Get the inside scoop on jobs and careers with Vault career guides. Harvard University Buzz Book is your complete resource to jobs, careers, interviews and recruiting.
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Harvard University Buzz Book Get the inside scoop on jobs and careers with Vault career guides. Harvard University Buzz Book is your complete resource to jobs, careers, interviews and recruiting. |
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Harvard University Buzz Book Welcome to the first edition of Vault's Harvard University Buzz Book. In this new and unique guide, we publish extended excerpts and sample admissions essays from surveys of students and alumni from Harvard to bring you the inside scoop on its undergraduate program. The survey comments cover the following areas:
The guide is intended to serve as a complement to other references to colleges and universities currently available that utilize school-reported data. Unlike those guides, Vault's Buzz Books (which also include the College Buzz Book, Business School Buzz Book and Law School Buzz Book) are composed almost entirely of information provided directly to Vault from students and alumni. (We asked Harvard to comment on the surveys after they were collected.)
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Admissions: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 9/2000-6/2004
Survey Submitted: April 2005
The application process for Harvard involves filling out the Common Application form, writing a one- or two-page essay and an interview with an alum in the student's area. The school looks for smart, well-rounded and interesting students. High SAT scores are important, although they do not guarantee successful applications. Admissions pay a lot of attention to the students' essays. The school is less interested in why students want to attend Harvard than how the students have become who they are, which subsequently translates into their potential to contribute to the Harvard community. In their essays, applicants should focus on relating their formative experiences or particular events that have helped shape certain ideas or thought processes.
Academics: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 9/1994-1/1997
Survey Submitted: October 2003
At Harvard, one can pretty much do whatever he/she is interested in. Harvard academics break down into three categories: Natural Science (including Engineering and Computer Sci), Social Science (History, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology) and Humanities (Lit, languages, Art), as well as the CORE curriculum.
Lots of writing since Harvard has the oldest Expository Writing Program in the country. The goal of the undergrad program is not to master a set of books or memorize facts, but to read, write and think critically. These skills are required regardless of what we ended up doing.
Employment Prospects: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 8/1998-6/2002
Survey Submitted: May 2004
Harvard opens every door you could ever imagine. I will have it on the top of my risumi for the rest of my life. Their Office of Career Services is more than willing to help out alumni, and I have already called upon them for help several times since my graduation two years ago. The alumni network and Harvard Clubs are amazing and a real privilege to be a part of.
Quality of Life: Students Speak
Status: Current student, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 9/2001-Submit Date
Survey Submitted: January 2004
The Harvard campus is like a resort for the intellectual student. High quality gyms, impressive housing, incredible non-athletic facilities and a safe campus allow for comfortable living.
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 9/1998-6/2002
Survey Submitted: November 2005
Most undergrads live all four years in on-campus housing. Housing is more than comfortable and with cost of living in Cambridge, it's not worth living off campus. Freshman year, you are matched in rooms of two to eight people based on lifestyle and the living conditions that you specify to the Freshman Dean's Office. All freshmen live in the central "Harvard Yard" and eat at a single Annenberg Hall.
For the three upperclassman years, you are able to choose your rooming group of two to 10 people and you are assigned to a specific "house" (dorm). You live in this House for three years, which allows you to get to know your community of housemates, dining staff and house administration. It becomes your micro-community. Each upperclassman house has its own dining room, laundry and most have workout facilities of some kind. They also have common areas with comfy couches and big screens for that living room feel. Some even have performance spaces where students put on concerts, plays and other performances.
Social Life: Students Speak
Status: Alumnus/a, full-time
Dates of Enrollment: 8/1998-6/2002
Survey Submitted: May 2004
Social life is far more normal than people think. Sure, there are bookworms that sit around all day in the library and shutter when exposed to the light, but there are plenty of kids who hang out, party, go out in Boston and drink their fair share of beer. The social aspects of Harvard were the best part for me and I have made many friends that will last a lifetime.
