcare Advisor. But remember, the purpose of having these Professors is to get your thoughts flowing. After all, you main purpose as a student at Harvard is to generate knowledege and not simply take it in. I’m sure it sounds like a great thing to have an hour-long conversation with Mankiw and talk to him about the world’s troubles and how to solve them, but trust me, such a conversation is rarely sought after by students here. It is so easy to be interested in something that you don’t have, but once you get here, you’ll see why it’s such an illusion. </p>
<p>Consider another course - Sciences of the Physical Universe 20: From Quarks to Consciousness - What is life? It’s an amazing class that is not as serious and hardcore as it sounds. The purpose of the course is to help students gain a better understanding of how life came to be and how it evolved over millions of years. This course enrolled about 300 students last semester. Three professors taught this course. Two of them loved bouncing jokes of each other during lectures, one had a penchant for pouring liquid nitrogen on just about anything, and another of the previous duo loved dispelling the myth that science and magic are mutually exclusive by doing things like launch a trash can high in the air with nothing more than a coke bottle. The course professors were certainly amazing people and once again internationally recognized in their fields. The TFs for my section, however, was actually, much better than all of them. Again, this is because the professors are not there to explain to you what an atom is or the basics of genetics (I told you the course what not hardcore!) They are there to give you a unique perspective on how it all comes together. The course does deal with some pretty advanced stuff but not to the degree you’d imagine. My TF was an amazing person that always brings cookies to class and really explains everything so well, that I could have done away with the professors.</p>
<p>This of course is not to say that all courses are large and taught in sections. There are seminars which have limited enorllment to about 12 students. These seminars mean that you get to interact with the professor on a very close basis. Also, once you start taking more advanced courses or more obscure courses, the class sizes get radically smaller. Also do not forget that you don’t have to be a student enrolled in a certain course to be able to intereact with its professors. You are more than welcome to come down to the offices and departments and talk to professors when you like. I was interested in Anthropology and wanted to discuss somethings with a professor. I went to the department and met this professor who would see me on weekends. I even invited him to the Student/Faculty dinner and he came and we have a wonderful chat.</p>
<p>One thing you will learn at Harvard is that you have to be self-motivated if you really want to enjoy the best of what Harvard has to offer. Never forget that while Harvard is primarily an academic institution, studying is not the only thing you should be here for. In fact, studying is not everyone’s biggest strength. Everyone is here because they can successfully complete academic requirements but that doesn’t mean that they all wanted to do stem cell research (which you can do if you want and are qualified for it). There are great advising networks, if you reach out for them. Harvards biggest and unrivaled quality it the plethora of opportunity here. To describe these opportunities needs another post on its own. Also back to this whole debate about lack of undergraduate focus. When I got the catalogue for freshman seminars, I was torn apart as to what to choose. There courses called Germs, Girl talk, What is college for, What is beauty, Psychology of Religion, Calculating Pi, World Terroism… about 130 of them. But the thing you realize is that it is one thing to contemplate the exctiment of taking anyone of these courses and entirely another to have to write essay after essay and read book after book, and hold talk after talk about that topic. For my economics course, I felt suicidal at the end of the section or lecture that I didn’t want to hear one more word from the TF or lecutrer at all. Of course I could have chosen not to go, but thats not a smart move. I really thanked the lord that I didn’t have to maintain close contact with my teachers! Its funny but if you do come here, you’ll realize that university really isn’t meant to be something like the School of Athens or something. Part of what you will be excited for is the freedom, the opportunity, the fun and obviosuly the prestige. Don’t let that misguide you. </p>
<p>Social life at Harvard is really what you want it to be. You can spend the time being a “friendship whore” or you can just stick to a small groups of really small friends, or you can go with something anywhere in between. The entire campus isn’t preppy and obnoxious, in fact, you will learn here that preppy and snobby aren’t always interchangeable. Parties abound. There are all kinds of social clubs. Some are open to all, some are super exclusive - finals clubs. Depending on your choice of friends you can never have to worry about competition. It also depends on what you want out the epxerience here. If you want to be the valedictorian or the most popular person, you are most likely going to feel a lot of competition over here. If you die, Harvard University Police Department will take care over you, no one is going to walk over you, and your friends and community will mourn your loss.</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to do this! </p>
