<p>Yes, I know that there are several old threads on this topic but I truly need some new perspective. At the moment I’m leaning towards Yale, but I think a lot of it is due to the perceptions about Harvard that are thrown out a lot. Honestly, I don’t mind competitiveness, but are Harvard students happy? </p>
<p>I reall don’t know how to decide. Some questions:</p>
<p>How do Harvard students like the new January off? How exactly does this work? In general, are you happy with the academic calendar?</p>
<p>Do you like blocking?</p>
<p>Do you feel any actual loyalty for your House?</p>
<p>I’m a humanities and social sciences person…What’s the Social Studies major like? Is there anything at Harvard comparable to Yale’s DS freshmen seminars?</p>
<p>Anything at Harvard like Yale Political Union? (is IOP similiar?)</p>
<p>Anything else about Harvard that you could tell me would be wonderful.
Thanks</p>
<p>i dont attend harvard but one of my close friends does (Class of 2013) (and he is a social studies major!) and loves it. he finds the calendar to be better than some other colleges because he says it makes classes more manageable</p>
<p>he absolutely feels loyalty to his house. the amount of house spirit that he has is crazy.</p>
<p>If you do an “advanced search” on CC for threads on the Harvard board with keywords such as “January term,” “blocking,” “House,” “Social Studies,” etc., I think you’ll find a lot of perspectives.</p>
<p>FWIW, this was the first Jan Term and a budget cut postponed the proposed content, so I don’t think people would be able to tell much regarding their feelings about it.</p>