<p>Hey people! I’m procrastinating on writing a paper, and I’d love to do so by answering anyone’s questions so please reply, and I’ll be happy to ply you with as much information as you want. :)</p>
<p>Do you feel you were inundated by the same amount of work as in high school? Currently I’m dreading that there’s always a huge looming assignment due every other day
PLEASE TELL ME IT GETS BETTER</p>
<p>Sent from my LG-P509 using CC App</p>
<p>Dude. I’m sorry. I have WAY more work than I ever did in high school. But I had essentially no work in high school because I went to a craptacular one. Harvard works you hard, but you have a lot less class. I find that the busier I am, the higher the quality of my work, and the more organized I have to be – so I’m very much capable of my assignments.</p>
<p>It really depends on your field of concentration, though. For a humanities concentrator like myself, it’s usually a 6-8 page paper every week or so. Which is, I mean, manageable. Hahaha. What are you hoping to study?</p>
<p>How’s neurobiology? Heard it’s somewhat not difficult?</p>
<p>I have question about the Government major…basically, how is it? Is it the same 6-8 page essay every week? Is it more? Less?</p>
<p>Also, is there even a slight possibility of double majoring or is such a choice synonymous with a self-inflicted suicide? :D</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>I’m hoping to do classics (latin/Greek) with a few random history and Eng/Russian lit classes for personal interest should I get in… </p>
<p>Sent from my LG-P509 using CC App</p>
<p>what were you involved in during high school?</p>
<p>I’m also interested to hear about the neurobiology program. :)</p>
<p>Also, how’s the social environment? How about the cleanliness of the campus?</p>
<p>^ I second collegeinfo1994’s question. I am sure the academics are pretty outstanding but I am very curious about the social life. I know that is not the reason we go to college but I would be lying if I did not admit that I look forward to having a little fun on the weekends. How has your experience been thus far?</p>
<p>@Interficio</p>
<p>I have two responses to that:</p>
<ol>
<li>OMG COLLEGE IS SO MUCH EASIER</li>
<li>College is actually more challenging.</li>
</ol>
<p>There are definitely fewer assignments, so you don’t have something looming “every other day.” I have to work harder for each class, but having fewer hours of class, and only 4-5 hours of commute a week (I am in one of the furthest Houses) is SO MUCH BETTER–like you don’t even know–than my 14-15 hours a week commute in high school.
I feel like I’m learning a gajillion times more than I did in high school, but I’m also not dying to get there. (I do not know what misterg is doing that he has a 6-8 page paper a week; I’m also in the humanities/social sciences [economics wouldn’t count us as a social science, but Folk and Myth might].) My approximate weekly workload this semester:
-Concentration Class 1: 100-150 pages reading
-Concentration Class 2: 100-150 pages reading
-Concentration Class 3: 250-400 pages reading, 2 page response paper
[let it be here noted that I am never again taking three concentration courses in one semester]
-Gen Ed: 50-60 pages reading, pset
It’s a lot of reading, but it’s manageable.</p>
<p>@amk What do you mean “same 6-8 page paper every week”? Most classes don’t let you hand in the same one, no…? I’m not understanding you 
There is no double major, but there are joint concentrations. You write a thesis uniting the two fields: so there’s an East Asian Studies/History concentration set up that’s basically “East Asian History.” It wouldn’t be hard to unite one of the Biology concentrations and Statistics. You wanna do Romance Languages and Literatures and (pure, non-applied) Math, that’s not really gonna be possible.</p>
<p>@Interficio again, that’s eminently do-able. A lot of gen-eds will be Russian/English-y, so some of them can count for that, too.</p>
<p>Oops…sorry for the misunderstanding. I wanted to ask the author whether the government major has to do the same amount of work as his - a 6-8 page essay per week…my bad. Essentially, how difficult is the major?</p>
<p>And thanks for answering my second question about the double-majoring. :)</p>
<p>I have a letter of rec from a one-time gubernatorial candidate in a major US state whose brother attended Harvard Divinity School. He knows me because I rode a bike into his rosebush when I was six. Will this help my application? I’m applying to pre-law.</p>
