This booklet explains Harvard College’s policy on advanced placement and Advanced Standing as it pertains to students who matriculate at Harvard as freshmen in September 2008. It presents information about eligibility, College and concentration requirements, and academic and extracurricular opportunities. It suggests some considerations students might keep in mind while thinking about their plans for college. This booklet is useful for all students who have taken standardized tests, even if they do not qualify for Advanced Standing, since it contains information about how one may use advanced work done in high school for other purposes at Harvard.
New students will have many opportunities to discuss Advanced Standing with freshman advisers and faculty members. This booklet is not intended to take the place of those conversations. It will answer some questions and should enable students to ask many more.
After reading this booklet, students should address any questions they have to:
Advising Programs Office
Harvard College
University Hall
Cambridge, MA 02138
advising@fas.harvard.edu
Harvard recognizes in several ways the significant amounts of advanced work many entering students have done while in secondary school.
Each of these options is described in greater detail later in this document.
Credit toward graduation is granted for Advanced Placement examinations only if the student activates Advanced Standing, but advanced placement work is acknowledged in a variety of other ways. For example, a score of 5 on an AP exam often satisfies the prerequisite for middle- or upper-level departmental courses, permitting a student to begin advanced work early in his or her college career. Whether or not a student accepts Advanced Standing, a score of 5 on the German, French (language or literature), Italian, Spanish (language or literature), or Latin (either Latin Literature or Latin: Vergil) Advanced Placement tests may be used to fulfill the language requirement. A score of 7 on a higher-level International Baccalaureate exam in certain languages may also be used to fulfill the language requirement. Most medical schools accept a score of 4 or 5 on the Calculus BC exam as fulfillment of their math requirement, but only the score of 5 will count towards Advanced Standing eligibility at Harvard College. Students planning to come to Harvard are accordingly encouraged to study the following information carefully, to take all College Board Advanced Placement Examinations that are appropriate, and to send all official score reports to the Registrar’s Office.
Advanced Standing eligibility may be based on either AP tests administered by the College Board, or scores on international tests, but not on a combination of AP and other test scores. There is one exception, however. Students who enter with fewer than four AP credits may earn additional credits by passing certain Harvard Placement exams during Freshman Orientation, namely Chinese, Ancient Greek, Modern Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Music (Harmony). These are the only exams that may be used in combination with AP tests. Students wishing to take any of these examinations should consult the Calendar of Opening Days for New Students for the exam schedule.
It is the student’s responsibility to have the College Board send an official score report directly to Harvard. The college code for AP exams for Harvard College is 3434. Students should remind the College Board to include test scores from Sophomore or Junior years (if applicable). Harvard will accept only the official AP score report sent by the College Board through official channels. Copies of score reports or hand-delivered score reports will not be accepted.
Freshmen who have taken College Board Advanced Placement exams need a total of four full credits to be eligible for Advanced Standing. Credits are earned by scoring 5 on a minimum of four AP tests. Certain AP examinations test material covered in one semester only, and for each of these, Harvard confers only one half credit toward Advanced Standing. For example, Calculus AB is equivalent to Math 1a, a semester course at Harvard, whereas Calculus BC includes material addressed in a full year of college mathematics. Thus, the Calculus AB test is valued at one half credit and the Calculus BC test, a full credit. See the summary chart below for the credit for specific tests, paying particularly close attention to the restrictions described in the footnotes. Two half-credit exams count as one full credit toward the four required for Advanced Standing eligibility.
Harvard offers no credit toward Advanced Standing for the following Advanced Placement examinations: Art (Studio & Portfolio), Comparative Government and Politics, Computer Science A, Environmental Science, Human Geography, International English, U.S. Government and Politics; or any other not listed for credit on the following page.
A score of 5 on the following College Board Advanced Placement examinations may earn one full credit toward eligibility:
French (literature)3
German (language)
History (European)
History (United States)
Italian (language and culture)
Physics B4
Spanish (language)3
Spanish (literature)3
Students who wish to use other internationally recognized exam results for Advanced Standing must present their credentials (e.g., British A Levels, the French baccalauréat, the German Abitur) to the Advising Programs Office for an individual evaluation. They should schedule an appointment to meet at the advising office before November 1st (advising@fas.harvard.edu). They should bring their diplomas, which will then be reviewed by the Committee on International Credentials.
Credit toward the bachelor’s degree for new students not admitted as transfer students is offered only on the basis of AP or IB examinations (or other reviewed international credentials). The College does not grant credit toward a Harvard degree for courses taken at other universities prior to matriculation. Therefore, students wishing to be eligible for Advanced Standing are advised to sit for the AP examinations in fields they have already studied, whether or not they participated in a formal AP course in secondary school. Students may learn about AP examinations by writing to the Program Director, College Board Advanced Placement Examinations, Box 977, Princeton, New Jersey 08540.
