<p>Son took four classes at Harvard over the past year (as a HS junior) and this summer. Here are the grades -</p>
<p>Introduction to Proteomics: A-
Introduction to Genomics: B
Principles of Genetics : A-
Principles and Techniques of Molecular Biology: A-</p>
<p>Will these grades help him or hinder him for Harvard?</p>
<p>Well Priniciples of Genetics and Molecular Biology both require petitions to take</p>
<p>^ S had already taken the first two classes and so had no problem with the petitions.</p>
<p>OP, My opinon is that the grades will not hinder
but may not add weight other than to indicate
your S spent his summer on academics. </p>
<p>If your S is a local to MA or of asian origin it may hinder
(again just my opinion),. Asian peers who were
SSP students seem to have aced their courses.Also
students from MA state seem to have aced their courses
when they did them during their HS years at Harvard Ext.</p>
<p>^ That was my exact concern. But I was hoping the level of the classes were beyond your normal HS years at Harvard ext. Substantial number of students in those classes were grad students.</p>
<p>So Im asian and am from Pakistan to be be exact and I am applying to Harvard SSP so does this mean that I am expected to score like A+s at Harvard Courses. I am doing Neurobiology and Introduction ot Biostatistics.</p>
<p>Doing a higher level is fine provided the outcome is
of the highest quality. Harvard is usually not impressed by
students doing graduate level courses unless the outcome is
jaw dropping (a string of As). Quantity does not matter either.</p>
<p>(grad level courses typically carry lesser overall assesment
related stress and more paper-reading-presentation
activities)</p>
<p>Peace.</p>
<p>^^^ soha… Lol there is no possible way in the world you will score a+ you’d be lucky if you get a b. The smartest person at my school took it and barely got a b. He failed the first two test and got a 79 on the last one. Again you won’t get an a+. did you know that the prof won’t even know that your prefrosh? He’ll think your an undergrad. Neurobio is an undergrad course that is extremely difficult</p>
<p>Really but is an A at least possible</p>
<p>And would you guys say it requires a lot of studying</p>
<p>I just looked at the site and the highest you can get is an A</p>
<p>I don’t know how other Harvard classes are graded, but the classes son took are very difficult. You can see the ratings on ratemyprofessor.com. Getting an A is indeed a major accomplishment, especially if you do it with a fully loaded high school schedule.</p>
<p>^ it’d be during summer so no it would not interfere with school. Yea a college A anywhere is hard. Study work hard etc The usual B.S.</p>
<p>I’m glad most of the responses are positive. I wasn’t quite sure about these grades adding any boost to his application before, but now I’m a little relieved. Thanks!</p>
<p>Soha: there are prereqs for neurobio</p>
<p>Neurobiology has very little in the form of prerequisites:
Both the term-time (MCB 80) and the summer term/extension school (BIOS S-50) offerings require an introductory understanding of biology or less.</p>
<p>I realized that and it requires the Introductory Biology Course which is probably the equivalant of AP Biology</p>
<p>Prerequisites usually are not enforced nor do they truly correspond especially when they use vague wording. If they are more explicit, namely, they list particular prerequisite courses by department and number and/or you need the signature of the professor (as denoted with an asterisk) then you will probably need to have the background. </p>
<p>Having taken the summer offering of neurobiology and having shopped the term time one, it seems like the key issue is having some grasp on the general concepts and terms and not necessarily a heavy amount of understanding on cycles and cell anatomy. Generally, though, you can check out the CUE/Q guide and they typically have one question that has answers stating what kind of a background a student should have if taking said course.</p>