Candidates for the Bachelor of Arts must fulfill both College and concentration requirements.1 Ordinarily, a Harvard undergraduate must complete sixteen courses for a bachelor’s degree, approximately half of these in a field of concentration, one quarter in the Core Curriculum, and one quarter as electives.
Advanced Standing students will be granted four credits toward the degree and will therefore be required to present only twelve additional credits, including one half course in Expository Writing. No Advanced Standing student may repeat for credit at Harvard a course for which he or she has received equivalent credit through Advanced Standing. (See the section Course Equivalencies.)
Advanced Standing students ordinarily complete the minimum requirements for a degree in three years. Generally they are expected to follow the normal course of study within their concentrations; that is, when appropriate, to enroll in sophomore tutorial during their first year and in junior tutorial in their second year, if they are honors candidates.
Harvard has a two year residency requirement, so Advanced Standing does not preclude studying abroad. Students who wish to study out of residence and still graduate in three years may petition for credit for work done out of residence through the Office of International Programs, University Hall, Ground Floor South. Advanced Standing students hoping to study abroad should consult with the Office of International Programs early in their first year, as study in a foreign country often requires language preparation and planning ahead.
Accepting Advanced Standing does not exempt students from any of the degree requirements, such as the foreign language requirement or expository writing, although the Core requirement is adjusted for students graduating in fewer than eight terms.
The Core Requirement is intended to ensure that every Harvard graduate is broadly educated in the major academic approaches to knowledge. There are eleven areas in the Core, grouped under the following headings: Foreign Cultures, Historical Study, Literature and Arts, Moral Reasoning, Quantitative Reasoning, Science, and Social Analysis. All undergraduates are exempt from four area requirements on the basis of their chosen fields of concentration; i.e., courses in exempt areas do not count for the Core requirement. Each student who completes eight terms of study for the A.B. degree is required to pass one letter-graded course in each of the seven Core areas designated for each concentration.
Those students who are considering Advanced Standing should initially plan to complete courses counting for all seven areas required for their fields of concentration. The Core requirement is modified under the following circumstances:
1) Students who complete their undergraduate program in fewer than eight terms must satisfy the following number of Core areas:
seven terms at the College: six Core areas
six terms at the College: five Core areas.
Advanced Standing students may not omit more than one area in each of the following clusters on the basis of Advanced Standing:
Foreign Cultures, Literature and Arts A, Literature and Arts B, Literature and Arts C
Historical Study A, Historical Study B, Moral Reasoning, Social Analysis
Quantitative Reasoning, Science A, Science B
2) A student who enrolls in a master's program and then "brackets" courses for this graduate degree is required to complete courses in five Core areas. As in the case of a student graduating after six terms, the specific five areas should be chosen according to the rules described in (1), above. Under certain circumstances, students can modify their Core requirement through study in an approved program of study abroad. Students should consult the Core section of the Student Handbook or the Core website for additional information.
Ordinarily, a Core area requirement is met by passing a letter-graded Core course listed in that area. For a listing of the departmental courses that can be counted for Core area requirements, see the Core Curriculum section of the Handbook for Students. Harvard Summer School courses do not ordinarily count for Core area requirements. For a list of the specific Summer School courses that can be taken for Core credit, or for more information in general, contact the Core Program office: 77 Dunster Street, (617) 495-2563; http://my.harvard.edu/core.
In the spring of 2007, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to begin plans for a new General Education curriculum. Students eligible for Advanced Standing as of September 2007 should plan on completing their Core requirements as described above, until further details about the General Education curriculum are available.
Expository Writing 20, the one semester course known affectionately as "Expos," is required of all first year students, who enroll in either the fall or spring term. There are no exemptions by virtue of AP tests, SAT scores, or writing tests. On the basis of a writing test in September some students are counseled to enroll in a fall-term preparatory course (Expos 10) before taking Expos 20 in the spring. Expos teaches the elements of effective academic argument, using different kinds of sources as evidence and emphasizing revision. Because writing requires familiarity with a subject, each Expos course concerns a particular topic, and students choose from among these topics in registering for Expos. No Expos course is intended to introduce a field of study, however; the focus is writing.
