<p>I’m a junior and I’ve been looking at Harvard Summer School for next summer and I’m very interested, but there’s no way I can afford it. My cousin works at MIT and lives in Boston, so I may be able to stay with her; whether or not that works out I’ll need to apply for financial aid. They say there’s a limited amount of money available and to apply early, but I’m not sure how early they mean - will they run out in March? April? May? I’m not sure whether I should wait until the end of our second trimester (mid-Feb) to apply or try and get everything together ASAP. Is anyone familiar with their finaid?</p>
<p>Also, general comments about Harvard Summer School…though one of my friends went last year and I plan to ply whatever I can from him. I’m looking at the creative writing and drama classes in particular, though I don’t know how I’d pick just two!</p>
<p>One more thing - can anyone compare Harvard’s summer program with Yale’s, especially writing/drama?</p>
<p>I went last year, email me if you have any specific questions. On the whole it was pretty amazing, but I stayed in a dorm. I don’t know what it would be like to commute. DEFINITELY apply for aid, and see if you can get money from your school…</p>
<p>i went in 2004 and i got my full tuition paid for…
(both of my parents are unemployed and we have a lot of med. bills)
I applied in December… received my acceptance in January… received my fin. aid info in March.</p>
<p>(on a side note, i had the remaining room/board expenses covered from local help)</p>
<p>I took Directing and Beginning Screenwriting. Great teachers, amazing classes, fun people…and I learned a lot. The drama department is amazing! The professors had so much experience and were willing to sit down one-on-one and talk with you about your script or just about anything. I had some friends in the acting classes and they also enjoyed those. And there are opportunities to intern at the Harvard-Radcliffe Theatre. I did tech work and stage crew for a production, the people were nice and included me in everything. I also <em>loved</em> my screenwriting class… I just became so passionate about developing stories and listening to others’. </p>
<p>It was hands down the best summer of my life, and it’s the reason I decided to apply to Harvard… (because I wasn’t really sure I wanted to entering the program, which I initially just did for the theatre and college experience!).</p>
<p>ON TOP of an amazing college experience, Boston/Cambridge is a great city! There’s so much to do and it’s now one of my favorite places.</p>
<p>I really hope you are able to go! It was the best experience of my life, the drama/writing classes were fantastic, the people were fun, and the city was amazing.</p>
<p>I’ve been strongly drawn towards Yale, but as far as summer programs go, I think I would like Harvard’s better. With the time & money involved in applying, I don’t think I’ll apply to both - but I don’t want to apply to just one when I could’ve gotten into the other or gotten better financial aid.</p>
<p>Coolg, how do you go about getting money from your school? And tawny, did you send out letters to businesses to ask for their help, or what? My finaid situation isn’t as stark as yours; my dad makes $67k a year, my older sister is going to St. Olaf, and we have 7 kids. However my dad has only made that much for less than 2 years and previously we lived in debt and never could save. My parents may be able to help me out minimally, but definitely no more than $500, I think.</p>
<p>That’s awesome about the directing & screenwriting classes! I would love to take one of those…but there are sooo many neat classes. I’m trying to decide which classes would benefit me more now than when I’m in college (or would be significantly better at Harvard than wherever I go). The history of fairy tales class looks awesome, but I was planning to take one writing (probably Beginning Fiction) and one acting class (can’t decide between beginning, Shakespeare, or Musical).</p>
<p>lavendercloud - someone at my church knew i was having trouble raising the rest of the funds, so they donated the money for board anonymously. but i bet you could fundraise… my best friend at SSP did that… i’m not sure what specifically she did to fundraise…
and maybe sending letters to businesses and organizations could help too. you never know!</p>
<p>there really are so many great classes… i wish i could go again and take them all! also, my roommate took the beginning fiction class and really loved it. i think the shakespeare acting class sounds really interesting… i just directed a midsummer night’s dream and i’m all into the shakespeare thing right now, lol.</p>
<p>SSP was the best 8 weeks of my life; definitely, DEFINITELY go for it. As for school cash, my school has a fund that I was unaware of at the time that pays for summer programs, who knows. I’m sure they have scholarship money at Harvard, and other scholarships are around. I would definitely recommend, if you go, that you take an 8-unit (ordinarily full year) course. I took Biology and was quite pleased. Shoot me an email if you have any questions at all!</p>
<p>Not that bad really… It’s not like the college, where they have an extreme excess of applicants. Basically, since it’s rolling admission, you just have to prove that you are capable of the work, have good grades, etc. Make the application good, but don’t stress about it. You should be fine if you get good grades, have decent scores, apply sooner rather than later, and have decent recommendations… good luck!</p>
<p>Coolg, what do you think is better about a full-year course than two 4-unit classes? The only 8-unit course I was considering is intermediate French (I like science too, but I think I’ll wait til college to take more).</p>
<p>Anyways, I’m glad to hear that admissions aren’t overly competitive. Hehe, I really can’t decide what I’m going to write for my favorite book and why. I read all the Jane Austen books in the last few months, and they’re all really good and I can’t choose my favorite. I just bought Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, and I’m not far into it but it’s great. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to explore their creative side. Anyways, that might end up being my favorite, but I can’t even start to keep track of ALL the books I’ve read in the past year.</p>
<p>I have a question. When do classes generally start in the morning? If I get in, I’m definitely going to commute, and I live about an hour away from Boston by commuter rail.</p>
<p>Depends on the class. I took Biology, which was Mon-Fri from 9-11 every day with labs twice a week from 1-3. Some are from 6-8:30 PM, others are throughout the day. Generally, 4-unit classes meet twice each week and 8-unit classes meet 5 times per week. I recommend the 8-unit classes because with those, one can be a year ahead in any college discipline, and also concentrate in one area for the whole summer. </p>
<p>The first week of SSP is a “shopping week” that one uses to explore any class that they have the faintest wish of taking. Many, many people switch classes, including me, and it is recommended that you have a list of 8+ classes to look at during that period. If an 8-unit class seems too hard, this would be the time in which you switch out of it.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help. (: I really would like to take an 8-unit class, but it’s too expensive, even without room and board and whatnot. I’m thinking of getting a job at the local senior center where I currently volunteer during the summer, after I get my license, so I’m trying to see if I’ll be able to work out a schedule where I can get to my classes in the morning and come back in the afternoon and drive to work.</p>
<p>To be honest, I don’t think it would be worth your money to take just one 4-unit course… You’d be better off trying to get an internship or even a job for the summer, and saving the money for college. For a 4-unit 8-week class, you’d probably only get elective credit at college so it probably wouldn’t be worth the money…</p>