what kind of classes can you cross register at Harvard?

sleck · 04-02-2009, 12:41 AM

PiperXP · 04-02-2009, 01:15 AM

Things that aren't offered at MIT - certain languages, for example, or religion classes

prime235 · 04-02-2009, 01:22 AM

when can you start cross-registering classes?

PiperXP · 04-02-2009, 02:09 AM

Rule-wise? I don't know. In practice? I know of one person who took a Harvard class her first term here, but overall I think it's unusual to take a class at Harvard freshman year.

molliebatmit · 04-02-2009, 07:51 AM

Information from the registrar's office about cross-registration is here. Officially it says cross-reg with Harvard is limited to full-time upperclassmen, but I definitely know sophomores who have cross-registered. (Many rules at MIT are not so much rules as... loose guidelines.)

You can actually take any class you want at Harvard, although students rarely take science classes. If you take a class at Harvard that's offered at MIT, you may have to justify to the registrar's office why you want to take it at Harvard when you could take it at MIT.

sleck · 04-02-2009, 11:31 PM

is it a good idea to take classes at Harvard just to get more connections and to get to know more people?

intelligentimp · 04-02-2009, 11:36 PM

mollie: is it really hard to persuade the registrar office to take humanities classes at Harvard? I don't see why anyone would want to take science classes at Harvard when they can take it at MIT!

molliebatmit · 04-03-2009, 07:55 AM

It's not hard at all to take the classes -- there isn't usually any permission required, and you can just sign up and go. You have to petition the HASS office if you want to count the class as a HASS and not just as general elective credit, but they're obviously familiar with a number of Harvard humanities classes, so this is usually just a hoop to jump through, not a barrier to taking the classes you want to take.

kryptonsa36 · 04-03-2009, 10:20 AM

A group of freshmen I know intend to take organic chemistry at Harvard, so there are still situations where students might take some science classes there. I would take some of Harvard's biology courses (the ones with no equivalent at MIT) if I didn't think it would be a sensational hassle.

molliebatmit · 04-03-2009, 05:44 PM

Well, it will be easier next year when the schedules line up, unless you mean classes at the med school, which are still sensationally difficult to get to.

mathboy98 · 04-04-2009, 01:42 AM

Quote:

I don't see why anyone would want to take science classes at Harvard when they can take it at MIT!

Really? Are MIT's science departments just all flat out more reputed? If I were perchance a student of either of these schools' math departments, I'd probably be pretty happy to experience both departments for instance.

skysk · 04-04-2009, 02:15 AM

There are some science classes that may be taught by a specific professor at Harvard that you really want to take, even if an equivalent is taught at MIT. For example, Steven Pinker, who used to teach in course 9 at MIT, now teaches at Harvard and an MIT student may want to cross-reg to take that specific class. It doesn't necessarily mean one school's department is BETTER than another, but cross-reg gives you more options to pick specific classes that you might be interested. Because science and engineering is so strong at MIT, most cross-registration is for humanities classes.

However, in regards to organic chemistry, I have heard Harvard has a really great organic chemistry classes. MIT's orgo classes are good too, I'm sure, but some specific cases like that might prompt a student to cross-reg at Harvard for a science class.

mathboy98 · 04-04-2009, 01:09 PM

Yeah especially for someone picky as hell with classes ^^^ that'd probably be good.

oasis · 04-04-2009, 06:29 PM

Quote:

A group of freshmen I know intend to take organic chemistry at Harvard

Were they ultimately successful? I tried taking 5.12 and 5.13 both at Harvard but the Chem Department gave me a lot of crap when I tried talking to them. Afterwards, the scheduling didn't work out anyway so I just ended up doing 5.12 here.

Harvard's orgo is interesting in that it combines lab with lecture, though - so it's like killing two birds with one stone especially if you intend to go to med school. I had a friend that took the Harvard equivalent of 5.13 this term but dropped it after three weeks since he says the commute wasn't worth the time and the class was actually surprisingly difficult.

Usually, if you petition to take language classes at Harvard, you can begin starting from your very first semester. If you petition to do other things at Harvard if you're too young (frosh), you might run into more questions since people generally want you to finish your GIRs first - but otherwise, cross-reg isn't too difficult.

For me, cross-reg is kind of frustrating because many of the Harvard classes I want to take are always during the prime window of 10 am till 1 pm, when most of my MIT classes meet anyway. Factoring in commute time, there's just no way that I'll be able to keep up the whole going from MIT to Harvard thing for a whole semester. If only they offered more classes after 2 PM....=p (ah well, I should have less 10 am -> 1 pm classes in the coming semesters =D)

intelligentimp · 04-04-2009, 10:10 PM

"you might run into more questions since people generally want you to finish your GIRs first" what are GIRs?

How long does the commute take?

How many of your humanities courses did you take at Harvard for one semester? How many humanities courses did you take in all for one semester?

Is it possible to take 80% of the humanities courses at Harvard?