<p>By the way, here is a link for extracurricular activities at Harvard:</p>
<p>[FAS</a> Handbook for Students: Chapter 9: Extracurricular Activities](<a href=“http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter9/index.html]FAS”>http://webdocs.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter9/index.html)</p>
<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>Someone just sent me an email with a long list of EC’s that he is interested in. I thought that it might benefit everyone to know that ECs at Harvard are quite intense. You will probably be able to do at most four (which would be a stretch). You also want to note that the more you do, the less focused that you will be on any particular EC. Take that into consideration carefully.</p>
<p>Hey again,</p>
<p>So I have gotten quite a few emails and private messages. What I meant by send me an email if you have any private questions is that if you have a concern that would not particularly apply to anyone else, feel free to contact me personally. My idea in starting this forum was to make sure that everyone could benefit off of each others’ questions. Thus, it is best for everyone if you make your questions public.</p>
<p>Just a thought for all of you :-)</p>
<p>Hi Charlene,</p>
<p>If I want to take Chinese (I’m fairly fluent, especially after coming back from a 5 week trip there with a 800 on Chinese SAT II), do I still have to take a placement exam? Or do they just look at the score and automatically place me? Also, are placement exams during freshman week?</p>
<p>The simple answer is yes. I received a 790 on the Chinese Sat II. However, Harvard wants to make sure that you are actually competent in the language. Furthermore, if you are very fluent, there are still a few possible levels that you could be at, one of which is 140, the level I was placed in.</p>
<p>If you are at the level that I think that you are at, you should probably be in 150. However, the college will not let you just ascend into 150 in freshman year without making sure that you are genuinely qualified for it. You will have to take the placement test regardless.</p>
<p>My advice to everyone is to take as many placement tests as you can, under the assumption that you may take certain classes. For instance, I took both the Chem and Bio placement tests even though I have taken neither classes and will not need placement and in spite of high SAT II’s and 5’s on both AP’s. Even though I did not need those tests, there were other placement tests that I am glad that I took, even though I originally thought that doing so was a waste of time.</p>
<p>What was your freshman seminar? Can you recommend some seminars (in any area) that are well-known for being outstanding and interesting to take, or for having really good professors? Do most people choose to take seminars that are closely aligned with their fields of interest or would it be okay to take a seminar that I find interesting but isn’t going to contribute to my major?</p>
<p>What are the placement tests like? It seems like a black box topic with everyone I ask…</p>
<p>I did not take a freshman seminar. However, in general, freshman seminars are so small and personal that there is no definitive seminar that defines the entire program. It really depends on what you are interested in. I do recommend, however, that you take a seminar that is related to your interest but just quirky enough to offer you a different perspective/insight. That’s the point of the freshman seminar: they provide painless and cool opportunities to discover an academic interest with little to no pressure.</p>
<p>As to placement tests, they vary. With languages, they either closely resemble the AP test (most romantic languages) or more closely mirror 360 degree assessments of everything from your competence in reading to an assessment of your lifelong story. Take Chinese for example. The Chinese placement exam is a three, hour, I’ve-never-been-assessed-in-so-many-things-even-in-English sucker. You’ll be tested on everything from reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, and overall Chineseness. But, seriously, stop thinking about placement tests. You should not study for the placement tests, and, frankly said, they are just simple phenomena that you will have to deal with when you show up in college. There’s no point in anticipating them and trying to understand the intricacies of each individual test. They are not SAT’s. No one will grade you upon your performance. </p>
<p>What you should anticipate is what kind of direction you want to take in college. Try to get the big picture before you deal with the details. If you have an idea of what you are doing with your college years, you will not stray too far overall.</p>
<p>Freshman seminars:</p>
<p>[Freshmen</a> Seminars Program](<a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~seminars/]Freshmen”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~seminars/)</p>
<p>FAQ about Placement Exams:</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> College Freshman Dean’s Office](<a href=“http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&pageid=icb.page177871]Harvard”>http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&pageid=icb.page177871)</p>
<p>I hope that helps :-)</p>
<p>I know you told us not to think about placement tests, but this is a pretty general question. Does the expository writing exam consist of multiple choice and essay, or just essay? How many essays will we be expected to write?</p>
<p>Haha, no problem. The expos placement is literally one essay question. It’s kind of a more intense (and better written) version of the SAT Writing Essay. You read a passage and respond to it using relevant support from that passage.</p>
<p>Actually…I was wondering what the math and science placement tests looked like. There’s a 0% chance that I’ll study for them, but there’s no harm in asking in a thread dedicated to asking questions about harvard.</p>
<p>Char’s advice is to start thinking about your new, adult future…your plans, dreams, new directions. Reading the course catalogue for NEW inspirations is your new role, not continuing in the same high school mode of worrying about the next (placement tests) scores. No one will care at Harvard, and you don’t even have to tell the parents!</p>
<p>That’s not what I was asking for either, but oh well.</p>
<p>Yeah, but now ALL of us are curious…a tiny hint about what the math/science tests look like? Just one very very tiny hint?</p>
<p>They’re formatted like the SAT IIs, with difficulty of individual questions ranging from SAT II level to AP level.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your assistance thus far! I’m going to move away a bit from the academic questions for a moment, just to ask a little about student life. </p>
