These emails were adapted from the official application for peer advising fellows at Harvard.
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Dear Jason,
I’m glad you emailed me! I’ve read the Courses of Instruction and the Handbook for Students. I’ve pretty much figured out the courses I’m going to take at Harvard, but I have a couple of questions. What GPA do I need to have to get summa cum laude? Since you’re at Harvard you probably are a smart student. Do you get straight A’s? Can you offer me any tricks of the trade?
My other question is, when can I start my thesis? I went to Australia this summer and toured a lot of vineyards, and now I want to write a thesis about early 19th century Australian wine production and exports to Europe.
Sincerely,
Dean Stewart ‘12
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Dear Dean,
I admire your ambition and initiative. Which courses have you decided to take? I didn’t know which courses to take until my second week on campus—and that was just my four classes for first term! It sounds like you have a clear sense of direction, but I want to warn you from moving so fast that you miss out on the beauty of exploring and trying the unexpected while you’re here. We have a one-week shopping period, during which you can visit classes and gain a sense of the professor’s personality and the community in the class—qualities that you can’t read about or see online. I would recommend having about eight to ten classes you’d like to take for first term, shopping them during your first week and then narrowing the list based on an innate comfort level and how things fit with your schedule. Sometimes a friend mentions a great class or a professor has gone on Sabbatical, so it’s wise to have a plan but take things as they come.
I didn’t even know what GPA it took for Summa Cum Laude until I Googled “Harvard summa cum laude,” but here it is: every graduating class has a different GPA requirement to achieve about a 4-5% student group to earn those honors. You’re a smart student obviously; you can check out all the details and see answers for other related questions at; http://www.college.harvard.edu/academics/resources/honors_faqs.html.
I probably will get 2 A’s, a B and a Pass for my classes this term. Everyone at Harvard is smart and grades are honestly a poor indication of how smart people here are. You get involved in activities, conduct research, start a small company or non-profit…there’s so much! Hearing that list of grades you may not know that the B was for my expository writing class, a grade that may not mean much for my future career unless I aspired to be an author.
Sorry to say, there’s no real secret to earning A’s; otherwise everyone here would get straight A’s right? The key is to work hard and enjoy what you do, Dean. There are no guarantees for grades and it’s a lot harder than high school for sure, but diligence and passion will carry you.
Again, with respect to your thesis question, I really respect your ambition. Sounds like a rewarding trip in Australia; how long were you there for? Maybe we could go for a wine tasting in a few years! Typically theses are written in your senior year, so maybe you can take some courses and do further research on wine production while you’re here that would really strengthen your work. Harvard is full of books and people to help you develop ideas further, so I think your thesis can be a seriously original and profound contribution in time. In the meantime you can surely find a course in which you’ll be able to write a shorter paper on this topic and explore ideas a bit further.
I hope these answers have helped you; feel free to email me back about anything or give me a ring.
Take care, Dean. See you soon!
Your trusty PAF,
Jason,