Advanced Standing allows eligible students to graduate from Harvard College after only six or seven terms of enrollment in the College or, if accepted, to enroll for their fourth year in one of the master’s degree programs specified later in this booklet. Although individual students ordinarily only opt for Advanced Standing at the end of their fourth term of enrollment (fifth term for those planning to graduate in seven terms) in the College when their plans are more certain, pursuing the option of Advanced Standing may entail making choices that affect students’ academic programs from their very first year in the College. Here are some considerations that may help students to make their choices:
We have degree requirements which must be met by the end of the first year, such as foreign language and expository writing, but there is not a fixed freshman curriculum at Harvard College. Students will be advised to take the most advanced courses for which they are prepared, regardless of whether or not they intend to pursue Advanced Standing. Prerequisites for courses are listed in the catalogue, Courses of Instruction, and admittance depends ultimately on the discretion of a faculty member. Note the frequency with which the phrase, “with the consent of the instructor,” appears in the catalogue.
“Concentrating,” as it is called at Harvard College, begins in the sophomore year for all students, but eligible students who plan to use Advanced Standing to graduate in only three years or to apply to a fourth-year master’s program may have to start “concentrating” in freshman year. Some students new to the College are understandably reluctant to commit themselves to a concentration before sampling a number of fields. After reading Courses of Instruction and “Fields of Concentration,” in the Handbook for Students, most students wish to explore Harvard’s curriculum broadly. Thus, it has been standard advice that those students who do not feel ready to specialize should not plan on graduating in fewer than eight terms. That seems especially sensible for a student who is strongly interested in quite unrelated fields—Chemistry and Classics, for example—or eager to begin something entirely new, perhaps the study of Anthropology. Then an exploratory freshman year seems clearly advisable.
On the other hand, if a student’s interests already cohere to some extent, and his or her concentration choice is among Government, Economics, and Social Studies or between pure History and the interdisciplinary study of History and Literature, it may be instructive to enroll in concentration courses and judge from the inside. Many concentrations offer serious and well-conceived sophomore tutorials, semester or year-long courses intended to introduce concentrators to the field. That initiation often proves more revealing than the department’s introductory course or courses intended equally for nonspecialists. Thus, if one is an Advanced Standing-eligible student excited by the subject and challenged by the notion of participating in a small discussion group with upperclassmen, enrolling in a sophomore tutorial in the first year may be a fine idea. (See the section Concentration.)
It is not uncommon for Harvard students to change concentrations after the sophomore year and even later, although with diminishing ease. Premature specialization, however, can sometimes reduce a student’s mobility. Students who choose a concentration based on their high school or other pre-college experience can find themselves without an alternative if their passion for this field wanes. The result might be a lackluster completion of an academic agenda already outgrown. One strategy for guarding against this is to explore new areas through the Core. However, the best protection lies in approaching the whole academic program with an open mind and a sense of adventure. Students should explore and experiment as much and as early as possible.
The decision-making process will begin with conversations with freshman advisers and concentration Head Tutors. There will be many opportunities during the orientation period and first term to take part in discussions about choosing a concentration and the consequences of pursuing Advanced Standing. To the greatest extent possible, the first term should be devoted to an exploration of Harvard’s academic landscape. Developing a sense of what seems interesting and challenging, and what is a reasonable work load and learning pace, will serve students well in the decision whether or not to pursue Advanced Standing. In an average year, approximately a third of the freshman class is eligible for Advanced Standing, but very few students in a class decide to graduate in three years.
Any students who feel certain from the start that they want to accept Advanced Standing in a concentration requiring a sophomore tutorial may, with the permission of the concentration, enroll in that tutorial in the fall term. Such students should consult early in the fall term with potential concentrations.
Careful planning of the academic program is required of all students who wish to graduate in three years. After speaking with advisers and before enrolling in first-term courses, everyone considering Advanced Standing should spend time preparing a preliminary Plan of Study, or blueprint of their academic program for the next three or four years. This process of plotting out, semester by semester, which interests to pursue and which to forego, and of planning how to reconcile electives and requirements, may very well clarify the advantages and disadvantages of Advanced Standing.
Considerable forethought is required to make a three-year undergraduate education satisfying rather than hectic. Thus, the College has adopted a policy by which eligible students apply for Advanced Standing near the end of their fourth term of enrollment (fifth for seven-term degree candidates) when their plans are more certain and they have decided to use the option either to graduate early or to apply to one of the fourth-year master’s degree programs.
Eligible students who decide to use Advanced Standing to graduate after only six or seven terms in the College or to apply to one of the specified master’s degree programs must apply for Advanced Standing by the appropriate deadline during the third term before they intend to graduate or enter the master’s program. This deadline, ordinarily on the same date as that for seniors filing degree applications or changing concentrations, will be published yearly in the “Academic Calendar” in the Handbook for Students. Forms for activating Advanced Standing will be available on the Advising Programs Office website and from the offices of the Resident Deans in the Houses.
