When I first matriculated to Harvard, I was in no rush to start the “academically rigorous” part of the student experience here.
In fact, I waited until the very last possible moment to create even a tentative schedule, much to the dismay of my friends and advisor. I figured I would use the Add/Drop period to truly solidify my class choices, and would start taking things more seriously then.
My “no stress” plan was perfectly fine until one fateful day in Annenberg Hall. At the very beginning of the Add/Drop period, I met some friends from my pre-orientation program for dinner. As expected, the topic of choosing classes came up, and we went around discussing the classes we were interested in. As we went around, one of my friends, who, like myself, was intending to concentrate in Government, mentioned a class she was interested in called "The American Presidency." As one of many people who wanted to be President of the United States as a child, my curiosity was peaked, and I looked up the class on our student portal as soon as I got back to my dorm.
In doing my research, I saw that the class was jointly offered with the Harvard Kennedy School. At first, I thought the class would be too much of a challenge for me as I got acclimated to Harvard academics. However, a much smaller part of me wanted to see if I could handle that challenge. This small part of me was very effective in its persuasion, and I soon found myself enrolled and headed to the second session of the class.
As I walked into the Kennedy School for the first time and walked around for almost ten minutes searching for my classroom, I was scared I’d made a serious mistake. But before I could fully process that thought, I found my classroom and settled into a seat in the middle of the second row. I took in a big gulp, shook off my nerves, and started preparing to take notes on the lecture. It took me a few sessions before I could work up the confidence to raise my hand during class, and many more before I genuinely felt confident in the answers I offered to Professor Porter’s queries.
I had no idea what was in store for me when I first walked through those classroom doors. What I found was that this course was probably the best introduction I could have had to the academic experience at Harvard. With every assignment, I was pushed to pursue a deeper understanding of the issues at hand; I was encouraged to approach political discussions with a multitude of perspectives in mind. The research required by our assignments excited me, and I fell deeper in love with the process of learning something new every week. I found the readings to be insightful, the assignments to be comprehensive, and class discussions to be especially fruitful. For the first time, I felt that I could truly hold my own in political discussions and that I could handle the type of work Harvard courses require students to produce.
I could not have handled that class without support, though. There were a few other undergraduate students in that class, and our weekly section was a tremendous help in processing the content we covered during lecture. Our Teaching Fellow consistently held us to a high standard, while keeping in mind our status as undergraduate students.
"The American Presidency" was a great introduction to the learning experience as Harvard. Even more, I can confidently say that cross-registering, especially as a first-year student, is an intellectually-stimulating experience like no other.
