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<blockquote> <p>...aging buildings that can't be wired for modern conveniences such as cable tv or high speed internet<<</p> </blockquote>
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<p>Why not? I know for a fact that Mass Hall has high speed internet, and it's the oldest building on campus (1720).</p>
<p>It has 10mbps internet, but not 100mbps.</p>
<p>There are many many research opportunities through Harvard, and this makes Harvard great. At the same time, I don't think it would be realistic or helpful to paint a picture of Harvard as someplace where all undergrads lead their own research in open labs and have ample funding and become published. 99% of research done by undergrads, certainly what I'll be doing in the social sciences, and I imagine what most people do in labs, is not groundbreaking. We're not curing cancer. But conducting something yourself teaches you so much more beyond what you can learn in the classroom. I can't wait to get started.</p>
<p>Just remember that an additional resource is MIT. If you find the class selection at Harvard lacking and see one at MIT, you can go take it over there. MIT's schedule is a little different and is a pain in the ass in the fall since they start about a month earlier, but it has been done.</p>
<p>The established student groups are an extraordinary resource. You don't have to build them from the ground up (though you can if you want to). There are already existing institutions that are financially independent from the university -- like the world's largest student-run for-profit corporation; the Lampoon (with its pipeline to SNL & the Simpsons); the oldest theatrical society in the country; singing groups that do world tours; etc.</p>
<p>The Houses are an amazing, and very expensive, resource. Running thirteen separate dining halls, thirteen extra small libraries, etc. for a college population of only 6500 is terribly inefficient, but it does so much to create community in the Houses.</p>
<p>I've discussed the grad school advising elsewhere, but it's the greatest unsung thing at Harvard. Every upperclassman lives and eats with multiple Harvard law, med, business, and PhD students whose job is to get you into grad school. Once you begin the application process, an additional non-resident grad student in your field will be assigned to you personally to walk you through every step, rehearse interviews, edit essays, everything. (Mine had only one advisee that year.) Same goes for Rhodes/Marshall/Fulbright fellowships. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this live-in grad school advising system may actually be unique to Harvard.</p>
<p>that does sound really good... do you also have a full-time staff member helping you out with that as well, or just these graduate students?</p>
<p>By staff member I assume you mean faculty. Yes, besides the housemasters there are some faculty that live in the Houses too. My house has two. There are also non-resident tutors who are grad students affiliated with houses but who don't live there. You don't see them as often but they're available if you email them or happen to catch them around the house eating dinner, using the gym or studying in the library. There are also faculty members affiliated with the houses and somehow collectively they're known as the Senior Common Room, but honestly I've only once been to a SCR dinner and I couldn't say more about it. </p>
<p>Advising outside of the house is done by department. I have a faculty advisor as well as the general department administrator who deals with more practical stuff like forms and applications.</p>
<p>Well, by staff member I meant... staff member. Specifically, if there are people whose sole job is to act as your academic advisor...</p>
<p>in regards to taking classes at MIT, are harvard students put lower on the priority list than MIT students? is it difficult to get into these classes?</p>
<p>"if there are people whose sole job is to act as your academic advisor..."</p>
<p>No, not full time. Everyone who advises the students academically is either a grad student or an instructor of some kind. The dean of each house usually spends a lot more than 40 hours a week advising students in practice, so you could consider that full time, but that person will also be a lecturer or whatever.</p>
<p>"is it difficult to get into these classes?"</p>
<p>In my observation, the challenge with MIT classes is the scheduling, not getting into the class. But it can be done, especially if you spend summers in Cambridge (because the fall calendars are different). You can take anything at MIT that isn't offered at Harvard; the people I knew who did this were all engineering students.</p>
<p>It is a requirement that Residential Deans (formerly known as Senior Tutors) also be lecturers. This means they might teach one or two courses per year. However, their primary function is to provide advice and support for students in the Houses. The field specific advisors (pre-med, pre-law, economics, biology, whatever) may or may not live in the Houses. My S is in a House that has a resident History tutor; biology tutor, math/comp sci tutor, and some more whose field of study escapes me. These are graduate students. He periodically gets email from them about advising sessions, get-togethers, deadlines, research/job opportunities grad school applications.</p>
<p>I agree with Hanna that the in House advising system is great; it is in addition to departmental advising.</p>
<p>Accounting @ MIT is also popular.</p>
