<p>Yale has a Directed Studies program, which is a selective academic program which some select applicants are automatically accepted into. Columbia has John Jay Scholars, Kluge Scholars, etc. </p>
<p>Does Harvard have any comparable programs? Please let me know anything you know about this.</p>
<p>Harvard has advanced standing…I don’t know if that is what you were expecting or talking about though. Basically, if you have a certain number of 5’s on certain AP exams, then you qualify for the program. You complete your Bachelor’s requirements in three years and in the fourth you complete work for a master’s. Or at least that is how it was explained to me.</p>
<p>Harvard does not have an honors program. I don’t see there being any need for one at all.</p>
<p>Well, Columbia is a fine institution with very intelligent students, yet they have a scholars program for the exceptional students to take advantage of. Perhaps Harvard is more stacked (I’m not so sure about this, because I personally know a few unintelligent boors who managed to get in without hooks or legacies)?</p>
<p>Just to be clear: Directed Studies at Yale is not an honors program. First off, it has very limited appeal to anyone interested in majoring in a hard science. It’s really there for humanities-oriented people who have fairly solid high school educations and don’t need a lot of ramp-up on their writing and reading skills. (DS students actually get LESS personal attention than people in the normal first-year writing classes.) Second, it was OK, but if I had my life over again I wouldn’t do it. I liked the atmosphere and the other students in my classes, but the quality of the classes was spotty. On the whole, you could probably do better ordering a la carte from the main course catalogue.</p>
<p>Harvard does have an honors/scholars program. It’s called “Harvard College”.</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>haha i like that post.</p>
<p>about the “unintelligent boors” comment… get used to it. some people are luckier than others (in fact im pretty sure im one of them), but i think, or at least hope, it all evens out in the end. not even harvard admissions is without flaw.</p>
<p>thanks guys, this was very helpful!</p>
<p>I make the comment about not needing an honors program because there is already so much freedom to take upper level classes at Harvard. Students at schools like UCLA really benefit from an honors program because it allows them the chance to take small classes with top notch faculty. Freshman seminars provide the same opportunity. And what would be the point of having an honors program for the sciences, freshman already have the opportunity to take Math 55, Physics 16, and Chem 52 or whatever it is called. How much smaller and more personalized does it get then a math class of 10 students with a Field’s medal winner? And in the humanities and social sciences, you can take any class that you feel you can handle (for the most part). I know I had no qualms from a top professors when I looked into taking his research seminar with 6 students in it. I might actually argue that each group of upper level courses is too specialized for any one student to handle.</p>
<p>Harvard has a few concentrations that require applications (i.e. Social Studies)… I guess you could think of them as “honors programs” if you really wanted.</p>
<p>Most of the students at Harvard would qualify for “honors programs” in other schools. A lot of those programs exist to win the cross admit battles with places like Harvard and Yale. Its pointless at Harvard.</p>