<p>I was wondering, while you’re at Harvard and you fail a course or two, what happens? People are telling me you get kicked out and so forth… I hope they’re wrong.</p>
<p>You have to go to extraordinary lengths to fail a course at Harvard. As soon as you dip below a C or so, the support system kicks into gear and the Senior Tutors & Co. begin to intercede on behalf of the student. What with giving warnings, documentation of the problem, meetings with the Senior Tutors, being told you have to give extensions and opportunities for extra credit, and so on, actually giving a low grade becomes such a bureaucratic nightmare that most faculty and TFs simply decide to go with a C and spare themselves the trouble.</p>
<p>Harvey “C” Mansfield is an obvious exception to this. And things may be different in the hard sciences – I just know the soc sci/humanities side of things.</p>
<p>It’s extremely hard to get permanently kicked out at Harvard. I went to Harvard during the early 1970s with a student who due to his overinvolvement in activism failed all of his classes first semester and then failed all of his classes second semester. Harvard just told him to take a year off. He returned and graduated and now is a lawyer.</p>
<p>Once you become a Harvard student, it’s like being in a Greek organization: You’re a member for life. Harvard will give you whatever chances you need to succeed. Makes sense, too, because all Harvard students are bright, have a strong track record of h.s. success, and clearly have the ability to graduate from Harvard. Some may need some time to grow up or adjust to college and get organizated, but all have the ability to graduate.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean that everyone can graduate in the most difficult majors (Freshman chemistry, for instance, causes many premed students to decide to go into other fields), but everyone has the ability to major in something at Harvard and then graduate.</p>
<p>Another possibility is to keep retention rates high. >_></p>
<p>IMHO, it’s not that hard to fail if you try; if you don’t turn in assignments and papers and you sleep through the exams, you will fail. I’ve seen it happen.</p>
<p>That being said, usually nothing terrible happens. You may be asked to take a semester or two off. Your House may also require you to drop some of you extracurriculars as a condition of sticking around. You will not be permanently kicked out unless you do something involving (1) violence or (2) severe dishonesty.</p>