Other Requirements

Writing Requirement

Degree candidates admitted as freshmen must enroll during their first year of residence in a prescribed half-course in Expository Writing offered by the Committee on Expository Writing. A final grade of D- or better in Expository Writing 20 ordinarily fulfills the writing requirement; however, the Director of the Expository Writing Program may require particular students to do additional work during the following term in order to satisfy the requirement. Neither courses taken on a Pass/Fail basis nor Harvard Summer School courses in expository or creative writing may be used to fulfill the Harvard College writing requirement.

All transfer students are expected to satisfy the same writing requirement as students admitted as freshman unless they have demonstrated superior writing ability in the English language before they arrive at Harvard. Fall term transfer students who seek exemption from the writing requirement must provide the Director of the Expository Writing Program with a substantial sample of their own written work in the summer before matriculation at Harvard; spring term transfer students must submit a writing sample by December 1 before matriculating at Harvard. Such a sample should include at least twenty double-spaced, typewritten pages. Papers submitted to and evaluated by a faculty member at the College the student attended before coming to Harvard constitute an appropriate sample. The Director will judge the papers and decide if an exemption should be granted. Transfer students seeking exemption should contact the Expository Writing Program at 617-495-2566 or expos@fas.harvard.edu for more information.

Any student who fails to complete the writing requirement during the first year of residence must enroll in an appropriate Expository Writing course during each subsequent term of residence until the requirement is met.

Language Requirement

Degree candidates must meet a foreign language requirement in a language with a written component that is taught at Harvard or for which an appropriate examination with a written component can be given. The requirement can be satisfied in one of the following ways:

• Earning a minimum score of 600 on a College Entrance Examination Board SAT II Test that includes a reading component, or
• Earning a passing score as determined by the department on a placement examination administered by certain language departments, or
• Passing with a letter grade one appropriate full course or two half-courses of instruction in one language at Harvard. These courses may not include foreign literature courses conducted in English.

In addition, students who have earned scores on language examinations that would normally count toward advanced standing (for example, a minimum score of 5 on a College Board Advanced Placement Examination or a minimum score of 7 on an International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination) will be deemed to have satisfied the language requirement, regardless of whether they have a sufficient number of such scores to qualify for advanced standing and whether they choose to accept advanced standing.

Any student who has not met the language requirement upon entrance ordinarily is required to enroll in and complete with a passing letter grade an appropriate full-year language course or two half-year language courses in a single language during the first year of residence. (An appropriate course is one for which a student qualifies by previous instruction or placement test.) Most introductory courses in all languages taught at Harvard may count towards fulfillment of the language requirement; exceptions are noted in the course listings in Courses of Instruction. Exceptions in the case of freshmen can be granted only by the Administrative Board upon recommendation of the Dean of Freshmen or, in the case of new transfer students, upon the recommendation of their Allston Burr Resident Dean. Undergraduates who have been granted an exception by the Administrative Board and who fail to meet the requirement by the end of their second year ordinarily will be placed on probation. Students who fail to meet the requirement by the end of the third year ordinarily will not be allowed to continue until they have completed the requirement through enrollment in the Harvard Summer School. In cases where the College Entrance Examination Board SAT II Test is an option, that option may be exercised prior to entrance only.

Students wishing to take special examinations in any language in which an appropriate examination, including a written component, can be given by a member of the Faculty familiar with the standards of the language requirement should apply to the Freshman Dean's Office by the beginning of the first week of class during their first year. Special language examinations will ordinarily be scheduled by the day that study cards are due. Students who plan to fulfill the language requirement by special examination should inform their Resident Dean for Freshmen or their Allston Burr Resident Dean prior to the filing of study cards and should consult with them as to the advisability of enrolling in a regular language course pending the result of the special examination.

Students who plan to continue language study beyond the requirement level may wish to qualify for a citation in that language (see "Citations in Foreign Language" on page 37).

Language Requirement Waiver

The language requirement will be waived for any student whose native language is not English and who is proficient both in that language and in English. Petitions for waiver may be obtained from the Freshman Dean's Office or the Coordinator of Transfer Student Programs and should be submitted to the Registrar. No such petition will be granted unless the student has completed secondary school instruction in that language.

Residence Requirement

Students will not ordinarily be recommended for the AB or SB degree without having paid for eight terms of residence. (Any student currently registered in the College is considered here to be "in residence," regardless of actual domicile.) Exceptions to the residence requirements are made for students who graduate in fewer than eight terms by exercising Advanced Standing or who matriculated with transfer credit. Some students may complete Harvard degree requirements in fewer than eight terms as a result of course work done elsewhere that is approved in advance and counted by Harvard toward degree requirements (see page 20), or as a result of course work done at the Harvard Summer School (see page 58), or as a result of having worked at a rate of more than four half-courses per term. Students who have worked at a rate of more than four half-courses per term are considered to have "accelerated" and are subject to additional tuition fees (see page 370).

No student will be recommended for the AB or the SB degree who has not completed a minimum of four regular terms in the College as a candidate for that degree and passed at least eight full courses during regular terms in Harvard College.

Students who have not completed the degree requirements within the allotted number of terms ("lost degree candidates") may complete degree requirements only by enrolling in the Harvard Summer School, by successfully petitioning the Administrative Board for an additional term (see "Additional Term" on page 57), or, if eligible, by enrolling in a program of study approved by the Committee on Education Abroad (see below).