Undergrad focus at Harvard

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
41

<p>D is interest in Neurobio, MCB, psychology or a blend therefore. Not interested in Pre-Med. She would love to test out of language. That is not her strength. Therefore adding one will probably not be a “break”. Am I correct that the language requirement has to be met be the end of freshman year? Can the writing classes ever be “fun”? The freshmen seminars sound like they could be a positive diversion. Are those listed yet, or is that information still to be published? Is the course catalog available online yet?</p>

<p>Also, in the '08-'09 life sciences advising booklet, they list the advisors for each of the majors. Are these the advisors that my daughter would have or does she have her own advisor and these advisors are specific to the major and called upon on an as needed basis?</p>

<p>I was thinking that maybe my D should consider making an appointment over the summer and going down and discussing her thoughts before the school year begins.</p>

42

<p>

Language requirement does need to be met by the end of freshman year. Testing out requires either an AP 5, a 700+ on an SAT II, or the equivalent on Harvard’s placement test. Some languages can be rather fun (friends who have taken Swahili have loved it, for example), and I enjoyed my semester of intro Spanish, despite being terrible at it.</p>

<p>Expos is generally loathed, but sometimes loved! It’s a rite of passage to some degree (“Even published authors have to take Expos”).</p>

<p>Freshman seminars will be posted “in June” at [Freshmen</a> Seminar Program](<a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~seminars/courses.html]Freshmen”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~seminars/courses.html)</p>

<p>2009-10 courses are not available, will be posted at [Harvard</a> University FAS Registrar’s Office: 2008-2009 FAS Courses of Instruction](<a href=“http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/fasro/courses/index.jsp?cat=ugrad&subcat=courses]Harvard”>http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/fasro/courses/index.jsp?cat=ugrad&subcat=courses) at some point.</p>

<p>

Your daughter won’t officially have a concentration advisor until she declares a concentration (middle of sophomore year). The people listed in the Life Sci advising booklet are definitely the right people to talk to if she has questions about those concentrations. She just won’t have a formal relationship with them (i.e. they won’t approve her class schedule).</p>

<p>

This is probably not necessary. There will be lots of time to make meetings & talk to professors, advisors, etc during freshman week + shopping period, if your D desires to do so. Make sure she is the one owning/driving these decisions as well!</p>

43

<p>She is the one picking what she will major in (I would have made her be an engineer :)). She is the one specifying that those majors listed above are her current interests w/ research or law or business school to follow. Oi. </p>

<p>My listing those fall/spring courses are straight from that advising book she was handed and subsequent comments she has made. On the language, I thought that I have seen/heard something that said language had to be done freshman year. That’s too bad that could not be shifted. I also suggested trying something fun and different. Her current position is that she has invested too much time in Spanish and plans to just continue. But she has months to go. She could very well change her position.</p>

<p>Thanks for the links. I’ll pass them on if D is not already aware of them.</p>

<p>

I am somewhat more attentive than I would have liked due to when older brother went to college his freshman year knowing the classes he planned to take he was bullied into courses that the assistant dean felt were better for him. Not all of this was bad but she did this without understanding his academic goals, got him completely out of sync with the prerequisites for infrequently offered classes, and it took until his junior year to repair the damage. I still think that there are classes that he missed out on because of this. For my D, I figure that a second set of eyes looking at the big picture and asking questions never hurts. I know that my daughter will have the final say whether I like it or not. :)</p>

<p>PS The above story about my son is a very abbreviated version.</p>

44

<p>My daughter actually really liked her Expos class. The preceptor was great and the skills she learned will benefit her throughout life. She was happy to get her first choice which worked out really well for her.</p>

45

<p>Your daughter’s experiences seem to mirror my daughter’s including both going into senior year and being premed. They may know each other!</p>

46

<p>Do you happen to remember the name/topic of the Expos section she liked? I’ve been looking at the Expos website, and there are a lot of options to choose from!</p>

47

<p>What are the pros and cons of doing advanced standing? Anyone know how many undergrads do this?</p>

48

<p>TheRemedy - The preceptor that she had is unfortunately no longer at Harvard, having moved on to a professor position at another university.</p>

49

<p>Very few undergrads do advanced standing, though many could. I believe many, if not most, are in statistics and applied math. There really isn’t a good reason to do advanced standing unless you’re gunning for a finance job that requires a master to apply.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t put too much weight on past experiences in expos, because the instructors have a very high turnover rate. Many, like mine this year, leave after one year to take an actual job as a Professor. But the rest can only teach for a few years anyway, just by policy. So no one is there more then a few years.</p>

50

<p>Oh OK, I see. Thanks, twinmom and White_Rabbit for the info.</p>

51

<p>

</p>

<p>I saw acceptance to Harvard as the experience of a lifetime, and in our case, the financial aid makes it extremely affordable. Neither I nor my Ds would want to cut that experience short by a semester.</p>

52

<p>that’s not the only option advanced standing leaves you with…</p>

53

<p>Though I am not encouraging my daughter to pursue advance standing and did not with my son, Shalashaska is right. Getting advance standing and still staying the full 4 years should allow the student to delve more deeply into their concentration or broaden their horizons with classes he/she could not normally fit in.</p>

