A Day in the Virtual Life of a Harvard Senior

Category Student Voices

Author

Portrait of Claire
Claire Class of '21 Alumni
Authored on September 17, 2020

Article

Wondering what it’s like doing college online these days? Here’s a day in my virtual life right now!

As a senior, I’m spending the semester at home in Pennsylvania. Here’s what a typical Thursday looks like for me:

 

9am – alarm goes off – my alarm right now is “When The Party’s Over” by Billie Eilish, I find the opening notes really calming!

9:20am  – I usually lay in bed and check my email, as well as spend a bit of time on TikTok, because why not

9:45am – Breakfast – by this point I’ve usually made it downstairs and am eating breakfast; my favorite thing to eat is a toasted bagel with my coffee.

10:30am – Class – this is when I had my first class of the day, my GenEd lecture about Conflict and Medicine. The professor is awesome! 

11:45pm – Second Coffee – my mom came back from a doctor's appointment and brought me back a latte! Was feeling very grateful for the caffeine at this point.

12pm – Work – just because there’s a pandemic doesn’t mean I’m not still working! I usually work for an hour or hour and a half every day for my job in the Registrar’s Office.

 

Author's desk at home

 

1:30pm – Class – this class was my section for my History of Art and Architecture course. It’s about Politics, Power, and Architecture, and I’m learning a TON because the subject is super new to me. Also, right before this class, I ran upstairs to make a smoothie even though I didn’t have an official break because a girl’s gotta eat!

2:30pm – Mock Interview – Today I had a mock interview! I’m applying to medical school, and interviewing is all about practice.

3:30pm – Finally a short break! I mostly just stayed at my computer and scheduled some things, but hey, it’s the thought that counts!

4pm – Office Hours – The break was nice while it lasted. In the era of Zoom, you have to schedule your Office Hours as appointments ahead of time! I got to chat with my GenEd prof, which was super nice.

4:30pm – Meeting – One last meeting! This one was with my colleagues in the Tour Guide program. It’s always fun to catch up.

5pm – Finally free! Obviously, at this point, I was starving so I was super excited to eat dinner with my family. We ended up eating kind of early today.

Evening until ~11pm, when I get ready to go to bed to get up and do it all again! This day, I did some readings, and worked on a paper I have coming up for my architecture class. I also got a workout in!

 

I hope you enjoyed the sneak peek into what my day looks like on Zoom. As you can see, sometimes my days can get super busy. In the evenings, since I’m not at school, usually I don’t have much class or meetings, so it’s nice to just get a chance to hang out with my family, do my homework, and just relax – have to look at the silver linings!

Tags

  • Residential Life
  • Student Life

Claire Class of '21 Alumni

Portrait of Claire