Advanced Standing students will often be permitted to count toward concentration requirements appropriate Advanced Placement work done in secondary school for which Harvard credit is given. Students should refer to the list of Course Equivalencies at the end of this book, individual concentration write ups in the section "Information on Concentrations for Prospective Advanced Standing Students," as well as the specific rules for concentration and honors in the section "Fields of Concentration" in the Handbook for Students. For further information, students should consult directly with the Head Tutor or Director of Undergraduate Studies of the concentration.
Ordinarily students choose a field of concentration by the end of their third semester. Students who intend to pursue Advanced Standing in order to graduate early or to enter a fourth-year master’s program may have to decide upon a concentration earlier. Those students should consult with potential concentrations early in the fall term of the freshman year.
All new students at Harvard will be assigned an adviser from the Board of Freshman Advisers when they arrive. Advanced Standing students may also be assigned to a tutor or adviser in their concentration, as soon as they make their choice. Contact with one’s freshman adviser continues throughout the first year.
In general, American medical schools require one year each with lab of inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, biology, and physics, to be fulfilled by courses taken in college. Some medical schools require or highly recommend a semester of biochemistry as well. Students should check the current edition of the Medical School Admissions Requirements for information on particular course requirements for the medical schools to which they may apply, especially their state medical school. In order to satisfy medical school requirements, students who are granted AP credit in these subjects should plan to take at Harvard a more advanced course with a laboratory component. Most American medical schools also require or recommend a full year of college mathematics. The AP examination in Calculus BC (with a score of 4 or 5) satisfies this requirement at most medical schools; a score of 4 or 5 on the Calculus AB exam often counts for one half year of college mathematics. [Note, however, that only scorse of 5 count towards Advanced Standing eligibility.] AP preparation counts toward the math requirement at most medical schools whether or not one opts for Advanced Standing, so this should not influence one’s Advanced Standing decision.
Some students who plan to attend medical school may be particularly eager to accelerate their undergraduate education. On the other hand, as the report of the Association of American Medical Colleges, Physicians for the 21st Century, compellingly argues, the practice of medicine demands not just scientific knowledge but qualities of mind and character classically strengthened by liberal education.
Decisions about reconciling premedical courses with other intellectual and extracurricular commitments will be properly and necessarily individual decisions. Students who want to combine premed training with a nonscience concentration may find that three years is simply not long enough for thorough and satisfying work in both fields. Students should be assured that many people at Harvard stand ready to help them think through these choices. Students are encouraged to consult proctors, freshman advisers, and concentration head tutors. The following webpage: www.ocs.fas.harvard.edu/students/careers/medicine.htm provides useful information on how to meet premedical course requirements. For additional advice, students may also consult Dr. Lee Ann Michelson, Director of Premedical and Health Career Advising, Office of Career Services (michels at fas).
Eligible Advanced Standing students can receive financial aid for up to eight terms, as is true for all Harvard College students. This includes students enrolled in the A.B./A.M. program in their fourth year.
Questions about financial aid eligibility should be directed to the Financial Aid Office, Harvard College, 86 Brattle Street,, Cambridge, MA 02138; (617) 495 1581.
Each year a number of families choose to stabilize tuition at the same rate for future years through our Tuition Prepayment Plan, and students considering Advance Standing may also participate in this program. (see details at: www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/financing_options.htm). However, interested students and families are advised to make a decision about the number of years to prepay through this plan before their final decision on Advanced Standing is reached.
Questions about tuition prepayment should be directed to the Financial Aid Office (see address and telephone number above).
Advanced Standing-eligible students may participate in intercollegiate athletics with either the freshman or the varsity teams, except in sports in which NCAA or Ivy League rules prohibit participation by first year students. Ivy League rules read as follows:
"A student admitted into the sophomore year under a program of Advanced Standing shall be eligible at once:
a. In sports where Ivy freshmen are varsity eligible (currently, all sports except men’s crew) for four years of varsity competition.
b. In sports for which Ivy freshmen are eligible only for freshman teams (currently, only men’s crew); for one year of freshman and three years of varsity competition or for three years of varsity competition."
The Athletic Department, (617) 495 4992, can answer questions about eligibility for specific sports.