54

<p>Maybe this is what you’re referring to smoda, but if you “activate” advanced standing, the only way you can stay at Harvard for four years is if you get a master’s degree your fourth year.</p>

55

<p>I guess I have to apologize. It sounds like “advance standing” is more formal than I realized. I thought it was like what I have witnesses during my sons years which were students who came in with multiple AP scores and were able to opt out of many of the early classes or elective requirements. In the process, if they stay for the full years they would still have the full 32 (or 28 in my sons case) classes before graduation which allowed them to take broader electives or grad level courses. I was not actually talking about the Masters but that would also be a logical option while still remaining on campus.</p>

56

<p>Just about every student that comes to Harvard is eligible to activate advanced standing. There are so many great courses to take (and great things to do) that very few students consider doing this.</p>

57

<p>How flexible are the “required courses” for concentrations? Can you take way more advanced level courses (even graduate level) and substitute them for the more basic course requirements? Does it vary by department?</p>

<p>What about special concentrations? I keep reading they’re a pain but what are the pros/cons?</p>

58

<p>smoda</p>

<p>Harvard does not offer credit for individual AP courses</p>

<p>They do offer a full year’s credit via advanced standing:</p>

<p>" Freshmen who have taken College Board Advanced Placement exams need
a total of four full credits to be eligible for Advanced Standing. Credits are
earned by scoring 5 on a minimum of four AP tests. Certain AP
examinations test material covered in one semester only, and for each of
these, Harvard confers only one half credit toward Advanced Standing. For
example, Calculus AB is equivalent to Math 1a, a semester course at
Harvard, whereas Calculus BC includes material addressed in a full year of
college mathematics. Thus, the Calculus AB test is valued at one half credit
and the Calculus BC test, a full credit. See the summary chart below for the
credit for specific tests, paying particularly close attention to the restrictions
described in the footnotes. Two half-credit exams count as one full credit
toward the four required for Advanced Standing eligibility. </p>

<p>Harvard offers no credit toward Advanced Standing for the following
Advanced Placement examinations: Art (Studio & Portfolio), Comparative
Government and Politics, Computer Science A, Environmental Science,
Human Geography, International English, U.S. Government and Politics; or
any other not listed for credit on the following page. </p>

<p>A score of 5 on the following College Board Advanced Placement
examinations may earn one full credit toward eligibility: </p>

<p>Art (History) French (literature)3
Biology German (language)
Calculus BC1 History (European)<br>
Chemistry History (United States)
Economics (micro and macro) Italian (language and culture)
English (literature and composition)2 Physics B4<br>
French (language)3 Spanish (language)3
Spanish (literature)3 </p>

<p>A score of 5 on the following College Board Advanced Placement
examinations may earn one half credit toward eligibility: </p>

<p>Calculus AB (or Calc AB subscore)1 Music (theory)5
Computer Science AB Music (listening<br>
Economics (micro) and literature)5<br>
Economics (macro) Physics C (E&M)4
English (language and composition)2 Physics C (Mechanics)4
Latin Literature Psychology<br>
Latin: Vergil Statistics </p>

<p>The following College Board Advanced Placement examinations may NOT
be used for eligibility:
Art (Studio and Portfolio), Comparative Government and Politics, Computer
Science A, Environmental Science, Human Geography, International English,
and United States Government and Politics. </p>

<p>1 - Students may earn a maximum of one credit in calculus. Please note that the Calculus AB subscore (of the Calculus BC exam) is considered the same exam as the separate Calculus AB exam, and one may not receive credit for both the AB exam and the AB subscore.
2 - Students may earn a maximum of one credit in English.
3 - One full credit will be granted for either the language or literature exam but not for both.<br>
4 - Students may earn a maximum of one credit in physics.
5 - Students may earn a maximum of one credit in music, whether by AP exams or by the Harvard Placement exam in Music (harmony). "</p>

59

<p>

</p>

<p>All concentrations require things like “Four additional courses in Field X” - and I’m sure graduate/advanced courses would count here. They may also count for the more basic requirements, but you’d need to have a conversation with your advisor about that. It depends on the concentration, but I found things to be <em>very flexible</em> with my concentration (Human Evolutionary Biology). </p>

<p>I don’t know much at all about special concentrations :-/</p>

60

<p>anb, over the years I have heard Harvard students voice various complaints about Harvard, but one of the complaints I have never heard is that the courses they had to take in their field of concentration were a waste of time. Some departments have multiple tracks to handle differences in the preparation of entering students. The most obvious of these is Math, where there are 4 or 5 distinct introductory courses. You would not be able to avoid taking one of them, and you wouldn’t want to. I’m sure most departments will let you out of a basic introductory course if you have already taken it elsewhere, but I’m equally sure that a lot of them are not just rehashes of your AP class. The required intermediate courses . . . it’s pretty unlikely you would be beyond that level. Really, I wouldn’t worry too much about Harvard not offering you enough challenges in your concentration.</p>

<p>What are you talking about?</p>