<p>l-mom,
Sorry I misunderstood your question. The grad date I gave is for the 2009-2010 academic year. I don’t know the Class of 2012 grad date.</p>
<p>Bay, hat</p>
<p>Thanks. I did not think that they would announce the graduation and Jr. parents weekend dates this early for class of 2012.</p>
<p>Here’s the coordinated Harvard Academic Calendar from 2009 - 2015! It doesn’t include parents weekends but it does have commencement dates.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/02.07/photos/calendar1.pdf[/url]”>http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/2008/02.07/photos/calendar1.pdf</a></p>
<p>Coureur - thanks for the graduation info. In my fantasy, I’ll be sitting next to Caroline Kennedy, but I guess someone will probably save her a seat and I won’t be that lucky!</p>
<p>^^Yeah, President Faust will probably save Caroline Kennedy a seat up on the stage next to the commencement speaker.</p>
<p>Actually, at one of my daughter’s House events to celebrate their triumph in winning the intramural athletic championship, a middle-aged alumna who was attending got up and proudly announced that her athletic claim to fame back in the day was that she had once defeated Caroline Kennedy in intramural tennis - and that the way she won was by default, since young Caroline didn’t show up for the match.</p>
<p>I looked at the Harvard calendar and noticed an “Optional Winter Session” in January starting next year. It runs three weeks, but I don’t recall hearing anything about it. What is it? Anyone, anyone, Bueller?</p>
<p>Hat, you are a righteous dude . . . Here’s a link to a J-term article in the Crimson: [The</a> Harvard Crimson :: News :: UC Considers New List of J-Term Classes](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=522877]The”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=522877)</p>
<p>An excerpt - "What do metalsmithing, manners, and Microsoft Excel have in common?
If Jay M. Harris and the Undergraduate Council’s ideas come to fruition, you could spend your first January term, or “J-term,” taking a three-week course in such subjects. </p>
<p>"Harris, a Jewish studies professor, emphasized that unlike existing winter terms at MIT, Dartmouth, and Oberlin, the “J-term will be completely and totally optional—if students want to stay home for five weeks and do nothing, that’s a great thing.” </p>
<p>“Potential offerings Harris suggested included the practical—classes on PowerPoint; the less conventional—such as metalsmithing; and the academic—introductory Japanese or English seminars. “There needs to be a wide range of things, from demanding to less demanding,” Harris said.”</p>
<p>It is odd that so little is known about J-term given how close it is. So far, there seems to have been little discussion of how to encourage faculty to participate. Since these won’t be “real classes,” it seems hard to give teaching credit for them, especially given that the budget crunch will lead to cutbacks in visitors and thus in the number of classes taught. Some faculty and grad students may volunteer to give J-classes w/o any inducements, but I’d be surprised if the purely voluntary approach would lead to a rich and diverse program.</p>
<p>When exams were scheduled after the winter holidays it was possible to create a three-week reading period before the tests. Because students don’t like having exams hanging over their heads during their vacation, the exams are now going to be before the break. Clearly, value of the three-week “reading period” before exams was deemed disposable. So why retain the three-week break when its purpose of exam preparation is no longer valid?</p>
<p>Hi all, been a while since I posted (parents weekend was the last.) Sorry to change subject but I had a question and thought one of you might have the answer (my D is a freshman at Harvard) Son is applying now and just found out today that he is a candidate for Presidential Scholar. Our international school has never heard of this, I’ve looked online and found its a recognition award so we will fill out all the applications etc. My question is, were any of your students Candidates and if so did you notify colleges they were applying to of this. I ask because semi-finalists and finalists aren’t named till after acceptances. Thought it might be an added boost? Thoughts? Thanks!</p>
<p>EAO1227, I think our S faxed a brief update letter to the Harvard admissions office in February that stated he was still very interested in attending Harvard and since his application was submitted, he had been named a NMF, a Presidential Scholar candidate or finalist (if that had been named by that time), etc. The actual naming of Presidential Scholars happened after Harvard admissions decisions were made.</p>
<p>We did not notify Harvard. A simple letter expressing continued interest and the award couldn’t hurt.</p>
<p>We didn’t notify.</p>
<p>Ok thanks, We will go ahead and send a note giving an update, can’t hurt.</p>
<p>Thought it was time to bump up the parents’ thread. The second term doldrums seem to have lifted…exams are done, made it through a couple of snow storms, and now D is happily into second term. Looks like the heat is on, as discussions for blocking have begun. Any wise parental thoughts about what lies ahead?</p>
<p>Decisions about blocking can generate a lot of anxiety. Deciding with whom to block, whether they will also want to block with you, how many there should be in your blocking group to maximize chances of getting in to a particular House, etc… is a rather fraught experience, judging from what my S reported. But once that was over, everybody seemed to be happy.</p>
<p>Nice bump, Loki. I’d urge our kids to not get their hopes up for a certain house or location, since there are 12 houses and the assignments of blocking groups are made randomly. In particular, many frosh seem to dread the prospect of being “quadded” - assigned to one of the three houses on the former Radcliffe Quad, the better part of a mile from the Yard and the “River Houses.” It’s considered the Harvard equivalent of exile to Siberia, though obviously since 3 of 12 houses are there, roughly a quarter of each class winds up on the Quad. My elder D was pretty distraught when she was quadded two years ago. She and her two roommates made plans to request a transfer to a River House after sophomore year, but then learned that only roommate pairs could be transferred together - two of them would have had to abandon the third in order to leave. Eventually they decided to make their peace with the Quad and, of course, they now love it there. Though it’s far enough from the rest of campus that students ride a shuttle bus, the Quad residence halls are nicer and more spacious than the River Houses (not surprisingly since they were designed for students at a woman’s college). It all works out.</p>
<p>I would like to add that my daughter is feeling the stress about blocking as well. She is feeling pushed and pulled in many directions to get in with different groups. She has lots of friends and doesn’t want to hurt anyones feelings and this is really making her feel bad. The sororities are also rushing right now I guess. Does that affect blocking at all?
I am sure it will all work out, but my DD happens to be one of these ones who always worries about hurting someone’s feelings even at her own expense. She has had an awesome experience with her living situation this year and I hope for the best for next year!</p>
<p>The interesting thing about blocking is that a student does not necessarily “room” with everyone in his or her blocking group. It just ensures that the entire group is in the same house for the three years. As Marite said above, it can be stressful, but it generally works out in the end. The kids have fun with it, doing the “River Run” the night before “Housing Day” which is a big deal. There’s a lot of pride in each house.</p>
<p>More on Housing Day …</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> College Admissions Office: Students Speak](<a href=“http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/experience_harvard/students_speak/view_topic/living/housingday.html]Harvard”>http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/experience_harvard/students_speak/view_topic/living/housingday.html)</p>