<p>Now I do not want a whole Harvard vs. Yale "Yale has more booze" type of discussion to go on. From what I've read, it seems as though many people on this forum and in general perceive Harvard undergrad to be an unpleasant experience (lack of interest from professors, less fun than other institutes, too many TAs teaching classes, etc). I really would like to hear from some people who are currently attending Harvard or who have recently graduated that can give some input on this matter. I am a junior right now and on the fence about applying to Harvard next year, and would like to know a little more about the undergraduate quality of life there. Are the classes so abysmal and professors so disinterested as people make it seem to be, and is Harvard really such a miserable place for undergraduate students, or is this all just rumor?</p>
<p>yes I do too....From my interviews however, i sense that yalies are a bit more laid back and down to earth than harvard alumni.</p>
<p>Hmmm I think it is not fair to generalize all Harvard classes as taught by "disintersted professors and TFs." There are many different types of classes, and I must say, most of my classes have been the most rewarding of my educational career.</p>
<p>For example, I can talk about the courses I'm taking right now. </p>
<p>I'm taking anatomy/physiology, physics, lit, music, and neurobiology tutorial. a/p and physics are big classes, about 100-150 students in each class. The professors lecture twice a week (1.5 hrs each), and you also have 3-hour lab with 2 TFs and 1-hour section with 1 TF. The professors are really amazing, and very enthusiastic about what they are teaching. Because Harvard is big on research, most professors are usually conducting top-of-the-line research on the subjects they teach - so they don't limit themselves to just textbook and boring monologue, they bring in results from their latest research, ton of demos, read excerpts from recently published papers, and bring in guest lecturers from their field. It is really quiet exciting to be sitting in a Harvard lecture. </p>
<p>Labs are quiet integrated into the course material, but of course you do get a varied result with TFs, unlike the professors. I've definitely had some wonderful TFs and some pretty bad ones who I couldn't even understand with their thick accents or with some weird teaching styles. But it's not a perfect system - they can't possibly have a professor lecture, teach a section, and oversee lab. And I doubt other colleges have that either.</p>
<p>My lit class (my gen ed course, so I wasn't too enthusiastic about taking it) is on exploring the historical and literal analysis of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament of the Christian Bible). Professor Cohen is one of the leading experts in the field, and the class has really broadened my scope on biblical knowledge as well as documentary analysis. Even though I wasn't partcularly interested in the topic, after a semester of learning about it, I'm hooked.</p>
<p>My music class is my "fun" class - it includes performance and analysis of one chamber piece per semester. Harvard isn't just about science and economics, there is a whole other side of humanities and social sciences. You can also broaden your scope by taking lessons at one of major music conservatories in the Boston area, like New England Conservatory.</p>
<p>My neurobio core is with a neurobio prof from the Harvard Med school and 12 students. It's wholly discussion-based: we search and read articles on mechanisms of neurological disease and talk of ways to improve detection and treatment of prominent diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimers. It's awe-inspiring to be on first-name terms with Harvard Medical School professors and discuss how you might improve the current medical practice.</p>
<p>And yes, there is probably more booze at Yale. But it's not like we don't have a party scene at Harvard - there are plenty of students drunk on the weekends walking around Harvard square as proof. But college is about learning, not partying - and there are plenty of extracurricular life to keep me happy. I'm part of 5 different organizations, and there is a broad range - I'm part of a music club, pre-med club, public service club, and in an athletic club as well.</p>
<p>Of course I can't talk much about humanity majors because I am science/pre-med oriented. Perhaps there are disinterested professors there. But from my personal experience I'm thankful I chose Harvard.</p>
<p>At any college there will be interesting classes and not-very-interesting ones. Harvard has the Q guide to help you choose. There are definitely plenty of classes here that students love, even large lecture classes.</p>
<p>As for professors: even the professors from large classes are very approachable and several have made an effort to learn students' names and get to know them. I'm pleasantly surprised when I go into a lecture and see that the professor is able to call on almost every student who raises their hand by name.</p>
<p>To the OP - I saw you posted basically the same question in the "Why I chose Yale over Harvard" thread, so I posted this there first, but am copying it here for anyone who's interested but hasn't been following the other discussion. </p>
<hr>
<p>There is as much student-professor interaction as the students choose to participate in. Professors are not cold or aloof, I personally can't remember ever having a single professor that didn't hold regular office hours and encourage - in some cases practically BEG - students to come to them. In those office hours, students are more than welcome to come in and chat about the course material, get help with ideas for papers, and, with some professors, just talk about academia and their interests in general. Beyond these office hours, I know the English department had frequent (something like monthly or weekly) Readings in the Parlor, when students came into the department offices for tea, cookies, etc. and to hear professors and other authors read literature and discuss it with them. I can imagine other concentrations had their own regular events like this as well.</p>
<p>In addition, each semester, every single house has a student-faculty dinner, a night when students can (individually or in groups) invite a professor to come eat with them in the dining hall. It's a sit-down, plated dinner (not like the d-hall's usual buffet style), but costs the students and professors nothing. From all I've ever heard and seen in passing (I never went to one myself) the dinners are always packed, and professors are thrilled to accept students' invitations.</p>
