Class of 2021
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WELCOME TO YOUR HARVARD Class of 2021 We traveled throughout the nation and around the world to find you and your future classmates. We think you’d be a great match for Harvard—and we hope to see you here! Bill Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admissions & Financial Aid Harvard College seeks to provide you with a deeply transformative experience—intellectually, socially, and personally—to prepare you for a life of citizenship and leadership. This is who we are—and we hope you see yourself here! Rakesh Khurana, Danoff Dean of Harvard College WELCOME TO YOUR HARVARD 1 YOUR HARVARD, YOUR JOURNEY 2 Through these gates you will discover… A liberal arts and sciences education A commitment to affordability that provides intellectual inspiration Extracurricular and social opportunities and freedom to explore to pursue your interests and explore Access to unparalleled resources new ones and facilities A network that lasts long after Renowned faculty eager to get to know commencement, with more than you and teach you 300,000 men and women in more than A welcoming, open-minded, and 200 countries collaborative community Living and learning in Cambridge and A four-year, community-based residential Boston—a hub for higher education experience in the dormitories and Houses and multiple industries, from healthcare Centuries of tradition, as well as the to finance to biotechnology YOUR chance for you to shape Harvard HARVARD, YOUR Your Harvard experience will be a journey—a journey of incredible opportunities that support you in your intellectual, social, and personal growth. At Harvard you can ask questions and make discoveries that will JOURNEY shape your future and the world around you; you’ll take intellectual risks and discover unanticipated interests along the way; you’ll make life-long friends, be exposed to new perspectives, and celebrate your own voice and identity. We’re excited to welcome you to the Harvard community. We hope you’ll join us. WELCOME TO YOUR HARVARD 3 YOUR FIRST YEAR IN HARVARD YARD Get to know your roommates During your first year, you will live in a freshman-only dorm in Harvard Yard—right in the center of campus life. Your roommates and suite assignment will be hand-picked by a Resident Dean based on your Housing Questionnaire information. Your suite will bring together people with different perspectives and a wide variety of interests and experiences. Your roommate could be an archaeology student from Missouri, a future engineer from Kenya, or a breakdancer from California. Many freshman roommates form strong friendships, and go on to live together in the Houses during the next three years. Your dorm community In addition to your suite assignment, you’ll be living in an ‘entryway’—20 to 40 students who live in the same area of a dorm. This intimate residential community will 4 YOUR FIRST YEAR IN HARVARD Your classmates will come from across the country and around the world—all sharing a home in the University’s epicenter of residential and intellectual life, storied Harvard Yard. From the moment you arrive on campus this fall, you will begin to make lifelong friends—in your suite, in your entryway, YARD in the freshman dining hall, and in classes. become special to you. Together with your entryway in one of the many outings designed specifically for classmates, you will experience orientation events, freshmen. Whether in organized events or informal enjoy weekly study breaks, and get to know and support social gatherings, you will continually broaden your one another. As you cheer each other on at dance circle of friendship and connection. performances or sporting events, work on problem sets together, or enjoy group meals, your entryway will start Beginning your personal journey to feel like your home away from home. Harvard is deeply committed to helping you make the most of your freshman year—intellectually, socially, Explore the Yard and beyond and personally. Through all of its offerings, the College You will constantly find new opportunities to engage seeks to build a strong community whose members in the Harvard community. Your unlimited meal plan in embody integrity, respect, energy, and compassion. the freshman-only dining hall, Annenberg, will allow you to meet new, interesting friends over chicken parmesan, late-night cookies, or a Veritaffle. You may choose to don your dorm jersey and befriend your fellow teammates in intramural basketball or volleyball. You may get a taste of all that Boston offers by participating WELCOME TO YOUR HARVARD 5 YOUR HOUSE, YOUR HOME Discovering your House dynamic environment that is a key feature of the Toward the end of your freshman year, you will Harvard House system. After just one year in the experience a great Harvard tradition—Housing Day, House, you’ll feel the energy on Housing Day as you one of the most festive days of the year. Spirited welcome the newest class of students into your home. upperclassmen will gather in Harvard Yard to deliver your Housing assignment to you and your blocking A welcoming, tight-knit community group. Immediately after receiving your House Throughout your three years in the House, you will assignment, you will be welcomed into your new home develop close and supportive relationships with through tours, your first House dinner, and House- many people. Even in the first few weeks, you’ll themed swag. This is the day when you begin to look regularly see familiar faces in the dining hall and ahead to your coming years in your House. the student-run House Committee will organize social events to engage everyone. You will also get Unique traditions & character to know your faculty deans (leaders of the House), Every House has its own unique personality and the resident assistant dean of Harvard College, and cultivates its own traditions. Each provides a wealth residential academic staff, all of whom are critical of opportunities to broaden and enrich your life: lively members of this close-knit community. Your time at discussions in the dining hall and House seminars with Harvard will come to a close in your House courtyard professors; organized events like House formals and where you’ll receive your diploma in front of your weekly social hours; and above all, the comfortable and friends and family. 6 As a sophomore, you move into one of the 12 upperclass Houses with up to seven of your friends, your “blocking group.” Your House is a residential community in which you will live, dine, study, plan events, and play intramural sports. Housing is guaranteed all four years, and more than 98% of students live on campus throughout their time at Harvard. You will spend the next three years living in your House, and it won’t take long before your House becomes the YOUR center of your Harvard experience. HOUSE, YOUR HOME WELCOME TO YOUR HARVARD 7 Explore the liberal arts before you decide to enroll. This course selection At Harvard, you will take intellectual risks through the period, called “Shopping Week,” allows you to make exploration of a broad array of academic topics, spanning important academic decisions with confidence, the physical sciences, social sciences, and humanities. genuine interest, and direction. You can further You will dig deep into your current interests—and customize your academic experience by taking discover unexpected ones—as you forge your own courses at Harvard’s graduate and professional schools academic path. Our General Education Program will not or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, just two only introduce you to faculty from across the University, subway stops away from Harvard Square. but also connect what you learn in the classroom to life beyond your college years. A Harvard education will Innovate in engineering & applied science prepare you for a life of civic and ethical engagement in Equipped with cutting-edge facilities and a spirit this changing world and help you understand the deep, of innovation, Harvard College will give you the and sometimes surprising, importance of scholarly work technical background necessary to develop and to the outside world. critically evaluate engineering innovations; to apply these innovations to important global and local Find your academic path problems; and to make informed decisions about them With an open mind, a willingness to explore, and in a societal context. The School of Engineering and supportive advisers, you will have three semesters to Applied Sciences provides tremendous resources, choose your concentration, which is what we call a esteemed faculty members, and an extremely major, from among 49 fields of study. If your interests collaborative environment. You may choose to connect cross academic boundaries, you may combine fields your work to other disciplines through classes that through a joint concentration—or create your own integrate undergraduate research. special concentration to pursue a specific interest in depth. A secondary field, our name for a minor, could Engage with the arts & humanities offer you a chance for focused coursework outside your The Division of Arts and Humanities allow you to concentration. Regardless of your concentration choice, study the riches of the world’s languages, artifacts you’ll develop the ability to think critically, ask questions, from the past, and new media from the digital age. and make discoveries that will shape your future and the From Harvard’s newest concentration (Theater, world around you. Dance, and Media) to Harvard’s oldest (History and Literature), the division’s 33 departments are Discover new intellectual interests dedicated to the interpretation of every aspect of With over 3,500 undergraduate courses from which human culture. Explore all the ways in which people to choose, your academic experience at Harvard can have sought to express and understand themselves be customized to fit your interests and goals.