<p>So, I was fortunate enough to be offered a spot in the class of 2015, but I have some reservations before making my final decision... hope you can help?</p>
<p>What's the stress level / workload like at Harvard? I've heard that Harvard is easy, that Harvard is beyond difficult, that classes are a joke, that classes are super competitive, that kids are nice and collaborative, and that kids are saboteurs and cutthroat.</p>
<p>Can any current Harvard students offer their points of view on the stress level at Harvard (and do you think the stress level would be higher than at Yale)?</p>
<p>From a Harvard friend: depends on your classes. But the general atmosphere is one that is fiercely individualistic. </p>
<p>Level of stress is not something someone can quantify for you; you’re going to have to go to Visitas and Bulldog Days and figure that out for yourself. Because Yale is known for its tight-knit community feel and boasts a high level of reported student happiness, I’d figure that there is, in general, more “stress” at Harvard. But in the end, it’s up to you whether you want to stress out or not.</p>
<p>It does depend on your classes and how much else you’re trying to achieve. Anyone who gets in can breeze through Harvard if your first priority is to find the easiest classes and get B-minuses. Very few people make that choice. In general, people there ENJOY a challenge.</p>
<p>My stress level at Harvard was fairly high by any objective standard – I took a mix of classes, I was trying to ace them all (and pretty much did), and I made my performing arts and social life a very high priority. But I was also much happier than at any other time in my life, before or since.</p>
<p>OP, I doubt that you have heard from any current Harvard student or recent alum that the classes are super competitive or that there are many saboteurs/throat-cutters. I not only didn’t see that, I’ve never heard anyone with first-hand experience say that.</p>
<p>People come to Harvard from vastly different backgrounds and high school atmospheres, and therefore with very different expectations for how much work their courses are going to require. Also, it strongly depends on whether you’re taking the class at a level appropriate to your skill, or whether you’re going for a whole bunch of work intensive classes.</p>
<p>To give an example, the scores on the last midterm for one of the classes I’m taking range from the 10s to the 90s. If you talked to the person scoring in the 10s Harvard is probably difficult, but if you’re talking to the ones scoring in the 90s the class is probably a good amount of work but quite manageable. To complicate that, some people tend to be stressed out while others do not, etc.</p>
<p>Neither Visitas nor Bulldog Days will help you answer your question - both are great opportunities for meeting your (potential) classmates and learning more about opportunities at the schools, but they are both very far from “normal” weekends at Harvard and Yale.</p>
<p>I think most students at Harvard would say that they are stressed (“Busy!” is the default answer to “How are you?”) but most would also say that the stress is self-imposed, a result of overcommitting to extracurriculars, not something that is a natural result of classwork.</p>
<p>^Exactly. What’s more, I think some Harvard students actually enjoy the stress and impose stress on themselves for no reason. For instance, some people just never relax or do nothing, even when they have no mandatory work. They always find a way to occupy themselves, then complain about being too busy at the same time.</p>
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<p>It was :(! Not looking forward to getting it back.</p>
<p>Harvard College admissions is stressful. Harvard College’s academics are stressful precisely to the extent you are driven to master your course of studies. Which very few of you will be once you are there. In simple terms, for the strong majority of students Harvard College will stress the mind about at much as would Hampshire College.</p>
<p>It also depends on your concentration. Science people, as at any college, tend to be more stressed than the humanities people. I, in particular, am much less stressed than I was in high school. I went to a science magnet school, and science and I, I came to realize, do not get along so well. Now I get to take lots of humanities courses, and while they aren’t easy (one of my courses last semester gave a lot of C+s and B-s; I was the only undergraduate in another), I’m finally doing the stuff I’m good at.</p>