<p>So, at an academically challenging school like Harvard, how do you find time to hang out with friends while trying to study a lot? Meet friends during the weekend but study like there’s no tomorrow during the week?
Or do most kids just, hang out by themselves and study…
Also, how do you meet up with friends for meals and such? the campus is absolutely huge.</p>
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<p>All the frosh have a single dining hall and each individual upperclassman house of 400-500 has its own dining hall. The undergrad enrollment is 6600. It’s a medium-sized campus subdivided into units smaller than typical LACs.</p>
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<p>Have you visited a Flagship State University? It can take 15+ minutes to ride your bike across campus.</p>
<p>its simple really- you only “study” during reading period at the end of the semester
the rest of the time you are busy with your friends ;)</p>
<p>The typical day may start off at 10 AM with classes through 4 PM. The real meat of your
day is structured around the evening peaking at 11 PM after which point you get to
work on individual psets and such till 2/3 AM. At times you might get into IM
games between the dorms during the night.</p>
<p>If you do research in science, a big chunk of time on 2-3 days may go towards that.</p>
<p>Usually you just text each other and meet up at the 'berg or some event where
they are serving the right kind of free food. So you would typically see a close circle
of friends about 3-5 days a week and interact with a much larger group on weekends.
Freshman life revolves around the yard which is a 2-5 minute walk to any destination.</p>
<p>I heard a rumor that when dorm roomies are assigned they pair introverts with
extroverts to balance things and make them come out of their shells.</p>
<p>^ So if I want to have a social rooming group, I should pretend I’m lower on the “partying” scale? Counter intuitive lol :)</p>
<p>Thanks SYNTH, for answering the question so thoroughly 
you’re awesome.
lols, why didn’t I think of texting before? xD
and it’s really interesting to know that most kids have the best time during 11 and 3AM ~</p>
<p>and OPERADAD, I know there are larger universities. I was simply saying that harvard is not small. it would have been nice if you could have answered my question instead of criticizing what I said.</p>
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<p>No, as OperaDad pointed out, you were characterizing it as “absolutely huge.” In the world of higher ed, Harvard College (the undergraduate school as opposed to Harvard University - the full range of 14 colleges and graduates schools which includes Harvard College) is rather modest-sized. Compared to most state campuses it would actually be on the small side.</p>
<p>^ummm…ok?
what would you like me to do about it?
“absolutely huge” was an exaggeration. simply saying it’s bigger than a HIGH SCHOOL so how should I meet up w/ friends?
please look at the context of the QUESTION and don’t isolate random details and criticize</p>
<p>^Someone has an attitude. You are reading way too much into what operadad said, candysmile. Let it go. His comment was hardly a criticism.</p>
<p>However, it looks like you’re new to CC. You’ll learn one way or the other how things work here. </p>
<p>In the mean time, best wishes! :D</p>
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<p>My point is that Harvard is not huge. Compared to a small LAC (or high school), any university will seem huge. Your criticism is applicable to most colleges, not just Harvard. If not wanting to be on a huge campus is a major criteria, then I suggest you look at small LAC’s such as Lawrence or Oberlin.</p>
<p>At Harvard, all the freshmen live on the Quad (not huge). Harvard is no different from other colleges. If you want to learn, you will have to study. Yes, the classes will be more challenging, but the kids also perform at a higher level. Net-net, the average kid at Harvard should have the same amount of free time as the average kid at a challenging school. Note: That is not to say that Harvard doesn’t offer a lot of things to do outside of class that can easily soak up all your free time.</p>
<p>Harvard encourages studying in groups, and has lots of EC’s. That’s another way kids, with similar interests, get to know each other. FYI: I hear that Thursday night is the biggest party night of the weekend (most classes meet Mon-Thur).</p>
<p>Think about how you live now? How far apart do you live from your friends? Do you have a problem hooking up with them? I would bet that the distance between you and your friends right now is much bigger than at even the largest university.</p>
<p>Freshmen don’t live on the Quad…why are you even posting?</p>
<p>And Friday night is probably the biggest night for going out. Second would be Saturday. Third would be thursday.</p>
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<p>Sorry, I meant the Yard. Quad was on my mind because of the reduced shuttle bus discussion. I was thinking something roughly sqaure, and Quad came to mind first.</p>
<p>The Yard, being the area bounded by Quincy on the east, Massachusetts on the south, peabody on the west, and Cambridge/Broadway on the north.</p>
<p>Join a final club. Not necessary, but from my experience, it helps a lot.</p>
<p>ew…final clubs. All they do is play gamecube with their pants off.</p>
<p>What are final clubs like- question for current students? Are they like frats?</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/132348-freshman-harvard-ask-anything-you-want-know.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/132348-freshman-harvard-ask-anything-you-want-know.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/460339-hows-harvard-final-club-thank-you-replies.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/460339-hows-harvard-final-club-thank-you-replies.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/169434-finals-clubs-r-killing-harvard-social-life.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/169434-finals-clubs-r-killing-harvard-social-life.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/389979-harvard-has-frats.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/389979-harvard-has-frats.html</a></p>
<p>More threads if you search…</p>