<p>As far as meals go, are you allowed to grab a meal and take it out with you? How are items like yogurt, fruit, cottage cheese, soymilk, and milk made available? Are there a variety of pre-packaged items (like the before mentioned) so that a busy student can have meals while studying (or moving to work in a more appropriate location than the dining room)? I know thats rather specific, but I’m just trying to get a feel for scheduling and things like that. </p>
<p>Also, how is the week structured? I know some schools have a certain weekday when classes aren’t scheduled as frequently. Do you find yourself extremely involved with schoolwork for most of the week, and all through the weekend? </p>
<p>How do you pack? It’s probably warm for a large portion of September–but will the temperature suddenly plummet, and leave one in need of winter clothes?</p>
<p>Thanks…and sorry if my questions seem a little detailed =)</p>
<p>Okay guys, this was a while ago, but here’s what I remember:</p>
<p>Math -
3 sections, one or two of which (I believe) is optional for those who have taken higher level (i.e. calc) math. The first section is 30 questions and includes basic algebra and geometry. The second section is 30 (?) questions and includes pre-calc (?) and maybe AP AB Calc. The Last section is 15 (?) questions and includes everything you would have learned in AP BC Calc.</p>
<p>Science -
Depends on which test. I took Bio and Chem.</p>
<p>Basically, it’s 80 - 100 questions (again, ?) on every aspect of the subject that you would have learned in an AP or Honors class. It’s not as detailed as an AP test, but is slightly more advanced than an SAT II. It is also graded on a similar scale as an SAT II. </p>
<p>However, most people have forgotten some of their chem/bio by the time that they reach college. I think I received a 600-something on the chem test and a 700-something on the bio test. (I don’t remember). Originally, I scored a 5 on both Chem and Bio AP’s and an 800 on SAT II Bio - ecology. </p>
<p>I was placed into the 19-21-23-25-55 series by the Math exam and AP test (5 in BC Calc, 780 or 790 in SAT II Math II), higher level bio (forgot which class) by the bio exam and my AP scores, and orgo by my Chem AP (which was a while ago) and more basic chem by my placement test (by which point I had forgotten most of my chem). </p>
<p>Does that help?</p>
<p>In response to Want2bIvy:</p>
<p>Meals are very flexible. There is an informal culture of stealing food (and borrowing silverware) from the cafeterias. You don’t ever have to worry about eating. Furthermore, the school offers a service in which, if you call in ahead of time and request that food be prepared and bagged up for you, the cafeteria will prepare a bagged meal so that you can just grab and go. That being said, I recommend that you spend your meals being social because you will find that on the busiest times of the year, that (and group-studying) turns out to be your only social life. (But I wouldn’t worry, that’s only for about two months or so, one month in the late fall semester and one month in the late spring semester). Finally, all of those food items that you listed and more are available. Yes, people complain about the food in Annenberg, but it doesn’t change the fact that Harvard statistically has some of the best dining halls for college undergrads anywhere.</p>
<p>The week is how you schedule it. You choose your classes and sections. Depending upon what kind of a schedule you want (and what kind of a schedule you need to have for your major, etc.), the week can be anything. Most people prefer to have little to no class on Friday and just cram all of their classes into the first four days. It depends on your preference. However, more of your time will be spent studying than going to class. For me, I chose to have most of my classes and sections on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This way, I had full (or near full) days in between to just study and/or work at Harvard Student Agencies. That may or may not work for you. </p>
<p>Schoolwork does take up a lot of time in college in general, not just Harvard. However, at Harvard, we do do a bit more of it than most people. You can choose to do lots of work on the weekends. However, if you are a savvy person and manages your timing well, you can free up large chunks of time on Friday and Saturday evenings/nights for parties and socializing. Most people do no work on Friday, little work on Saturday during the day, and tons of work on Sunday. I do not recommend this. It can get very stressful on Sunday. I personally prefer to do no work on Friday, spend morning until midway through the afternoon on work on Saturday, and finish what I need to on Sunday. It’s a better way to stay sane. (Also note that this is only during those busier months of your academic career. There are plenty of times when you won’t have as much work, and then there’s the time before finals week…)</p>
<p>Finally, pack EVERYTHING. Cambridge gets cold…very cold…quickly…very quickly. You want to be ready for it when it happens (or bring enough cash to buy a new closet when all that sub-arcticness happens). </p>
<p>Make sure that you bring:
<p>For the Freshman Dean’s Office’s official recommendations of what to bring, I suggest that you visit:
[Harvard</a> College Freshman Dean’s Office](<a href=“http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&pageid=icb.page29087]Harvard”>http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&pageid=icb.page29087)</p>
<p>I will put in a personal note. I worked on developing a completely new freshman linens program for Harvard Student Agencies all year. I’ve also worked with a bunch of guys who have been putting together a Dorm Store of furniture for the freshman. I therefore recommend that you get bed linens, towels, etc. and furniture from HSA. We have some high quality stuff at very reasonable prices, and it’s my baby:</p>
<p>[Harvard</a> Student Agencies, Inc. - The Largest Student-Run Corporation in the World](<a href=“http://www.hsa.net/freshmen]Harvard”>http://www.hsa.net/freshmen)</p>
<p>That is as close as you can get to Harvard’s own officially endorsed line of bed linens and furniture for students. Those are items that you do not have to bring to campus.</p>
<p>I hope that’s helpful.</p>
<p>By the way, out of courtesy to the school, please return your stolen silverware on “bring your stolen crap back to Annenberg” day, hosted at the end of the year.</p>
<p>Okay, so that’s not its official name, but you get the point. It’s best if we all try to respect the school.</p>