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    Three Courses at Harvard Summer School

    pswartzendruberpswartzendruber Posts: 5
    in Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) Discussions
    Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, but I used to post a on similar HES forum until it was shut down.

    I'm looking to kill two birds with one stone. I'm not yet admitted to the ALM program for International Relations, but I have taken three courses at a distance, including statistics, and received A's in all 3 of them. I still need to take my proseminar course before applying for admission. I was thinking about doing the 7-week proseminar and taking two, back-to-back 3-week courses over the summer in hopes of satisfying my on-campus requirements and proseminar admissions course prerequisite.

    Has anyone taken three classes over one summer in order to satisfy the residency requirement? Anyone taken a proseminar and another graduate level course concurrently over the summer? Would like to hear your thoughts, suggestions, and/or experiences if you're willing to share.

    Thanks!

    Comments

    • CatsCats Posts: 16
      edited December 2015
      Hello, Pswartzendruber. According to the course overload form, taking more than two courses during the Summer is not possible.
    • tokomontokomon Posts: 30
      I took summer courses (one in the three-week session each, on-campus) last summer but not as an ALM candidate. I was working towards my three pre-admission courses into the ALB program.

      Last summer was the first time they had two sessions. Prior to this, I believe it was one giant seven-week session. And as @Cats mentioned, you can't take more than two courses in the summer. And I think you also couldn't take, say, one seven-week course and one course in either of the three-week sessions together, but I could be wrong.

      Anyways, the three-week sessions were brutal. There were readings before the course started, one, and two, and assignments were due after the three-week session ended. This means that I had to pre-read for my second session while concurrently studying/writing papers during my first session AND work on final papers when my second session started, which was already reading-intensive.

      One thing to note is that library privileges end shortly after your last class. You mention how you're interested in satisfying your pro-seminar course and courses within two sessions. If, like this year, you have work due after your session formally ends, you will not be able to enter the library and check books out for your final assignments. We brought this up a couple of times in the summer but the administration said they could not grant extensions. So if you have work due after your in-class meetings end, you need to finish your assignments before your library privileges are taken away. But if you were already a ALM/ALB candidate before the summer, you could certainly exercise these privileges, but until then, they will end shortly after your class finishes.

      Again, this was the first time Harvard Summer School split their summer into two sessions so things might change next year given the feedback from this past summer.
    • jcaudilljcaudill Posts: 26
      I never did the 3 week session but took the graduate Strategic Management course as a synchronous online during the 7 week term this past summer and it was pretty heavy. Work was hectic for me during that time as well, which complicated things, but in my one experience the summer session was a big step up in intensity from the full term courses. It was well worth the effort to get the course and finish my certificate during the summer rather than waiting until the fall, but be ready for a challenge.
    • pswartzendruberpswartzendruber Posts: 5
      Cats said:

      Hello, Pswartzendruber. According to the course overload form, taking more than two courses during the Summer is not possible.

      Cats, I appreciate your input here; however, I'm wondering if the same overload applies to graduate-level students (ALM). I believe the course overload you provided was for undergraduates. Either way, I'm going to inquire about this issue, but just thought I'd ask around and get people's insights and opinions. Thanks!
    • pswartzendruberpswartzendruber Posts: 5
      jcaudill said:

      I never did the 3 week session but took the graduate Strategic Management course as a synchronous online during the 7 week term this past summer and it was pretty heavy. Work was hectic for me during that time as well, which complicated things, but in my one experience the summer session was a big step up in intensity from the full term courses. It was well worth the effort to get the course and finish my certificate during the summer rather than waiting until the fall, but be ready for a challenge.

      Thanks, jcaudill. I'll take this into consideration, even if I only end up taking the proseminar over the 7-week summer session. I won't be working, but I can imagine that it will be intense regardless.
    • pswartzendruberpswartzendruber Posts: 5
      tokomon said:

      I took summer courses (one in the three-week session each, on-campus) last summer but not as an ALM candidate. I was working towards my three pre-admission courses into the ALB program.

      Last summer was the first time they had two sessions. Prior to this, I believe it was one giant seven-week session. And as @Cats mentioned, you can't take more than two courses in the summer. And I think you also couldn't take, say, one seven-week course and one course in either of the three-week sessions together, but I could be wrong.

