BUREAU OF STUDY COUNSEL
Mon.–Fri., 8:30 am–5:30 pm
5 Linden Street,
617-495-2581
Fax: 617-495-7680; email: bsc@fas.harvard.edu
http://bsc.harvard.edu

The Bureau of Study Counsel, Harvard’s center for academic and personal counseling, serves to foster students’ learning, growth, and development. The Bureau aims to help students make meaning of their lives; think critically; make thoughtful choices; develop a sense of voice and authority in their scholarship; cultivate healthy relationships; and thrive in a stressful, competitive environment by approaching their work and lives with authenticity, curiosity, creativity, and zest.

The Harvard College experience is one of extraordinary opportunity, which typically comes with heightened external demands and internal pressure. Through academic, psychological, and consultative services, the Bureau supports students in their efforts to develop their intellectual, emotional, and social potential. All students can benefit from such support in this challenging environment and during such transformative years of life. There is no charge to undergraduates for Bureau services, except for occasional nominal processing fees.

Bureau services are confidential. The Bureau follows the same policies and procedures of consultation and confidentiality as articulated for HUHS (see the section on "Consultation and Confidentiality," page 409).

   The first floor of the Bureau is accessible by wheelchair.

Study Counseling

The Bureau offers study counseling for students who have concerns about their academic performance, concentration, motivation, anxiety, or other aspects of their schoolwork. Study counseling encourages students to reflect upon the power and limitations of their current ways of studying, and helps them expand their repertoire of learning strategies and skills in areas such as time management, writing, exam-taking, note-making, reading, listening, and problem-solving.

Peer Tutoring

As a supplement to formal course instructions, peer tutoring is available through the Bureau in any subject or course, but particularly in mathematics, natural sciences, and languages (including English as a second language). Peer tutors are undergraduates who have done honors work in the courses for which they tutor, and are trained and supervised by Bureau staff. Peer tutors help students master the subject matter of a course and explore new ways of learning. There is a charge for undergraduate peer tutoring of $4/hour, which may in some cases be reduced through the Financial Aid Office.

Harvard Course in Reading and Study Strategies

The Harvard Course in Reading and Study Strategies is a fourteen-session non-credit course that helps students adapt their accustomed ways of reading and learning to the rigors of college-level work, with its heavy workload, unfamiliar material, understructured assignments, and demands for self-direction. Oriented around specific techniques, lessons, and practice exercises, the course is designed to meet several goals: to foster knowledge, understanding, and self-awareness about reading, concentrating, and studying; to provide practice in giving up old ways of approaching one’s work and learning new ones; to teach strategies of studying more effectively and efficiently; and to make possible a greater sense of purpose, engagement, and meaning in one’s experience of learning. Students find that they increase their reading speed (doubling it on average) without sacrificing comprehension. There is no homework other than for students to try out the strategies they are learning on the homework they already have for their current courses. The Harvard Course in Reading and Study Strategies is offered twice each term and once during the summer. There is a $25 undergraduate fee for the course; Harvard undergraduates who are on financial aid can apply for assistance through the Financial Aid Office.

Study Skills Materials

The Bureau of Study Counsel offers both on-line and paper materials designed to assist students with the perplexities and challenges of academic life. See the study support section of our website for an extensive array of materials, including on-line learning self-assessments; links to tips, guides, and other resources related to academic success; and books, articles, and workbooks on study skills and college life. (Available on-line beginning in Summer 2006.)

Previous Course Examinations

Reviewing course examinations from previous years is a useful method for discerning the sort of scholarship that is valued in a given course. Previous examinations can help orient students to the nature of a course’s inquiry and can provide material for review. Final examinations from previous years are available on the web at www.fas.harvard.edu/~exams. Students are encouraged to bring a copy of a previous exam to a counseling session to use as a reference point for talking about how to approach studying for and taking exams.

Workshops and Discussion Groups

The Bureau provides workshops and discussion groups on topics related to college life and work, such as assertiveness, time management, procrastination, cultural adjustment, relationships, senior-thesis writing, and preparing for exams.

Personal Counseling

The undergraduate years are a time of intense growth and development – intellectually, emotionally, and socially. College students struggle to form their identity, explore their relationships, develop their capacity for independent critical thinking and decision-making, master complex skills and materials, and determine their life/career direction. During the process of adaptation and growth, students encounter various academic, personal, and relational challenges that test the limits of their current coping strategies. Counseling helps students enhance their engagement in their learning and in their lives, develop new strategies and skills, and deepen their connection to what really matters to them. Many students appreciate that the Bureau offers a reflective space, apart from everyday pressures and demands, where they can have the sorts of conversations that enable them to find a sense of perspective, purpose, and passion. For students who need or request services beyond those provided by the Bureau (such as medication, specialty care, or ongoing mental health treatment), a Bureau counselor can help the student get connected to appropriate resources at the Harvard University Health Service (HUHS) Mental Health Service, area clinics, or local psychotherapists in private practice. The Bureau is a department of HUHS and information about students receiving services at HUHS may be shared between counselors/clinicians of HUHS departments for purposes of coordination and continuity of care.

Consultation

The Bureau provides consultation and training to students, proctors, tutors, resident deans, administrators, faculty, teaching staff, and other members of the Harvard community. Consultation generally focuses on issues of student development and college life, or on specific students or situations (within the bounds of confidentiality). The Bureau provides orientation, training, and supervision of peer counselors (in partnership with the Mental Health Services), academic peer tutors, and study center peer facilitators. Bureau staff members maintain affiliations with the residential Houses and the Yard, take part in House/Yard activities, and provide workshops or presentations by request on topics of current interest to students Bureau staff also serve as non-resident academic advisers to new students. Bureau counselors are available for confidential consultation to members of the extended Harvard community on any issue that affects students’ lives and activities.

Confidentiality

Students regularly speak with Bureau counselors about highly private and personal matters. As a department of HUHS, the Bureau shares with HUHS a commitment to affording students the maximum protection available by law to maintain their confidentiality, serve their best educational/developmental interests, and protect their safety and the safety of the community. Bureau counselors use their discretion and professional judgment to apply the strictest confidentiality protections applicable to each circumstance. One distinction of note is that the Bureau operates primarily in an educational context, while the HUHS Mental Health Service operates primarily in a mental health context, and so confidentiality policies and procedures may differ between the two services.

The privacy of records kept by the Bureau about students’ use of academic services (such as tutoring, the Reading Course, groups and workshops, etc.) is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a federal law which protects all student education records. Information related to a student’s use of counseling is also held to higher confidentiality standards under Massachusetts law that are applied to sensitive health or mental health information. This means that a Bureau counselor will not convey information related to a student’s counseling to any party outside HUHS (including the student’s deans, professors, or parents) without first consulting with and obtaining permission from the student. Counseling information may be shared without a student’s permission only in very rare circumstances, such as when disclosure is allowed or required by law to comply with a court order or to ensure the safety of the student or the community.

For more information regarding the confidentiality of health and mental health records, see the HUHS Notice of Privacy Practices, huhs.harvard.edu. For more information regarding the confidentiality of educational records, see the Handbook section "Education Records," pp. 72-74. Students with confidentiality concerns or questions are invited to consult with a Bureau counselor, 617-495-2581, or the HUHS Patient Advocate, 617-495-7583. Other references in this Handbook to HUHS and its confidentiality practices and procedures generally apply only to the HUHS Mental Health and Medical Services, and not to the Bureau.