<p>I just reread it and, again, Harvard does not grant incompletes to undergraduates. The handbook states this explicitly. Extensions can be granted by professors up to the end of the examination period. For medical reasons, a student can petition the Administrative Board for an extension equal to the period of time missed due to illness. If the extension granted is for dates after the exams and/or make-up exams, for two or more courses, then the student cannot register for the next semester without special permission of the Ad Board.</p>
<p>As we were told, and I interpret, this is very different from “incompletes,” which are notated as such on the grade report, and allow work to be done in the summer or, in some cases, even in the next year.</p>
<p>Again, not a complaint. Our daughter loves Harvard.</p>
<p>It seems to me as though harvard is a school where students simply do enough to get by in academics and arent overly passionate or involved in them. Seems odd for a college that is supposed to be among the best in the world academically. A true overachiever would be able to both care and do well about academics and do their ECs.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that more than 80 students a year would have a 3.95 or better when I thought only 6 students ever had received a 4.0. Seems like a lot of students between a 3.95 - 4.0.</p>
<p>I may have exaggerated (I don’t think the number is ever released… so it can only be estimated via anecdotal evidence). But I’d wager a fair sum that it’s above 3.9 for the John Harvard Scholarship.</p>
<p>I know very little about most of my friends’ GPAs… but I do know a few people who have had 4.0s for a year. I don’t believe any of them had more than one year with a 4.0… you sort of need the stars to align properly for that to happen.</p>
<p>“It seems to me as though harvard is a school where students simply do enough to get by in academics and arent overly passionate or involved in them.”</p>
<p>That’s wrong. There are plenty of people who are deeply passionate about academics at Harvard. That’s just not true of everyone. Harvard doesn’t want to produce just future PhD’s; it wants to produce the top people in the arts, journalism, politics, public service, and business, in addition to academia. It’s not surprising that future superstars in those fields are highly dedicated to them during college, too.</p>
<p>jfm: Ten years ago, a 3.9 put you within the top 5%. I don’t know if it’s changed since then.</p>
<p>The past two years it hasn’t taken a 4.0 to make John Harvard Scholar - at least for class of 2011. Don’t know what the cutoff has been. A 3.95+ would qualify. </p>
<p>I think if Harvard was really easy then there would be a lot of 4.0 cummulative gpa’s and there certainly are not. </p>
<p>Does anyone know the average gpa for a graduating class? I would guess around 3.4 or 3.5. Given the talent and motivation of the students, I think this indicates the academics are very rigorous. Certainly rigorous enough to keep my son very challenged.</p>
<p>“The lowest GPA to receive a degree cum laude in field in June 2006 was 3.417” - and the person with the 3.417 GPA is right around the median.</p>
<p>Sewhappy- I’m not sure we’re actually disagreeing. My take is that it’s very, very hard at Harvard to get straight As. It is also very very hard to get below a B- (with some exceptions). It’s not so much that GPAs are inflated, it’s more that they’re condensed, because there are only five grades that are regularly given out, and there’s only a 1.3 point spread between the lowest (B-) and the highest (A).</p>
<p>If for whatever reason, you’re very very driven to get straight As, or as close to straight As as possible, you will have to work very hard (or pick very easy classes). If you’re fine receiving a mix of grades from A –> B, then Harvard academics become much more “crammable” like I talked about earlier.</p>
<p>My son’s at Harvard and very busy with a performing arts group. He has found that if he asks for an deadline extension well in advance, and has a valid reason, such as a performance out of state, the requests are generally granted. For long-term projects, most of his profs/TFs do have incremental requirements - paper topic, paper outline, first draft, etc. - and expect students to meet the requirements. Most of his TF’s have been fabulous, by the way, but he learned to “shop” sections almost as much as he “shops” each class.</p>
<p>even if you arent going into academmia, it doesnt mean you should not be passionate about what you are doing…if you do not enjoy learning about what you are going to become, you wont be bad at it. Also, the fact that you can get a B- with very minimal work is pretty disappointing</p>
<p>My quick perspective, as someone who takes a lot of math, science, and CS classes, is that this can vary wildly by department. CS classes can be unforgivingly brutal with their deadlines. Many classes have a strict “If you’re even a few minutes late with a problem set, you receive no credit for it” that they hold to quite rigorously. (Many even have automated online submission systems that reject any submission is late). Notably, many of these same computer science courses offer a set number of penalty-free late days per semester that can be used on any problem set (and that are certainly a life-saver in tight situations), but the brutal attitude is still hardly reminiscent of the carefree attitude the author purports all of Harvard has.</p>
<p>As other people have said, this sounds more like a memoir of an interesting experience at Harvard than a comment on the institution- the author rarely considers the experiences of other students or the nature of classes in other departments. This might go so far as to function as a critique of the classics concentration, but the title “Why Harvard Needs to Get Harder” is unwarranted.</p>
<p>I guess maybe we do agree although I think giving Harvard students lower than a B- is probably just not valid given the talent level and the work ethic such students have displayed throughout their lives to get to Harvard. It’s just hard for me to believe that a significant number are academic slackers! I think the academic floor probably really is quite valid at B- .</p>