Luis Martinez Really Wants You to Be At Ease With Your Transition into College

Luis Martinez '12 is just about the best known Harvard student philanthropist this side of Matt Sundquist '09 (hint hint), but even we are often overwhelmed by the extent to which Martinez will go to help out his students. A renowned tipster has forwarded us this extensive email explanation of freshman year at Harvard that Martinez forwarded to everyone in the Harvard Class of 2012 Facebook Group (so if you're not a member, don't fret- GG is here to clue you in). Here, in its entirety, is the helpful albeit strange introduction that the class of 2012 is receiving from a fellow member:

Hello Everyone!

August is upon us and with it begins a month filled with many, many preparations for our arrival to Harvard in September. We are a little more than a month away!

I hope to treat this message very much like a "frequently asked questions" post, for as we all know, when the same question is asked over and over, it's most likely indicative of a lot of people having that same question.

Let's begin with Expos. For a great description of the program, I would recommend that you visit: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k24101&pageid=icb.page115443
Once we arrive on campus in the fall, every single one of us will be assigned to either Expos 10 or Expos 20, depending on the results of our Writing Placement Test. If taking Expos 10, you will be required to take Expos 10 in the fall and Expos 20 in the spring. If assigned to Expos 20, you will be randomly assigned to either take Expos in the fall or spring semester. Note that you have no control over which semester you will be assigned Expos and that while you can petition to switch, odds are not very good that you will be granted a switch in semester. Thus, I would recommend that you plan accordingly to take Expos either semester.

Termbill.

Don't forget to pay your termbill by August 1st! You should have received an e-mail with instructions on how to view and pay your termbill – it will not come in the mail! If you have not received your term bill, feel free to see if it's available online at http://www.termbill.harvard.edu/ or to contact the Students Receivables Office at student_billing@harvard.ed

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Financial Aid Officers.

I provided this information in my last message, but feel that it's important enough to repeat. Your financial aid officers are available to answer all your questions, though due to the mass volume of e-mails they get, I would personally suggest that you try to get your answer from our amazing classmates and upperclassmen friends before seeking their advice. For your reference:

Melanie Brennand-Mueller: mabrenn@fas.harvard.edu
Officer for the Harvard College Class of 2012 (last names A-L)

Laura Sutherland: sutherl@fas.harvard.edu
Officer for the Harvard College Class of 2012 (last names M-Z)

A few people have contacted me stating that they have yet to turn in their HUHS forms (due July 15). If you still haven't done so, I urge you to turn them in ASAP, as the later you turn in these forms, the more likely it becomes that your registration could be delayed in September. You can find contact information and duplicate forms at: www.huhs.harvard.edu under "student - new student"

Mailings. By visiting this link on the Freshmen Dean's Office site, you can view what you should have received by now, and what to look forward to next month: http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&pageid=icb.page71465

Placement Exams.

Information on the Exams: http://www.fdo.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3806&tabgroupid=icb.tabgroup50396

Do note that the Expository Writing, Biology, and Chemistry exams will be taken online, starting August 4th. All other exams will be taken on campus in the fall.

Schedule for fall Placement Exams: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic428346.files/Fall-2008-PLACEMENT.pdf

Courses.

Remember that you can start looking for courses using the MyHarvard tool. From conversations that I've had, it seems that choosing courses may be harder than most people would expect (surprise, haha), so it may be worth your time to start looking at some of these courses early, so to make your final selections that much easier to choose in September.

You should have all received or will receive shortly a booklet with information of Freshmen Seminars and offerings for this year. You can find a lot of the same information by visiting the Freshmen Seminar website at: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~seminars/ . Applications for these courses will be available starting August 1st.

The Registrar's Office FAQ section could prove very useful – in particular the sections devoted to "Course Enrollment" and "Registration" : http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/fasro/common/faq.jsp#online_directory

Another great resource is the Academic Departments' websites. You can find information on professors, courses, and concentration requirements by visiting the department of interest: http://www.fas.harvard.edu/home/academics/deptwebsites.html

As always, thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope that you have found this message informative and useful as you prepare for what promises to be a great year at Harvard. If you have any questions, please feel free to refer to the resources above, or if you would like, feel free to message and I would be more than glad to help you find an answer.

Hope you are well and getting pumped for the fall,

- Luis