Keeping Students Informed

When forced to pick concentrations, our young, innocent first-years are plucked from the safe lands of indecision a mere 32 weeks after entering fair Harvard. Our not-so-young, not-so-naive upperclass students spend the following three years whirling with confusion over concentration requirements and course plans. A CUE Guide to concentrations is therefore definitely in order. We commend Undergraduate Council President Paul A. Gusmorino ’02 for sticking to his campaign promises.

Most first-years take predominantly Cores and introductory classes, making educated decisions about academic futures difficult. Basic data for each concentration, such as average class size (especially for introductory courses), concentration requirements and three-year retention rates need to be readily available. Explanation of each concentration’s curriculum, tutorial program, alternative study options (such as study abroad or independent study) and thesis schedule are also pertinent. This information will help students decide which concentration among similar choices best fits their intellectual interests. The availability of this information online as well as in print would be ideal, as many students have questions long after office hours or far away from Harvard.

This CUE guide also has the potential to provide direction for older students. A list of students’ favorite classes within the concentration and sample six-semester study plans would allow concentrators to plan out their time at Harvard; information as to what graduating seniors and post-graduates do with their degrees would help them plan their futures.

A CUE guide to concentrations will also be a useful tool for department tutorial offices as a monitor for student satisfaction. We hope that students will be given the opportunity to comment on department advising and tutorial programs. Although some departments may be loathe to have public comment on their programs, it will guide students in their academic careers and will show the areas that need improvement, allowing departments to tailor their offerings for students.

Though objective and numeric information will be useful for students, much of a concentration experience cannot be boiled down into a CUE guide-like statistic, and we encourage a more narrative approach for this guide. Gusmorino’s idea for an interactive website where first-years can post questions to upperclass students and tutors sounds wonderful, assuming students take advantage of the resource. Although a simple guide could never replace (and should not be allowed to supplant) a strong advising program, the more detailed information that students can achieve through the guide, the more useful the actual advising process will be.

The reaction to the guide seems favorable among head tutors and concerned administrators, and the Instructional Computing Group is considering the creation of a toolkit to help departments participate. Gusmorino has clearly done his homework on this issue, and we are glad that this project seems close to realization.

We hope that the new CUE guide will spur improvements in concentrations. Harvard students deserve to be fully informed, and a new CUE guide would be a good complement to grade-A concentration advising. Students deserve as much information as they can get.