<p>I’m sorry to hear your D is continuing to have trouble. If it’s roommate issues, the proctor is the person to contact. Depending on what the proctor says, you may want to call the freshman dean assigned to your D as well.
If it is depression, I am told that UHS is pretty good. I don’t have direct experience, but a former parent whose child experienced an episode of severe depression told me that UHS had done a great job of dealing with her child. Of course, the student has to contact UHS!</p>
<p>Final clubs are social clubs. So if your S/D is the type who enjoys those things, s/he will probably be interested. Otherwise, they are not a big presence.</p>
<p>Just be forewarned that the punch process is a lengthy period (months) of frequent events with constant underage and binge drinking. Then, once the punches are selected, an initiation phase begins, with more of the same. Many a sophomore boy has had a GPA plummet as a side effect. (If you’d like more detailed stories, feel free to PM me</p>
<p>Just don’t know if he actually joined one but if he did it has certainly not affected his grades. It’s his business. He joins a lot of clubs at Harvard and so long as he can handle them all plus classes we are cool. We hope he’s enjoying himself along the way.</p>
<p>What do the final (not finals) clubs do that other H students don’t do ? Have a private building where underage drinking is available nightly. Binge drink more frequently. Smoke dope in special rooms upstairs. (Other students have to use their tiny dorm common rooms, and are subject to house regulations on alcohol, as well as adult intervention.) </p>
<p>They (FCs) discriminate on the basis of sex, race, socioeconomic status, and every other factor, which is why Harvard refuses to recognize or support their existence. </p>
<p>One would assume with the very steep club fees, parents would be very aware if one’s student was a member. And yes, ditto for the women’s final clubs which are purely social (the Bee and Isis).The other women’s clubs have a strong public service direction.</p>
<p>While enjoying themselves along the way is nice, it’s sad when punchees themselves complain about the amount of drinking they are required to do to gain admittance. The alcohol poisoning deaths of three MIT frat boys down the road in the last decade is an example of unsupervised young male partying gone bad.</p>
<p>No, I’m not a proponent of banning the clubs, but if parents can know some details, they can better understand their students’ situations.</p>
<p>P.S. Sewhappy- if your son was just punched recently, then he was not in a final club last year. The majority of members are punched as sophomores. Final selections are not completed until November.</p>
<p>Oh, I think it’s the same sort of resentment that so many people have toward Harvard itself - the exclusivity makes for sour grapes.</p>
<p>Regarding racism in the final clubs, from what I can glean from Wikipedia the clubs certainly banned jews and Catholics - just like Harvard itself for centuries. My question to Fauve would be: If a history of bigotry at an institution is so reprehensible to you, why even have your child at Harvard?? The clubs now have jewish and black members and leaders, at least if Wikipedia is to be believed. </p>
<p>Son mentioned being punched last year. We thought he meant he’d been assaulted and then had a good laugh when he explained. Either he tried for it and didn’t make it or just passed. We have certainly not seen a bill for such a membership but if we could afford it and he was selected and told us he wanted to do it - heck yes we’d support it! Sounds like a lot of fun and a great network. And we don’t worry about him drinking - he’s too defensive of his brain cells.</p>
<p>What is comping? My D said the same thing and I have no idea what that entails. I am just curious as it is fun to find out all the Harvard lingo.</p>
<p>The Harvard freshman dean said that “comping” stands for competency rather than competition. It is the process by which students are selected to join the newspaper as well as other organizations on campus. I was glad to hear him talk of competence rather than a throw down. :)</p>