<p>Is the typical courseload 4 or 5 classes a term? What do most students take and what is reasonable to take?</p>
<p>Also, is it relatively difficult to attain an A in a class?</p>
<p>Four is the general trend. Various people will take five, though, a fair amount of them will have that fifth graded pass/fail.</p>
<p>Getting a hard A is generally difficult. The only class that I’ve found it generally easy to get an A (both personally and hearing from others) are in the first few years of Romance and Germanic languages. Other than that, the result is, getting the A is generally tough, while the A-/B+/B are considerably common.</p>
<p>Thanks-- and freshman seminars are graded P/F, right?</p>
<p>Also, two languages at the same time: good or bad idea?</p>
<p>Freshman seminars are pass/fail.</p>
<p>Two languages at the same time?? Depends on context. If both are introductory level, only do it if both are entirely relevant to your concentration. Other than that, you should probably be well off. Obviously, though, taking two languages simultaneously presents various issues. If they’re in the same language family you have overlap and will at times mix the two. If they’re in different ones, that’s double memorization to work with. All in all, generally, imo, avoid if possible (especially since intro languages, as easy as many are, are always time consuming), but if both are concentration necessary, you’re feeling confident, or if you’re only taking three courses that semester (all freshmen in their fall must take four, no more, no less) , it should be fine. Also, add/drop deadline for courses is fifth monday, so you have some time to wait it out and see if you’ve made the right course selection.</p>
<p>In my limited experience, I have found that my grade tends to be correlated with how much work I put in - do I do readings before lectures, do I go to professor or TF office hours, etc.</p>
<p>thanks, jenkster, huinsider.</p>
<p>I have many years of HS spanish, so i want to continue that, and take a new language, like maybe arabic.</p>
<p>So freshmen are only allowed to take four classes?! even if one of them is p/f?</p>
<p>I have many years of HS spanish, so i want to continue that, and take a new language, like maybe arabic.</p>
<p>So freshmen are only allowed to take four classes?! even if one of them is p/f? </p>
<p>As a first semester freshman you are only allowed to take four classes because Harvard wants you to get adjusted to college (even if those classes are p/f). However as a second semester freshman and beyond there is no cap on the number of courses you can take, and I know many second semester freshmen choose to take five, and some who attempt six although it’s extremely rare to actually take on six courses one semester.</p>
<p>4 in freshman fall, but 5 is definitely possible in the spring, and you’re right, even if one is p/f.</p>
<p>Harvard doesn’t have the grade deflation policy like Princeton & Penn, right? So, whoever deserves an A will get it? No quotas.</p>
<p>If you are good at languages taking two at once isn’t impossible - I’ve known people who did it, but I doubt it’s a good idea for most people. Keep in mind that beginning language courses move approximately three times faster than your average high school course. You will be able to read light fiction by the end of the course. Language courses require a fair amount of regular time spent at homework. Some of the upper level language courses require huge amounts of reading, but it varies from teacher to teacher. There was a French course I never took because it required reading a big fat 19th c. novel every week. I usually took 5 courses, one pass/fail and often audited a sixth course (just attended lectures, no official permission). The pace though of the upper level courses is very different from the lower level ones. You’ll want to do the reading, but there’s probably only one paper, a midterm and a final. You’ll have a two week shopping period so you’ll get a reasonable idea of how hard a schedule is before you have to finalize it.</p>
<p>“You will be able to read light fiction by the end of the course.”</p>
<p>This is true of Romance and Germanic languages. You probably won’t be there in Slavic, Semitic, or Asian languages after one year.</p>
<p>Misnomer, your plan sounds reasonable to me if you are passionate about languages. If you place into a Spanish course that’s mostly literature and conversation, there won’t be much overlap with intro Arabic that focuses on grammar and vocabulary.</p>
<p>I’m taking 5 courses right now as a second semester freshman. It is doable, but alot of work. Intro Language courses (at least french) are very work intensive. I’m not sure two at once would be advisable. </p>
<p>Harvard doesn’t have a policy about grading, so it is up to the department/professor. Some professors will give A’s to everyone they feel deserves an A. Others will not. This is probably more of an issues in the humanities where grading may be solely based on class discussion and 1-3 papers.</p>
<p>Well, I’ve already read don Quixote and various other novels in my HS spanish class, so I’m pretty good at that-- I just want to work on my conversational spanish since my HS classes focused mostly on reading and writing. I’m not worried about Spanish being difficult, I love it. </p>
<p>For another language, I’m so torn about what to take! does anyone have any experience with which language departments are most friendly or helpful?</p>
<p>jojodevka, in my experience, the tougher the language, the nicer the department staff. I’m not saying the French and Spanish teachers aren’t nice – just that if you make the leap into Japanese or Turkish, you’re going to find the most outrageously patient and cheerful teachers of your life. They will also kick your butt all over Cambridge, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.</p>
<p>@Hanna
I’m not sure your rule applies to the Chinese department… I have a bunch of friends who study Chinese, and I’ve never heard them describe the teachers as nice, patient, or cheerful :-P</p>
<p>That is because the Chinese department is larger I would assume.</p>