<p>I've got a couple of questions about how transfers fit into the equation at Harvard.<br>
First, since transfers are placed directly into upperclass houses without being able to choose a group of friends to block with, is the social life more difficult for transfers? How is the first year, living with people who have all chosen into a group? How is it being stuck in one house for three years that you didn't get to choose into in the first place?</p>
<p>Second, how difficult is it to arrange special majors/fulfill requirements/take grad classes/go abroad (as a sophmore transfer)? I hear that for going abroad, sophmores need to choose and arrange their major by the end of fall semester...which would seem difficult for a transfer student. Any light on this?</p>
<p>I know the chances that I'll get in are slim to none, but if I do I want to make sure my decision is as informed as possible-I know harvard isnt the only school in the world!</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>If anyone can answer this, I would be grateful.</p>
<p>I would say that transfers fit in quite nicely here. There are two transfers in my club who both said that they haven't really had much trouble fitting in, the key is to get involved in some kind of EC right away when you get here. In terms of housing, yea you have to float for a year but if you don't find friends within the house that you want to live with for the next two years you can always apply to transfer to a house that you do have friends in (and these requests are almost NEVER refused).
In terms of majors, over 80% of Harvard students switch their major at least once before declaring, so you can declare one thing and then switch later on. The trick is to identify which field you want to study (something sciency, something philosophy or gov related, etc) and then there's a lot of flexibility to switch around in between the related majors since most of them have the same intro classes. Special majors are much more difficult to arrange, but it is possible, and in terms of grad classes the only limiting factor there is the difference in schedule (I don't think being a transfer student would impact you at all in this regard). Lastly, going abroad would be more difficult since usually concentrations won't take abroad credit and the only core you can fill is Foreign Cultures (leaving you with 6 others to take) but if you get credits to transfer from your original school as concentration or Core credit then that would make it easier. There's also always the option of going abroad over the summer, which TONS of students do and Harvard is more than happy to fund (I personally just received $9,600 in grant money to go to Africe for the summer and do healthcare work).
Hope that helps, repost if you want clarifications or have further questions.</p>