<p>The Harvard viewbook mentions tutorials but does not explain them very much. Are Harvard's tutorials similar to Williams', in which a couple of students meet weekly with a professor? Are tutorials an important or popular part of the curriculum at Harvard? Thanks.</p>
<p>Great question!</p>
<p>The definition of a tutorial at Harvard varies pretty greatly from concentration to concentration. In some concentrations (i.e. Applied Math, I believe) there are no tutorials. In others (i.e. Econ), tutorials are optional (although maybe required for an honors degree). But in most concentrations, especially in the humanities, tutorials are required.</p>
<p>In the past, quite a few tutorials were year-long (social studies + psych, among others), but concentrations are moving toward semester-long tutorials because students don't declare concentrations until mid-sophomore year now.</p>
<p>My tutorial (Human Evolutionary Biology) was six undergrads meeting weekly with a Ph.D. (not a professor, a post-doc). We'd read 3-4 scientific papers and discuss, and wrote three papers over the semester. Definitely a great experience - I got a great overview of the important issues in my field.</p>
<p>Some of the other tutorials (Social Studies, most notably) are exceptionally intense, with ~500 pages of reading a week and difficult paper topics.</p>
<p>In addition to tutorials, most (if not all) concentrations allow you to do "Supervised Reading and Research" with a professor for credit. The setup is usually pretty similar, but probably ends with a large term paper, or formal research proposal.</p>