<p>Judging by your name you are an international student too - I was wondering if the experience is really different for international students? I often hear that some internationals self-segregate by only socialising with other students from their respective countries; but is it possible as an international student to really mingle in with college life and the American students, or are you always a bit of an anomaly? </p>
<p>Secondly, English isn’t my first language, I am not sure if this also was the case for you, but if you are a ESL, did you find this a problem? Is it a great hurdle to overcome? I do know Harvard offers classes for international students and the writing seminar, though, did those classes help? </p>
<p>I am always a bit afraid about the language barrier because I presume that most international students are more science-inclined, but I want to be an economics/politics major, which are of course more essay-based disciplines. </p>
<p>Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Well first things first. We don’t have a politics major at Harvard, it’s called Government. Harvard doesn’t have pre-professional majors/concentrations so I guess “Government” is less career oriented than Political Science 
I am an international student and you are half right about international students in the sense that, they do tend to cluster around each other even if they are not from the same country. One really interesting such “cluster” included students from Israel, Germany, Italy, France, Peru, Syria and Palestine!! (Please refer to the first and last two countries on this list, it says a lot…)
This clustering however is not because international students are considered an anomaly, rather the int’l students may consider themselves an anomaly and so they socialize with other internationals. It is absolutetly possible for an int’l to mingle in the community. In fact, Americans are almost always charmed by their exotic appeal. There is a society called the Woodbridge Society, which is for international students and memebership is available for U.S students too. It organizes a lot of social activities on campus and also organizes a pre-orientation program for incoming freshmen called the Freshmen International Program [FIP] which is available by invitation to international students. This program allows the students to be better aquainted with key cultural differences. For instance, back in my country service charges are always in the bill. The day I arrived the airport, I took a cab to Harvard, but I didn’t tip the driver. He gave me such a dirty look that I learned my lesson for all eternity. It’s funny cuz the FIP actually sends students to pick you up at the airport (the first time you come to Harvard) if you want to. The people who picked me up didn’t really think that my breifing on tiping needed to start so early! You should realize that people from countries like the U.K and Canada are “less int’l” because they tend to have a lot of similarities with Americans.
As for the language barrier, it really depends on you. Proficiency in English both written and oral will certainly be very helpful to you, but you just need to pass a certain threshold of English language ability to successfully complete your assignments. You would be mistaken to think that int’ls are science-inclined, there is a fair portion of them, but by far not the majority. </p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>Thanks so much, IS’12. Your explanation of lectures vs. sections vs. seminars is very helpful in getting a picture of what a normal class at Harvard would be like. </p>
<p>While most would envy having to choose between Williams and Harvard, I certainly can see what a tough decision that would be. Both totally fantastic and totally different schools.</p>
<p>P.S. I can’t believe I used “there” instead of “their.” Sigh.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for taking your time to write these. They are really helpful.</p>
<p>@int’lstudent’12: Thanks for the wealth of information on Harvard!</p>
<p>I am an international applicant to Harvard. I have always had a very strong interest in both Astronomy and Computer Science. If admitted to Harvard, I would love to double major in them. I know that Harvard has an observatory. Is it open for the Undergraduates? Also, how easy or difficult is it to double major at Harvard?</p>
<p>^ I second the double major question.</p>
<p>i know this is very irrelevant but i am gonna say it anyway we call majors “concentrations” over here
so back to your question. when you want to study two independent fields you have two options: 1) a joint concentration 2) a concentration in one field and a secondary concentration in another.
if you go for a joint concentration, the general requirments for each concentration will be halved (normally, i may be mistaken) so if a concentration in CS is say 14 half courses, then you only have to do 7. the same goes for the other field of study. not all departments offer a joint concentration e.g the History department. also, your final thesis/senior project for the degree has to be based on both fields of study. you can’t do two different theses/projects. so basically a joint concentration is very possible but not always easy. if you try to combine say phsyics and music, its not gonna be easy and you will need to be creative. i don’t see CS and astronomy as impossible but you’re gonna have to find a way to mix them.
if you choose to concentrate in one field and then do a secondary field in another, then you need to meet the normal course requirments for your concentration and the course requirments for the secondary field will be less. (half i think) also either you will need to do two senior theses/projects or just one senior theses/project for your main concentration.
