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<p>It has been three years for us, but I don’t remember getting multiple mailings from Harvard. There was a later “Admitted Students Weekend” postcard I believe and info from the FA office, but that seems to me to be all until much later in the Summer when the kids do some pre-testing (Freshman Writing placement, I believe).</p>
<p>Hat, thanks for answer my question!
I read through the only package received, couldn’t find information on when is the earliest date freshman could move into the dorm. I heard S mentioned Aug. 25th, where could I get the information, because I need to response to a wedding ceremony ASAP.</p>
<p>I think that Harvard could try a bit harder on prepping their pre-frosh hosts to at least 1. welcome them, 2. Give them the 10 cent tour, 3. Ask them if they have questions and make sure they know what there is to do, 4.give them a key and a number for emergencies. They also could alert profs to this very important weekend and perhaps try not to schedule major assignments and tests for the Monday after pre-frosh.
Little things go a long way to making others feel welcome and it something that we often need to learn. I have heard this complaint over and over again from pre-frosh visitng Harvard (in the past 3 years) and its a shame. My D, a prefrosh had a great time but she did say that she rarely saw her host and the feeling of “welcomeness” (is that even a word?) was not as present at Harvard as it was at Yale. Luckily my D is very independent and was able to go out and have fun on her own.</p>
<p>EAO, some excellent points put forward by you, and hopefully the folks at H admissions will follow through. Three yrs ago, D did not visit on admitted weekend, but stayed with someone she knew from a scholarship weekend, and she felt that her host was quite busy and stressed. My D felt this person was going to have a breakdown. When we took the tour, at the end, we mentioned this to the tour guide, and he put us at ease, and had D talk to several other students on campus. I think H is not doing a good job of prepping their hosts for admitted weekend, and cutting their students some slack during admitted weekend, so they can spend quality time with the pre-frosh.</p>
<p>sns–just about everything admitted students need to know is up on the H Freshmen Dean’s Office site. If you don’t see it there, just give them a call or email them.
[Harvard</a> College Freshman Dean’s Office For the Class of 2015](<a href=“http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup9113]Harvard”>http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup9113)</p>
<p>Regarding prefrosh hosts: My D has not been one, so I don’t know anything about it from that perspective. But my memory from when D attended her prefrosh weekend is that the host’s room was just a place to sleep, and all the prefrosh hung out together and explored the campus and attended events together. The host wasn’t really a part of all that.</p>
<p>Hey Parents! An alum here, chiming in on the pre-frosh hosting issue: I actually think that, to some degree, the experience of Admitted Students Weekend is a fair reflection of the culture of the college. This isn’t to say that mean or unwelcoming hosts are the norm at all, because they aren’t, but hosts really aren’t expected (or necessarily encouraged!) to do more than provide a place for pre-frosh to drop off their things and lay their head at night. </p>
<p>The point of Admitted Students Weekend isn’t really for each visitor to be led around by the hand and introduced to the campus by their host, it’s for them to get out there, meet other pre-frosh, explore the Square, sample activities, take in artistic and cultural shows, and party! That’s really the Harvard culture: everything is placed at your fingertips, and you’re expected to go out and experience as much or as little of it as you want to, under your own steam. The weekend may indeed be a bit less “warm and fuzzy” than the culture at Yale, but I don’t think that means it’s bad. It’s just different, and there are lots of students who thrive more in one type of environment than another. I look back fondly on my own Admitted Students Weekend in the Dark Ages - 2004 - and hardly remember spending 10 minutes with my host apart from dropping off my suitcase. I was out at Springfest (now Yardfest), the activities fair, sampling ice cream shops in the square, and going to barbecues and parties with the new friends I’d made, many of whom are still good friends to this day. I think most other Harvard students, who tend to have pretty intrepid and independent personalities, fared similarly. </p>
<p>Again, this isn’t to excuse hosts who aren’t even around to do the basics like letting pre-frosh into the dorm. I can certainly see where that would have a negative impact on one’s experience. Also, I shouldn’t overstate the difference between Harvard and Yale - like many have said, there are probably no other two schools in the country that are as similar as Harvard and Yale in most ways. Still, I just thought I could offer some perspective from a former pre-frosh-turned-student.</p>
<p>EAO1227 - Sorry, I did not make myself very clear. The ditched guest was not a pre-frosh, it was another type of campus visitor that students were encouraged to host. This was about 6 weeks ago, it was many days worth, and yes afterwards the girls did sort out their communication. As for pre-frosh weekend, roomie has liked hosting while it is not my daughter’s thing. D does not have the time and knows it so she did not volunteer. But roommate likes the idea of hosting. She did ask permission and my D agreed knowing that it was important to her. That does not mean that my daughter enjoys it. Hence her heading home which left more space in the dorm for the guests for part of the weekend.</p>
