You're So Special

David L. Rice ’10 is really special. In a campus filled with economics and English concentrators, Rice took the road never-before-traveled and chose to concentrate in “Esoteric Studies - Mysticism and Modernism.” Haven’t heard of it? Neither had Harvard—until Rice created it.

After extensively exploring both the History and Folklore and Mythology departments, Rice found that none of the established concentrations offered by the College fit his interdisciplinary interests. So, after a grueling application process, Rice became one of the 21 undergraduates pursuing degrees through the Department of Special Concentrations this year.

Established in 1971, the Department of Special Concentrations enables students with a particular passion to combine various fields of study without joint concentrating. But in the Harvard system, one concentration isn’t necessarily easier than two: with little support or guidance from the College, students seeking an individualized concentration must go through intense administrative rigmarole to tailor-make a degree. This lengthy and difficult process of applying for a special concentration at Harvard is daunting, limiting the program to students who not only want to pursue a unique interdisciplinary path, but also have the drive and dedication to force their way through the system.

“I really think it takes two months hard work,” says Irina D. Mladenova ’08, a special concentrator in Urban Studies, of the application process.

As a transfer student in the fall of 2005, Mladenova began her sophomore year at Harvard as a History of Art and Architecture concentrator—but she quickly found her interests resonated more in the Graduate School of Design (GSD). After taking urban planning professor Margaret Crawford’s GSD 5101: “Histories and Theories of Urban Interventions,” Mladenova turned to the Department of Special Concentrations to pursue her interest in Urban Studies. Fortunately, Mladenova found urban planning professor Jerold S. Kayden ’75, who also did a special concentration in Urban Studies, to become her adviser.

“Many professors in grad schools do not take you seriously.” she says. “I was really lucky.”

JUMPING THROUGH HOOPS

Most applicants, however, don’t have it so easy. Adam R. Singerman ’08, a special concentrator in Linguistics and the Languages of the Americas, knocked on several doors to find his sponsor and future adviser, archaeology professor Gary Urton. Similarly, Alison H. Rich ’09, a special concentrator in Dramatic Arts, found prospective advisers busy with other special concentrators and graduate students.

As a result of this lack of initial guidance, current concentrators have had to take on an unofficial advising role. “I have been contacted by like 10 freshman and sophomores who have wanted to take a look at my application, so it is a continuing process,” says Elizabeth A. Kolbe ’08, a special concentrator in Health Policy.

The difficulty of pursuing a special concentration is not a matter of poor departmental organization, but rather an attempt to ensure that all concentrations are well thought out and in keeping with the College’s aim of a liberal arts education.

Deborah D. Foster, director of Undergraduate Studies in Special Concentrations, notes that special concentrations are appropriate only for students interested in a more in-depth interdisciplinary study of an area that isn’t addressed in existing concentrations like History and Literature or Social Studies.

“We want students to have a liberal arts education, not a pre-professional education. We look at the balance in the application,” Foster says. “But we recognize that [Harvard’s graduate schools] are useful resources.”

While special concentrations are designed as a way for students to explore individual interests as undergraduates, many special concentrators note that focusing their studies is not always just for love of the field.

“I decided that I wanted to go to grad school in [Ethnomusicology],” says Samuel Shapiro ’08, a special concentrator in that field. Shapiro says that crafting a concentration specifically targeted in his field of interest facilitated his applications to graduate school.

STRADDLING DISCIPLINES

For most special concentrators, however, it is the desire to explore interests in the present that drives their decision, not plans for the future. Although secondary fields and joint concentrations also allow students to study different disciplines, it is only in special concentrations that students can combine their interests into a single course of study.

“We should be gravitating toward more interdisciplinary studies rather than away from it,” Singerman says. “There is a lot of room for people who don’t want to have two different areas of study but want to bring them together in a more cohesive way.”

Foster agrees, noting that special concentrations are ideal for students who “want to look through more than one lens, and lenses that enhance what it is that they are investigating.”

The trying process of successfully creating a concentration to focus on the intersection of two disciplines is a source of pride for special concentrators, according to Rich. After the extensive planning required to get through the ten-part application, the degree takes 14 half-courses to complete, and honors candidates must take 16 half-courses in addition to writing a thesis. Rich notes that the drive and independence of special concentrators is indicative of the considerable work they put into the process. But for students with a passion and pursuance, the end is well worth the means.

“It is not like some whimsical thing—that is a myth,” Mladenova says. “The people who are there take it to a really high level.”