We also have special concentrations at Harvard, which are your own concentrations that you make up. The special concentrations require special permission and happen in special cases.</p>
<p>@int’lstudent’12: Thanks for answering the ‘concentration’ question!</p>
<p>Could you also give me a brief idea about the Astronomy and Computer Science related facilities (the observatory, for example)? How many people do usually end up in these fields? Also, how easy or difficult is it to be associated to NASA while being on campus?</p>
<p>Thanks for lending a helping hand!</p>
<p>hmmm well I do know for a fact that if you are interested in astromony you can get access to at least some of the facilities over here. i, for instance, have swipe access to one of the observatories here, but thats just cuz i signed up for this event where they teach you how to use telescopes and stuff like that. so i am sure that as a astronomy concentrator, you will be able to use some of the facilities over here. there are a lot of highend facilities here such as the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
As for computer science, a facility for that is essentially a computer lab! which we have here in plenty. There is a fair number of Astrophysics concentrators, I actually know two of them. CS is a pretty popular concentration over here. if you take the intro CS course called CS 50, they organize a CS 50 fair at the end of the semester where you get to develop your own application/website/ anything computer related. its a lot of fun.
I have no idea how easy it is to be associated with NASA over here. I am not sure what you mean by that actually. You really have to contact the departments over here and ask them if there are any internships or some researchc programs sponsored by NASA or something along those lines. If you do come here however, you will be able to cross-register with MIT which should be able to give you much more extensive access to NASA affiliated programs.</p>
<p>@int’lstudent’12: Thanks again for the wonderful post! The CS 50 fair is definitely an amazing thing to look forward to as a CS concentrator! What I meant by the connection to NASA was any interesting projects, summer internships, bilateral research opportunities et cetera available. </p>
<p>I also have another question for you. What is the one thing that you have really started to admire about Harvard now that you are there? Are you still in love with it or do you think that it has died down somewhat amongst the course-load?</p>
<p>Hey there! Thanks for doing this and helping us noobies out! I wanted to ask if you got an interview as an international student? Is it bad if we don’t get one?</p>
<p>There are a lot of things that will make you love Harvard, but never confuse the things that you will love about college in general with the things that are specific to Harvard. So I guess the freedom, the fun, and being away from parents is definitely a plus. But also, Harvards location is very nice. Harvard Square and and the surrounding area and Boston are amazing and theres lots to do. Not many people realize how much getting out of campus and going to Boston can be fun. I guess the best thing about Harvard would be the limitless opportunity there in terms of the guest speakers, programs, courses, professors everything! There is room for you to expand in any direction and there are forces that take you places you’ve never been before. Even the your time with you classmates is an opportunity. You get to meet with forward thinking, tolerant (if not mostly liberal) people, who have so much to tell you and so much to add to your life. I have seen Arab Muslims and Israeli students sit side by side as best friends. Its wonderful. </p>
<p>My answer is still the same about NASA programs on campus. As I have said, MIT would probably offer you something more extensive of the sort. You could always cross register over there. Finally, remeber as a Harvard student, self-motivation should be a important quality. Never forget that you can reach out to departments and see what you can do or even reach out to NASA’s affiliates and programs and see whats available ;)</p>
<p>Interviews are definitely a plus and an advantage. I am not not gonna lie to you. While the Office of Admissions definitely won’t hold it against you if you can get one, just remember that not having the opportunity to present the office with potentially useful information may be a disadvantage itself. I did receive an interview and it was the most fun part of the whole application process. It lasted 3 hours!</p>
<p>@int’lstudent’12: Your love and admiration for Harvard speaks through wonderfully through your post. Many of reasons of being at a place like Harvard are similar to your experiences at the very place. The limitless opportunities, the amazingly diverse student body, the erudite faculty - the experience of being at Harvard is truly one of a kind!</p>
<p>You are right about the NASA thing. Harvard either has what you ask for or the resources to make it happen. Self motivation and unwavering determination are innate characteristics of a Harvard-ian!</p>
<p>3 hours! What did you talk about? The longest I can get is 1 hour, and after that I run out of questions.</p>
<p>Did you run out of questions or “answers”?
We talked about just about everything from how much we both hated the traffic we encountered on our way to the meeting place, to how much we both loved eclairs. haha, well yeah its important to take a relaxed view towards your interview, not everything is meant to be cold hard math or strictly business. the whole idea is for the interviewer to get to know you and part of that comes from being yourself, just talking about your life, the things you love, the things that irk you, your childhood memories. just let the interviewer get to know you as a friend.</p>