Once the activation form has been filed, the Registrar formally transfers 4.0 of the required 16.0 credits for the bachelor’s degree to the record of each Advanced Standing student. Students who accept Advanced Standing, but later decide that completing the undergraduate requirements in fewer than eight terms is no longer in their academic best interest, must rescind Advanced Standing with the appropriate form and will forfeit the 4.0 Advanced Standing credits. Students who have activated Advanced Standing are required to take this formal step to remain a fourth year in the College and to return to their original class status. Students should also understand that they may compete for fellowships that are confined to a specific class only once. Thus, were an Advanced Standing student to apply during that third year for a scholarship limited to seniors, he or she could not rescind Advanced Standing and compete again during the fourth year as a senior.
Students who have accepted Advanced Standing may later decide to remain in the College for a fourth year (even though they may well have completed the minimum bachelor’s degree requirements) by rescinding Advanced Standing. They will be expected to carry a full course load each term and are subject to the ordinary Core requirements. Full tuition is charged for each semester in which students enroll, and financial aid is available according to the same criteria applied to other undergraduates.
Several Harvard departments or committees offer a master’s degree program to students who accept Advanced Standing:
Advanced Standing students interested in the fourth-year master’s degree programs ordinarily take the Graduate Record Exam and apply to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences by December of their third year.6 Admission is often quite competitive and the programs very rigorous. (Any Advanced Standing student who is not accepted and decides to remain in the College will need to rescind Advanced Standing) Most departments require eight graduate-level half courses with a minimum grade of B for the master’s degree. Successful A.B./A.M. or S.M. candidates receive both their bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the end of the fourth year. They continue to live in their Houses and register as undergraduates, even though their fourth-year programs are devoted mainly to graduate study.
Advanced Standing students enrolled in the A.B./A.M. program seek the permission of the Administrative Board to “bracket” graduate-level courses. Such bracketed work will not count in any way toward the bachelor’s degree. These courses earn credit toward the graduate degree. A student who brackets 8 half-courses toward this advanced degree does not incur any additional Core area requirement in the fourth year. (See the section Core Curriculum.)
Although the demands on students in this program are extraordinary, the satisfaction among A.B./A.M. or S.M. Advanced Standing students is quite high. For this small group of serious and focused scholars, the A.B./A.M. program offers the opportunity to engage in advanced study and research with graduate students while living with undergraduate friends. In many respects, the program fulfills the original concept and intent of the Harvard faculty in its founding of Advanced Standing at the College. Questions regarding the A.B./A.M. Program, or other upperclass aspects of Advanced Standing, may be directed to the Advising Programs Office (advising@fas.harvard.edu).
Many students who are not certain that they want to graduate early see this as the greatest disadvantage of accepting Advanced Standing. In fact, accepting Advanced Standing puts students at a relative disadvantage only when they are proposing to graduate in three years, and then only because they will have less experience in their academic and extracurricular activities than most of their peers. Generally, students who accept Advanced Standing to remain at Harvard for four years to pursue an A.B./A.M. program will be seen as viable candidates.
In a few cases for non-graduating students, eligibility for national awards is tied to an applicant’s class year: Beinecke Scholarships, open to juniors, provide support for the senior year and first two years of graduate school; Goldwater Scholarships, open to sophomores and/or juniors in engineering, mathematics, and the sciences, provide support for the junior and/or senior year; Truman Scholarships, open to juniors interested in public sector careers, provide support for the senior year and first two or three years of graduate school; and Udall Scholarships, open to sophomores and/or juniors who are either interested in careers in environmental public policy or Native Americans interested in careers in health care or tribal public policy.
For students who accept Advanced Standing and plan to graduate in three years, the Truman will now accept applications from candidates in their final year. In the Beinecke, Goldwater, and Udall competitions, there is not yet a clear indication regarding Advanced Standing.
Students considering Advanced Standing who may wish to apply for these fellowships should contact the Fellowships Office at the Office of Career Services, (617)495-8126 for guidance.
Most fellowships at Harvard are open to graduating seniors for a variety of projects. These fellowships typically follow the rule of thumb outlined above: an applicant is eligible in his or her final year at Harvard, and students following a four-year course will probably be more competitive than those following a three-year course, for the reasons outlined above, but this will depend on the nature of the fellowship. For those fellowships restricted to returning students, the same rule of thumb tends to apply.
More information about fellowship competitions is available in The Harvard College Guide to Grants and its Harvard supplement, as well as from the Fellowships Office at the Office of Career Services; students with questions should be encouraged to consult these resources at 54 Dunster Street or at (617)495-8126.