<p>So I did this forum last year, and I checked in to College Confidential today and found that we still seemed to be short on helpful forums for incoming freshman. As a result, I am reviving this forum. My name is Charlene, and I can help you with questions about Harvard classes, extracurriculars, dorm life, etc. </p>
<p>I am a member of the class of 2011, and I am concentrating in Economics. I am actively involved with Ballet and Harvard Student Agencies, and I have been a member of the Harvard College Consulting Group and Women in Business. Feel free to ask any questions about surviving/thriving at Harvard. I look forward to meeting all of you when you get on campus this fall.</p>
<p>Hi! Thanks for offering helpful tips for incoming freshmen. I’m still deciding on my courses, and I have a rough outline of what I want to take. It’s still temporary, though, because I want some “wiggle room” just in case I shop for classes and find out that some classes just aren’t for me. But to what degree do you really recommend shopping as a good indication of how good/hard/easy/boring/fun/whatever the class is going to be? That is, is the shopping period a good indication of the class for the rest of the semester? Thanks!</p>
<p>Since by shopping period, the class usually hasn’t gotten hard yet, shopping period is only useful for figuring out what the overall curriculum of the class should be (i.e. the professor will introduce the class). If you are really interested in finding out what a class is like, I recommend actually taking the class and dropping any excess classes before the add/drop deadline. I did that for one of my classes, and it turned out to be a great decision since I ended up hating one of my classes. The only downside is that you have to do more work for a few weeks, but if you can handle it and you are very unsure about your classes, the add/drop thing works well.</p>
<p>This is probably gonna sound really weird, but is it possible to skip the first few days of school? How easy is it to get found out? Thing is, my parents are traveling from Asia to visit the US from Aug 26th - Sept 5th and i want to go with them. It’ll be my (and my mom’s) 1st time in the states and the chance to go anywhere with both my parents is very hard to come by (in fact, due to their professions we’ve never had a holiday trip tgt as a family for 10 yrs now :|) </p>
<p>When do real lessons usually start? A week after move-in day?</p>
<p>I believe everyone has to register online by the 1st, though it might be sooner for Freshman. Registering requires being physically on campus. Skipping the first few days would probably be fine for upperclassmen, but wouldn’t be good for freshman. Your first few days on campus are littered with mandatory meetings and talks with your advisor.</p>
<p>CV - You mention August 26. That is before the move in day of Aug 27. If I read my daughter’s info right there are a number of mandatory activities for several days starting on August 27. So I don’t believe that you could be absent during those first few days and from White Rabbit’s info you would have to be there on the 1st. It does not sound like joining your parents would be likely. If this is something that you really want to do, maybe consider being honest with Harvard and finding out if you can be accomodated. I would not do it and hope that no one notices.</p>
<p>If shopping period is when classes already start, how hard is it to catch up one week’s worth of material if you are planning on taking a class with upperclassmen in it? I know that char6_0 mentioned that the first week is the easiest, because of introductions and whatnot.</p>
<p>Confused vnese, I wouldn’t go without telling Harvard first and asking them for permission to leave for that time period. It would be very disappointing not to be able to go with your parents, but I don’t see any way out of it. :/</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you’re asking here about classes. All classes start at the same time, regardless of whether the students are freshman or upperclassmen. The first week is the easiest because relatively little is being taught or lectured on. Save for tutorials and a few other special cases, there are no “upperclassmen courses” as such. Students take the courses that fit their ability and desire, regardless of their number in the catalogue.</p>
<p>White_Rabbit, I think you misunderstood my wording. I realize that all the classes are the same, regardless of who takes it, and that there are no such things as “upperclassmen” and “underclassmen” classes. :D. What I was referring to was courses taken mostly by upperclassmen or second-year students, and relatively little freshmen because they either concentration requirement courses or advanced.</p>
<p>So my question, rephrased to clarify, is this. All the courses start September 5th, but we freshmen will be shopping for classes during that first week when courses will start. I’m wondering if courses taken mostly by upperclassmen (although by no means a label or strict restriction) will go at a faster pace and be harder to catch up on. And regardless of who’s in the class, is it hard to catch up on first week’s material?</p>
<p>But now that I’ve asked the question, I’ve realized that it’s really not all that important. I guess it’ll all fall into place once we start, and the first week, being the easiest week anyway, probably wouldn’t be too hard to “make up.”</p>
<p>But thanks for trying to understand my question, WR. ;D</p>
<p>Silversuz: You won’t need to catch up on any material as long as you shop any class that you are potentially interested in. Everyone shops during shopping period … even seniors! All classes begin the same time. The only reason you’d have to catch up on anything is if you didn’t go to the class during shopping period (which wouldn’t make sense if you think you’d want to take the particular class.)</p>
<p>^anb, you can watch the videos of some classes; other classes like CS50
run the same lectures during shopping week- so you can choose; Math
and physics are especially accomodative, since they know students trade
up 21…25 (Math) or down 16…15…11(Physics) heavily.</p>
<p>And you are free to come and go from classes, even small ones. If you want to go check out another course, you just get up and leave. Many classes just use the first week for basic introductions and an overview of the courses. So there usually isn’t much work that would need to be caught up on.</p>
<p>CV-There are many required meetings during “Freshman week” ( proctor meetings, conversations, sex signals). You would have to not only talk to your proctor but your resident dean as well if you want to miss these very crucial days. I feel that if you simply explain your situation , they will somehow help you. </p>
<p>Courses start September 2. Courses that generally meet on Monday meet on the second and courses that generally meet on wednesday will meet the following week. </p>
<p>Now in terms of shopping period, you have to be really careful. You don’t want to get behind in work ( readings, especially in science or social studies classes) and sure its easy to catch up seeing that not that much work is given out in intro classes most freshman take, but its such a bother to have to do three psets sunday night or the rough draft of a paper because you decided to slightly extend your summer vacation , as some of my friends did as well as myself last fall. Last year, shopping period was longer though. </p>
<p>Enjoy freshman week. It is one of the most memorable events of your college years. From the power outtage that lead to some major bonding between complete strangers in the MAC and me meeting half of my blocking group, to Sex Signals, to the Freshman Talent Show, to the Freshman Carnival, to First Chance Dance; you don’t want to miss this week, or in this years case, 5 days.</p>
<p>im gonna be clss of 2014 IM VERY GLAD BUT I have a few Qs LIKE IS BEING UNIQE enough im somali but im a sophmore and i was in africa for at least 2 and half years but i was living america before and i still know english plus im rather smart but im lacking credits for freshmen year should i go back would help with the “getting into harvard thing” plusi was born quite late nov 26 1996 but i cant wait to start high school and its my frist time going to public i always went to chartered and here they start classes at 10th grade for highschool</p>