<p>As to your suggestions, some are not possible. How can a key be given? There are no duplicates. As it was, the pre-frosh were trying to tape doors open so they could return on their own schedule. This is not a good idea. No doors are to be taped, propped and you are not supposed to even hold the door for someone to let them in the building. There are warnings on this subject given to the students. I’m sure a phone number was provided.</p>
<p>As for major assignment on the Monday after pre-frosh, the project and paper D needs to complete is not due today. These are major long term projects and paper due during reading period. Assignments that are not just one night or one weekend. This semester D took a research course that has had her in the lab up to 7 days/week and once until midnight in an empty building. The labwork finally finished on Friday (day before pre-frosh) and now she has to write the associated paper as her final. As for telling professors to avoid any particular day, there are others days that I would list that would be nice if professors avoided (like housing day - you will be amazed at how many midterms are that day). In general though, I have found over D’s 4 semesters that most major assignment cannot be completed in a single day or weekend. Preparing for a mid-term is 5 - 6 days (she had 4 this size this semester). This past weekend is 10 days before the end of the semester. How does a professor not impact it? Last year, it was the weekend before the last class (so 3 or 4 days before).</p>
<p>I guess the good thing is that I think the pre-frosh are seeing reality. You say your daughter is independent. It is a wonderful trait and one that will benefit her.</p>
<p>Good luck! You daughter has great options and I’m sure will find what matches her best.</p>
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<p>My other D attended the prefrosh weekend at Yale a couple of years ago, and my impression was that the role of the hosts there was the same as Harvard’s: to provide a floor to sleep on. I think that was actually the worst part of D’s Yale visit: She had to (try to) sleep for two nights practically side-by-side with 5 other prefrosh on the floor of a common room.</p>
<p>Smoda, Please do not misunderstand me, I am fully aware of the workload, prior committments, and the difficulty that housing a stranger can place on an already overworked student. I am just reacting to the few posts where moms commented that their children felt that their housers “ditched them” locked them out, or were put out by them being there, etc. And yes I did think you meant this past weekend.
I have read this type of thing in posts over the past few years and it is a frequent topic on CC when Pre-frosh weekend comes around. Carmelkisses is right, most kids would rather go out and meet other pre-frosh students and take advantage of what the school has to offer and if you are not that kind of kid then maybe Harvard is not for you.
I am not suggesting that the housing student entertain the pre-frosh all weekend. BUT I do think that there are certain things a hosting student can do in 10 or 15 minutes to make a pre-frosh feel welcome and to start things off on the right foot. Communication is a big Key “Hey Welcome to Harvard, I know you will love it here. I have a huge thing this weekend and will be super busy but let me show you where a few things are and some people you can contact if you can’t reach me…etc…”
A little effort goes a long way and I do think that sometimes students need to be given a bit of guidance on how to do it (they may get it, don’t know). Hospitality does not come naturally for some people so sometimes we need reminders. I also think that kids that who are attending pre-frosh should be mindful that their host students do have their plates full and be respectful guests. Maybe Harvard should give them some guidelines as well. Its a two way street. </p>
<p>Finally, I hope that all of the kids enjoyed their weekend in the end. I really believe that we all have different likes and dislikes and ultimately all the students will choose the school that feels right for them.</p>
<p>Adding to what others have already said, as hosts we were literally told that all we were expected to provide was floor space. Taking your prefrosh around campus and for dinner, introducing them to people and to activities: those were vaguely mentioned but not required in any way. It was explained that there will be tons of activities on campus over the weekend that prefrosh can entertain themselves on their own. How can one blame current students for being unwelcoming when they’ve already gone above and beyond what is instructed? I very much agree that the Admissions Office could have done a little more to prep the hosts, but then again, all the hosts I know tried their best to make the prefrosh feel welcomed, giving them their numbers, offering to take them to dinner, etc. </p>
<p>Also, prefrosh weekend may understandably seem like a huge event for families of the upcoming class, but for us it seemed just like another normal weekend of the year. Tons of work to do, midterm and paper as usual. For the parent who said on the last page that his daughter did not feel welcomed after arriving on campus—that was Friday that your daughter arrived, when the Weekend officially starts on Saturday. It was unlikely that anyone even knew her to be a prefrosh needing assistance and not a current student/ tourist wandering around in the first place.</p>
<p>D will be arriving home in a few hours from her visit to H. I know I mentioned she arrived early since we live on the WEst Coast. Her host did e-mail her and asked her when she was arriving and departing. She did talk to D when she arrived and did what a host was expected to do. I think my D may have expected more in the beginning but after talking to other pre-frosh realized that this was the norm. This weekend is for admitted students and for all of them to figure out if Harvard is a good fit. My D loved Harvard. She met some amazing people and has decided this is a great fit for her. She is going to do well and thrive at an amazing school.