      Anyways, the three-week sessions were brutal. There were readings before the course started, one, and two, and assignments were due after the three-week session ended. This means that I had to pre-read for my second session while concurrently studying/writing papers during my first session AND work on final papers when my second session started, which was already reading-intensive.

      One thing to note is that library privileges end shortly after your last class. You mention how you're interested in satisfying your pro-seminar course and courses within two sessions. If, like this year, you have work due after your session formally ends, you will not be able to enter the library and check books out for your final assignments. We brought this up a couple of times in the summer but the administration said they could not grant extensions. So if you have work due after your in-class meetings end, you need to finish your assignments before your library privileges are taken away. But if you were already a ALM/ALB candidate before the summer, you could certainly exercise these privileges, but until then, they will end shortly after your class finishes.

      Again, this was the first time Harvard Summer School split their summer into two sessions so things might change next year given the feedback from this past summer.

      Great information, tokomon. Like I mentioned to Cat, the course overload form provided was for undergraduates, so I'm going to inquire about the same question for graduate students. Technically, I wouldn't ever be taking more than 8 credits concurrently–it will still be grueling, however. I had never heard about assignment submission dates posted after the end of the semester. Will most of the required texts only be available in the library?
    • tokomontokomon Posts: 30
      pswartzendruber said:

      tokomon said:

      I took summer courses (one in the three-week session each, on-campus) last summer but not as an ALM candidate. I was working towards my three pre-admission courses into the ALB program.

      Last summer was the first time they had two sessions. Prior to this, I believe it was one giant seven-week session. And as @Cats mentioned, you can't take more than two courses in the summer. And I think you also couldn't take, say, one seven-week course and one course in either of the three-week sessions together, but I could be wrong.

      Anyways, the three-week sessions were brutal. There were readings before the course started, one, and two, and assignments were due after the three-week session ended. This means that I had to pre-read for my second session while concurrently studying/writing papers during my first session AND work on final papers when my second session started, which was already reading-intensive.

      One thing to note is that library privileges end shortly after your last class. You mention how you're interested in satisfying your pro-seminar course and courses within two sessions. If, like this year, you have work due after your session formally ends, you will not be able to enter the library and check books out for your final assignments. We brought this up a couple of times in the summer but the administration said they could not grant extensions. So if you have work due after your in-class meetings end, you need to finish your assignments before your library privileges are taken away. But if you were already a ALM/ALB candidate before the summer, you could certainly exercise these privileges, but until then, they will end shortly after your class finishes.

      Again, this was the first time Harvard Summer School split their summer into two sessions so things might change next year given the feedback from this past summer.

      Great information, tokomon. Like I mentioned to Cat, the course overload form provided was for undergraduates, so I'm going to inquire about the same question for graduate students. Technically, I wouldn't ever be taking more than 8 credits concurrently–it will still be grueling, however. I had never heard about assignment submission dates posted after the end of the semester. Will most of the required texts only be available in the library?
      Nope, not for me. Many of my readings were actually provided for me in PDF form but I did have to write research papers that required many visits to the library to check things out. Some of my peers used online articles for their papers but I used some books I found at the library.
    • CatsCats Posts: 16
      edited December 2015
      According to the official website, "the maximum number of credits you may take is 16 credits in a fall or spring term, four credits in a January session, or eight credits at Harvard Summer School" for graduate studies. Still, you may want to ask your advisor whether you can fill an ALM overload form to take three classes during the Summer.
    • pswartzendruberpswartzendruber Posts: 5
      Cats said:

      According to the official website, "the maximum number of credits you may take is 16 credits in a fall or spring term, four credits in a January session, or eight credits at Harvard Summer School" for graduate studies. Still, you may want to ask your advisor whether you can fill an ALM overload form to take three classes during the Summer.

      Thanks, Cat. I guessed I missed that link while searching. I will ask about taking three classes over the summer. If you can take a 7-week course and a 3-week course concurrently, I'm hoping that two consecutive 3-week courses spread over two sessions and one 7-week would be alright. Thanks for the information.

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