<p>Apart from these regular events, there are countless one-time panel discussions with faculty members held by student groups and other university departments. Also, in several of the student groups I both participated in and heard about, students would invite faculty members to their meetings and they were generally happy to attend.</p>
<p>In response to the concern about classes being "taught by TAs" - there is no such thing as a course taught by a TA! In very large courses, professors will lecture - and the lecture is where you generally <em>learn</em> the material - and students meet in smaller groups ("sections") led by TFs (teaching fellows, the name for TAs at Harvard) at another point in the week. In sections, you're mostly reviewing or discussing material that was taught in lecture. Also, in many cases, professors take questions from students during the lectures, so there's actual interaction and discussion happening, not always just passive absorption.</p>
<p>In classes that aren't large lectures, there is of course much more personal with professors. No one ever seems to pay attention when this is said, but THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF COURSES ARE SMALL!!! A direct quote from the admissions website: "Of the 1,430 courses offered last fall, 1,109 of them enrolled 20 or fewer students."</p>
<p>So, as I've said before, if someone comes out of Harvard feeling as if they never interacted with their professors, then it's because they didn't take advantage of the abundance of opportunities to do so. It's not because the professors were unavailable.</p>
<p>"many people on this forum and in general perceive Harvard undergrad to be an unpleasant experience"</p>
<p>Many Harvard undergrads, current and recent? Or parents of such? I have not seen that. In fact, I haven't seen even one. And there's really no one else who's in a position to say, so I don't know why those "many people's" perceptions would trouble you at all.</p>
<p>Two daughters at Harvard - both love the place - report that faculty relations are personal and cordial, stuffiness and arrogance are rare, classmates are amazing and fun. They sense no negative impact of the graduate schools, and appreciate the Institute of Politics, an arm of the graduate JFK School of Politics, which brings world-renowned leaders in to speak to undergrads. According to them, most negative stereotyped assumptions about H are either outdated or just false, and being 11 minutes by subway from Boston is fantastic. They'd also give you their list of campus critiques, but IMO no more so than would any other student at any other school.</p>
<p>What i did not like was that my interviewer told me about one professor who was absolutely brilliant and had won prizes- but knew only 15 words of English. Apparently, he would scan your homework and say "problem here."</p>
<p>Thanks for the input everyone (and keep it coming). It is nice to see people who actually go to Harvard/recently went to Harvard post about their experiences, rather than have a bunch of people (who probably did not attend Harvard) bash it to death. Is there anyone here who knows how the physics program is at Harvard? I am very interested in Physics (and have been since 2nd grade) and am planning on majoring in it (yes I know you don't <em>know</em> that yet, but I have an extremely strong inclination towards majoring in it). Also, are there a lot of opportunities for undergraduate research (as in more than just cleaning beakers)?</p>
<p>kROCK91: that can't be true. If you are a Harvard professor you need to publish in academic journals, and you can't know that unless you are quite fluent in English.</p>
<p>utter nonsense. michael phelps "co-authored" a book and he knows less than 100 english words.
He does know lil' waynes lyrics by heart tho!</p>
<p>I was seriously hoping my interviewer was joking, but it didn't seem like it...</p>
<p>I'm not too sure of the physics department - i'm taking my first physics class this semester, and the professors and TFs are quite knowledgeable and the class is fun. I can't tell you any specifics about the department itself though.</p>
<p>Undergraduate research - the opportunities are limitless. Most Harvard labs already have lab assistants that take care of cleaning beakers and other stuff like that. There are many resources to find the group that is right for you - websites, undergraduate research advisors for general undergrads as well as in each houses (upperclassmen dorms), and research symposiums just to name a few. Harvard basically begs you to go into research. There are so many grants to apply to, and they pay a typical student wage - $9/hr. Programs like PRISE (Program for Research in Science and Engineering) gives you free housing and food over summer for students willing to conduct research in boston.</p>
<p>I'm so happy I found this. There's been so many times where I end up reading Yale > Harvard threads and it makes me disappointed that nobody has any legitimate proof to back up Harvard in those threads.</p>
<p>Undergrad is a LOT better at Yale. Sorry to say it. </p>
<p>No need for explanation, I'm sure someone else has or will provide it.</p>
<p>"No need for explanation, I'm sure someone else has or will provide it"</p>
<p>wow</p>
<p>which school has a better undergrad program is an opinion, not some proven and accepted fact.</p>
<p>^^Not only is it always an opinion, but it is always a one-sided opinion. I have never met anybody who went undergrad to both schools and could make a direct comparison. It's always someone who is comparing what they know about one school to what they guess or have heard about the other school. Or more typically, here on CC, there is no direct experience involved at all - it's just comparing "what they have heard" or "what everybody knows" about both.</p>
<p>Post #5 discussed small class size with the majority of classes having less than 20 students. According to the data supplied to & published in USNews' America's Best Colleges, the top universities for small class size are:</p>
<p>Less than 20 students per class / % more than 50 students per class</p>
<p>*) Tufts 75% & 4%
1) Columbia 76% & 8%
2) Northwestern 75% & 7%
3) Yale 75% & 8%
4) Penn 74% & 7%</p>
<p>5) Harvard 75% & 9%</p>
<p>6) Chicago 72% & 4%
7) Stanford 74% & 11%
8) Princeton 73% & 10%
9) WashUStL 73% & 9%
10) Duke 70% & 5%
11) CalTech 69% & 8%
12) Rice 68% & 7%
13) Emory 68% & 7%
14) Vanderbilt 67% & 6%</p>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum--large class sizes--among the USNews Top 50 National Universities are:</p>
<p>UC- San Diego 44% & 30%
UC-Davis 35% & 28%
Georgia Tech 40% & 22%
Florida 41% & 20%
Illinois 38% & 19%
UCLA 53% & 20 %</p>
<p>ColdWind, I know this really isn't your argument, so don't think I'm directing this at you or anyone in particular, but it's a big assumption to make that smaller classes are necessarily better than larger ones, even if it people seem to think that.</p>