<p>To DwightEisenhower: That is probably the best thing I have heard all day. You met a gubernatorial candidate because you rode a bike into his rosebush? That’s awesome. </p>
<p>To the person who started this forum: Sorry to be that person who resurrects a post a couple of weeks later, but I need a straight answer on this question: </p>
<p>I go to probably one of the worst public schools in Pennsylvania. We have an Ivy League Acceptance Rate of maybe 1 or 2 every year, and a Community College Attendance Rate through the roof. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to go to Harvard, because I want to go into politics/law, plus I love Cambridge/Boston, I am always reaching for academic excellence, etc. I get straight A’s, ultra involved in band, orchestra, chorus, debate team and my church activities. I have done a couple of missions trips (one helping out at an overnight camp for people with mental disabilities and the other two at summer camps for inner city kids), and I volunteer at the library, go to downtown Philadelphia to serve homeless people and run the music aspect of a Girl Scout-like activity at my church. I am pretty impressive at music (I have made county band for the past couple of years) and I take as many AP classes as I can (with block scheduling at our school, I can only take a max of 2 a year (none in freshman year, only one sophomore year) if I want to do music). Is there any long shot of a chance that even though I go to a crappy school that I can get into Harvard?</p>
<p>In your opinion (reading posts on CB/friends at school), does a 2160 (typical good ECs et cetera) put a URM applicant in the competitive pile?</p>
<p>Wordgirl, there’s definitely a chance that you’ll get into Harvard from a crappy high school. I did. Do well on your SATs and keep up your grades and EC involvement – try to do some cool things, too – and you’ll probably have a better-than-6% chance, haha. 
Don’t stress about it.</p>
<p>Mastermind, I have no idea. We don’t really talk about SATs here. Haha. I couldn’t see why not, but I’d suggest that you try to form your own opinion on the subject by reading previous admitted students’ stat threads. It’s hard to say, of course, as it is for any kind of chance situation.</p>
<p>How academic/intellectual are typical out-of-class discussions between students?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Depends how you define “intellectual.” Also depends on how you define “discussion.” Obviously not every dining hall meal is spent discussing philosophy, if that were the case it would be quite weird, but if you’re looking for people to have intellectually stimulating conversations with, Harvard isn’t a bad place for that.</p>
<p>This also varies from person to person. I have friends with whom I have “intellectual” conversations and others with whom I don’t.</p>
<p>Contrary to DwightE, I do know blocking groups where every dining hall meal–every single one–is absurdly intellectual. (Typical exchanges, slightly exaggerated for effect: “What did you do over Thanksgiving?” “READ SARTRE IN CAFES AND SMOKED” / “Oh, am I interrupting, can I sit here?” “Hi, welcome, sit down, we are discussing THE AESTHETICIZATION OF THE SELF AND THE CRISIS OF IDENTITY AND BEING IN CAMUS hope you can keep up” / “Oh I was thinking of going to this concert, have you heard of that band?” “YES SO MAINSTREAM, YOU CERTAINLY HAVEN’T HEARD OF MY MUSIC IT’S MALAYSIAN JAZZ or whatever” …OK then.) If you want that, you can find that. That said, agreeing with Dwight, those kids are certainly a vastly outnumbered minority, albeit a rather self-important one. (Don’t get me wrong, I love some of the people about whom I speak; I am most fond of the ones who laugh along when I crack up at particularly self-serious statements about aestheticization of socratic dialogue in whatever part of their everyday life, though.)</p>
<p>Of course, there are also there are also bros and ditzes; no college doesn’t have its fair share of those. (Don’t underestimate how smart they are, though; the ones we have here may not show it, but are sometimes still wicked smart.)</p>
<p>So basically, it really depends on your group of friends, which extracurriculars you join, etc. My own main group of friends is quite nerdy, but not as theoretical as The Group That Lives In Cafe Pamplona up there in my first paragraph. (Very little theory with us.) We also talk about a ton of normal things. You’re not going to have trouble finding friends who talk with a level of intellectualism you find agreeable, pretty much whatever level that is.</p>
<p>my question: How did you get in?</p>