why go to harvard for undergrad..?

just_forget_me
Tue, 25 Jul 2006 02:17:19 +0000

Really thoughtful post Preguntas!



Larry Summers, who had been one of the most promising leaders in American higher education, was forced to resign by a faculty that was too arrogant to critically look at their quality of undergraduate education. Summers had been key in making plans for its Allston expansion, another capital campaign, major curriculum changes, and its financial aid initiative. Now, without a permanent president, and with a divided faculty, plans for most of these promising advances have been halted or delayed. It’s even been reported that many donors have reneged on their multimillion dollar pledges because of a lack of confidence in Harvard’s leadership.



The undergrads will miss Larry. Some of these points are irrelevant to your undergraduate education (i.e. capital campaign). I don’t think the finaid initiative is really hurt by Larry’s departure. I’m not sure about the Allston timeline…



When I visited Harvard during its Pre-frosh Orientation Weekend, no one could tell me what the graduation requirements would be, including whether or not there would still be core classes. Why? Because the faculty hadn’t decided what to do. No one knew how delaying the choosing of your major would affect Junior Tutorials. Why? Because the faculty hadn’t made up its mind. No one could tell me if pre-med students would have to take the life sciences sequence. Why? Because faculty hadn’t agreed on what to do with it after so many students complained on its impracticalities.



Did you ask Summers any of these questions during his speech? But clearly other people should have answers too! It seems that in general, the graduation requirements you have going in to Harvard are the ones you have when you leave, but you might have the option of the new requirements (i.e. Class of 2009 can choose an old or new Life Science concentration). Some of the other problems (Junior tutorials) will probably be dealt with on a concentration by concentration basis (like secondary fields), which is a slow and painful process, but seems to be the nature of academia. Pre-med sequences seem pretty set-> LS1a,b. PS1a,b,c, 50series bio, chem 17/27 (of course there are options, like physics 11 or 15). My opinion of the changes isn’t nearly as rosy as xjayz (I thought LS1a ignored the fundamentals of chemistry, Chem 7 was just all over the place and really rough, and 1b had both amazing and horrible professors).



Scores of administrators have resigned or have been fired recently (Kirby, O’Brien, etc.). The school administration has been restructured recently in a way that some people don’t know who is in charge of what.



This exodus scares me a little too. I guess if you want to make lemonade out of lemons, you could try to get on the selection committees, and try to influence the future of Harvard.



Harvard students complain of their social lives so much that Harvard has hired a “Fun Czar” who organizes social events for them. I mean, come on!



The “Fun Czar” isn’t planning parties on a Friday night. The big campus-wide events (State Fair, Ben Folds) have been a ton of fun. Other than the goofy title, I think this is a great move.



Obviously Harvard is a great school. But I discovered that I wouldn’t want to spend my undergraduate years in a place that is plagued with so many internal conflict, questions, and confusement, not to mention its lukewarm focus on undergraduates.



I think you’re overestimating the influence of administrators on day to day student life. Your classes, activities, friends, parties, etc. are all rather autonomous. Sure, changing course requirements can be confusing, but that’s a minor issue in the scheme of things. Still, I definitely understand where you’re coming from. Where did you end up going?