<p>Harvard also has a ridiculous number of ridiculously smart/famous/interesting people speaking every week. The IOP brings in all sorts of dignitaries + politicians (+Stephen Colbert!); there's an amazing science lecture series geared towards explaining things like string theory to the non-scientist; and many many more events every week.</p>
<p>Harvard also has a pretty amazing career center (OCS). They run a great on-campus recruiting program (which is semi-dominated by Wall Street), but also are a lot of help with summer opportunities, volunteering, + grad school.</p>
<p>I'm not overly impressed with many of the things that have been listed. Many, if not most or all of these features are offered by Harvard's peers. Princeton has virtually unlimited funding for undergraduate travel and research, almost every Columbia undergrad engineering or science student I know has landed a research position at the medical center, the residential college advising system is just as prominent at Yale, and most major research universities (especially Ivy ones) will have 10m+ books in their libraries. I've yet to see a speaker list that tops Columbia's, with its location and UN connections; I can't even remember all the ambassadors, presidents, or Nobel laureates I've seen there. I suppose it could be argued that only Harvard offers a combination of all these things, though I'm not even sure that's true; in any case, personal preferences could rule out something like the house system or the need for medical/science research funding, and almost every applicant has some preferences going in.</p>
<p>Harvard's grad schools, on the other hand, offer unparalleled opportunities; the professors there are able to connect students with incredible opportunities in fields like government or top-level research...the greatest resource Harvard undergrad might offer is the enhanced ability to get into one of these.</p>
<p>"the residential college advising system is just as prominent at Yale"</p>
<p>There are med, law, and business students living in all the colleges at Yale? That's news to me...maybe a Yalie can fill us in. (They have fantastic grad school placement regardless, but I don't think the system is the same.)</p>
<p>I think this deserves to be a featured thread... it's very useful.</p>
<p>What are Harvard's resources, indeed? It seems like Yale and Princeton are better in social sciences/government (esp. Woodrow Wilson school of Princeton) - which is what I'm interested in. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I don't think grad students actually live in Harvard's houses. I've been accepted to Harvard law and in none of the housing info or literature has the option of living with undergrads been mentioned. For the medical students, living in Cambridge would be especially inconvenient.</p>
<p>That they serve as house-affiliated advisors is more likely, though I can't believe Yale has advising that's somehow less effective than Harvard's.</p>
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<p>I don't think grad students actually live in Harvard's houses. </p>
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<p>Yes, they do. First-year grad students who were not Harvard undergrads are usually not hired, so it makes sense that you would not have been informed. Every single House has law, med, business, and PhD students in residence -- usually two of each for law, med, and business, and enough PhD students to represent a cross-section of disciplines.</p>
<p>There are ALSO non-resident affiliates; these serve as one-on-one counselors, in contrast to the resident tutors who are responsible for all the interested students in the House.</p>
<p>Edited to add: here's the link to the Resident Tutor handbook for Leverett House, where I lived. Note the committee membership section, which lists the resident grad students in each discipline "plus Non-Resident Tutors."</p>
<p>Columbia2007
[quote]
Harvard's grad schools, on the other hand, offer unparalleled opportunities; the professors there are able to connect students with incredible opportunities in fields like government or top-level research...the greatest resource Harvard undergrad might offer is the enhanced ability to get into one of these.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>And Harvard undergrads can crossregister at most (well, technically all, but HBS is a struggle) of the grad schools. Or take a FAS class taught by a grad school professor (my freshman seminar was taught by a law prof, med school professors were also available). And do research with grad school professors. And get connected to competitive internships, fellowships, grants, etc.</p>
<p>My point is that the grad school resources + connections aren't limited to grad students.</p>
<p>This is true, but there are many things law professors and their contacts, for example, will do for students with potential JDs that they probably wouldn't for undergrads. A crossregistrant would likely have to perform to an extraordinary degree, perhaps beyond his or her graduate peers, to earn really special attention after only limited contact and coming from an inherently less credentialed (and, on paper, less mature) position.</p>
<p>Maybe, but I knew several of the professors at the Graduate School of Design quite well because of majoring in Visual and Environmental Studies. Both my thesis advisors were professors there. I knew several grad students in my house and there were also professors who came and ate - some more regularly than others. One of the French professors did a French table at least once a month. (This was all a million years ago, but I doubt things have changed much.)</p>