I do agree that Harvard could prep the hosts and remind them that most of the people are travelling and to give the quick 10 minute tour.</p>
<p>I’m really sorry to hear about the problems with some of the hosts. Fwiw, my son’s hosts were much more involved and very friendly/welcoming - emailing and texting several times in advance to make sure one of them would be there to greet him (he didn’t arrive until Saturday night), attending one of the pre-frosh events with him and the other pre-frosh they were hosting, staying up late to talk both Saturday night and Sunday night.</p>
<p>I also have a couple of observations on what might have caused some of the problems for those who had problems. First, my son really didn’t have any idea of what to expect in terms of the role of the host. To the extent the school told the hosts that their minimum obligation was just to provide a floor to sleep on and nothing more, the school should have made that clear to the prefrosh. My son was lucky to have great hosts, and he already knew a number of the other prefrosh so it wasn’t a problem for him to group up with them even though he arrived in the middle of the weekend, but I think the school could have done a better job in setting expectations.</p>
<p>Second, I heard that the visiting weekend set a new record for attendance - about 1400 prefrosh showed up. That’s close to one prefrosh for every student in the freshman class! I have no doubt that this strained resources, and it may be that they had to stretch to recruit hosts. This may account for some of the variability in host quality.</p>
<p>In any event, my son and the other prefrosh he knows and met all seem to have had a great time. I hope the less than ideal hosts didn’t ruin the weekend for those who had them.</p>
<p>^D just returned from her trip. She and 5 other pre-frosh shared a floor in a quad. They all thought it was great. D spent a lot of time in groups with other cross-admits from Princeton, Yale and MIT. She had a blast and thought Harvard was great.</p>
<p>Wow 1400 Prefrosh showed up, that is a strain! Glad everyone had a great time, My D loved it as well. </p>
<p>Calico, Sounds like you were a great host as I am sure 99% of the students are/were! It’s inevitable that when something goes wrong someone is going to call you on it and for a place like Harvard where many have this “ideal” image, when it falls short it comes as quite a shock. (I notice this all the time in posts on CC!)
I hope that almostmtnester’s D ended up having a better time like the other Pre-frosh and thanks to all the Harvard students who put themselves out and hosted an admitted student(s). (5 wow!) This parent very much appreciates it!</p>
<p>Hi. My S also was one of five prefrosh in a quad. Their hosts could not have been nicer. He thought they were all really great and fun-loving: One from Haiti, one from South Korea, one from Boston and one from California. One of them was in New York one night, and when he came back the second night late, a pre-frosh was already sleeping in his bed (with another boy also in his room). So he gamely slept on the couch in the common room. Talk about rolling with the punches!</p>
<p>My S was very enthusiastic and had nothing but nice things to say about his experience. Which is saying a lot considering that he did not get home until after 11 pm central time last night, and he must have been exhausted (guess who hasn’t gotten up yet…?).</p>
<p>He did mention that there were some pre-frosh cross-admits from Yale (My S did not apply to Yale) who were whining the whole time about how they had already picked Yale and they didn’t know why they were in Harvard, and how they wished they could go back to Yale.</p>
<p>The only negative from the our vantage point was that DS was very deficient in communicating with us while he was at Harvard, so we were somewhat worried the whole time (all we got was a text saying that he had arrived).</p>
<p>The summer Harvard/Riken Program in Tokyo was canceled and my daughter’s plans were suddenly in chaos. I cannot tell you how accommodating Harvard is. She whipped together a lab proposal at the last minute, since it was due the day after she received word about the cancellation. Somehow she managed to get a lab job and is currently working on additional funding of some kind or another. Bravo Harvard! While she did have to scramble, she did not get left hanging in the wind. She would have been very lucky to have found a $5.50 an hour clerical job where we live. I’m so glad Harvard is making sure their students get the work and educational experiences they need before they graduate.</p>
<p>On another note, for the poster who mentioned MIT gave almost no financial aid, the same was the case for my daughter. MIT expected so much family contribution that fully 60% of our income would have gone to MIT. We never sent the Harvard proposal to MIT because at that point my daughter had already decided on Harvard. However MIT did ask for it and seemed prepared to make adjustments.</p>
<p>I heard from another Georgia Harvard-parent-to-be that her D went up for Visitas, found that everything clicked for her, and told her host at dinner that she had made up her mind to come there. The host stood up, called for quiet in the dining room, and made an official announcement which triggered a thunderous standing ovation from the students in the room. Now then . . . that’s how you host a Prefrosh! :)</p>
<p>That’s beautiful :)</p>
<p>Love that, gadad!</p>
<p>I have to admit, my son is two years out, but I still lurk here occasionally because I so enjoy hearing stories like that.</p>