<p>My S is going to do dorm crew and FIP (although an American was educated almost completely in the British system–last 5 in boarding school). Anyone have any experience with either? Dorm crew made my wife and I LOL as he can’t keep his room clean.</p>
<p>D is doing FCU - aka Dorm Crew. Her room is also quite untidy! After looking through the brochure, though, it was her decided first choice. Should be interesting.</p>
<p>Etondad, My kids both did FIP and loved it and became involved with Woodbridge Society (International Students Group) afterwards, great group of kids! Lots of kids friends did Dorm Crew, some liked it, some thought it was really hard work…but they got paid! My problem with Dorm Crew in the past has been I don’t think they clean as well as they should, I think as good a program as it is Harvard should hire Professional Cleaners-not sure that some of those kids ever really cleaned before!</p>
<p>When rock star River Cuomo went to Harvard he did Dorm Crew even though his musical career was starting to take off. And in interviews he gave later after he had become a big star he said he looked back on Dorm Crew appreciatively for the virtue of performing hard manual labor. He enjoyed the experience and valued it.</p>
<p>Funny, coureur! </p>
<p>We just took up the majority of D’s stuff to move into her apartment…first year grad student. I wish it were me moving to cambridge…what an awesome place! Anyway, when we entered the parking garage down the street from her apt, there was a large rat poison trap outside, and there was a sign by her trash dumpsters that reminded everyone not to put garbage on the ground, in order to prevent rodent problems. So, how often will she be seeing rats? The basement of her building is immaculate, and since it was rented through harvard, I am confident that her apt will be fine, I was just wondering if she should expect many face to face encounters on the street!</p>
<p>Sent from my Droid using CC App</p>
<p>I’ve only ever seen rats in passing in Cambridge – I think they were on the reverse commute. 
And the only rodents I see on a regular basis are the ones in my lab.</p>
<p>Harvard rodents: My daughter said her room in Winthrop House sometimes showed signs of a mouse. I told her “You should feel honored. The mouse in your room is no doubt a direct descendant of the mice that infested the room of John Kennedy.”</p>
<p>My daughter says that she has not seen any so far in her two years, but it is very building dependent.</p>
<p>Haha, that’s good. I mentioned in passing of course, that she shouldn’t be totally freaked if she should see a scurrying furry friend or two…after all, she is living in a city! Mollie I will tell her to bring any that she finds over to your lab!!!</p>
<p>@etondad My daughter grew up abroad, but is American. Harvard encouraged her to attend FIP, which she did, and loved. Some of her closest friends at Harvard are students she met at FIP. I know she highly recommends it. It seems like the international students enjoy having some of the ex-pats with them to make the transition a little easier. After all, our students really are a bridge between cultures. And because our students did not grow up in the USA, most of their advice was very helpful. I was particularly pleased about safety information.</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> University: Year in Pictures 2010-2011 | Harvard Gazette]Harvard University: Year in Pictures 2010-2011 | Harvard Gazette](<a href=“Harvard University: Year in Pictures 2010-2011 – Harvard Gazette”>Harvard University: Year in Pictures 2010-2011 – Harvard Gazette)</p>
<p>Many Harvard students appear in this photo review of the school year. Although my son does not show up in these photos, he was present at several of the featured events, and I enjoyed watching the slide show.</p>
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<p>I’d like to put in a word for FAP (Freshman Arts Program). Although our freshman seemed to have a lively social life his first year, when it came time to form a housing group for sophomore year, he went back to a group of guys he met at FAP.</p>
<p>Parents who are dropping off students in the fall will probably enjoy the FAP show at the end of the program. It features some of the remarkable performing arts talent that contributed to these students’ acceptance at Harvard. Overwhelming, really, to see so much energy and achievement in one place.</p>
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Actually, Catherine Dulac, who is in the Molecular and Cellular Biology department, gave a talk a few years ago at a big neuroscience conference. Her lab compared some behaviors of lab-bred mice to the behavior of wild-caught mice, which made everybody in our lab wonder which poor grad student got sent into the streets of Cambridge to pick up the wild-caught test subjects.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. It seems like he will have a great time at FIP and Dorm Crew. </p>
<p>What has been amazing is the amount of skyping there has been between the pre-frosh. they have (he is friends with two kids in Hong Kong and India and is up at all hours in order to Skype), i gather a very active FB page (s) and lots of cyber-friendships are developing. my S is also a Math 55 wanna-be and all of the other wanna-bes are sending each other problems from IOPs another other settings to solve–my S says that the “War-Room” is already up and going and that they all know each other’s strong suits and turn to each other for help in those areas–I told him that the best part that of Harvard of classmates teaching classmates is already happening before they are entering campus. Any other parents have kids having the same experiences?</p>
<p>etondad: My S was surprised and happy as hell to get into Harvard, but I guarantee you he isn’t spending the last, precious days of high school preparing for Math 55.</p>
<p>I would like to hear about your s/d’s experiences with Harvard European study abroad programs. What was good, bad, what they would have done differently if they’d know, etc.
Thanks!</p>
<p>Hi Lynda - I can’t respond to European study abroad programs, but our Ds did multiple Harvard Latin American programs. Let me know if that experience might be relevant.</p>
<p>GAdad - Any lessons learned along the way would be appreciated. For example, term time vs. summer? Harvard programs vs. other programs? Questions to ask when planning? And anything else you think would be good to know.</p>
<p>We’ve had good experiences with H study-abroad and with other programs, and one bad H study-abroad program. The good is that H programs offer great connections, access and support, and wonderful financial assistance. When our D1 was in Buenos Aries a few years ago, a H a cappella group came through on tour and performed at the mansion of an influential Argentine H alumnus. Very cool! When she was in Lima a year later, a major earthquake occurred, and H personnel were on top of monitoring the situation and making needed emergency plans. Her classmate from H was abroad in Bolivia and was immediately evacuated in response to political unrest there. He wound up being sent to Lima, where the two went out to dinner together. </p>
<p>D1 had a bad H experience in Brazil with a H office there which seemed to want summer student interns for the purpose of showing them off as H students and using them to garner status for itself among Brazilian political agencies. In between being used as eye candy, the H students had little to do and sat around a lot doing unrelated make-work assignments. Ultimately, there was a student resistance movement against the H agency, which is based in Sao Paolo.</p>
<p>D2 did the Buenos Aires H program as well and enjoyed it, but the early-morning classes did not permit her to experience as much of the Argentine culture as she’d have liked, since the urban culture is a largely late-night one. She’s in a six-week study abroad right now in Cannes, France with AIFS which she’s enjoying a lot. Because the program offers college credit (not through H), one of D2’s outside scholarship providers agreed to designate its scholarship for summer study abroad, picking up most of the cost of the trip.</p>
<p>We are flying from the NW to help D move into school in August. I’m sure this has been asked before but any tips or advice on where to stay for move-in. Or thoughts were to stay in Boston and not rent a car. Any and all pieces of advice are welcome.</p>