GSAS’s annual English Language Program, offered by invitation to incoming international students during the summer before their Harvard careers begin, is an intensive immersion into the ways of the American classroom and the eccentricities of the US idiom and culture.
Students who enroll are asked to make a real commitment to preparing themselves as future students and teachers in Harvard classrooms. In return for four-weeks of class and discussion time (usually totalling 6 hours a day) — and a few long nights of homework — they gain lasting benefits: a more confident grasp of English, scholarly tools and resources, an understanding of GSAS, Harvard, and the US, and — perhaps most important — friendships to help ease their transition. Tuition for the program is paid for by GSAS, and housing in a GSAS residence hall and some meals are provided free of charge.
The 2011 program ran from July 24 through August 18. During their first week in the program, we asked three ELP 2011 students to tell us about their early experiences as Harvard graduate students.
Yi-fan Zhang, People’s Republic of China, Biological Sciences in Dental Medicine
Why did you decide to do your graduate work in the US and at Harvard?
The PhD programs in the US are perhaps the most rigorous ones in the world, which will give me a systematic and well-rounded training as a scholar. I chose Harvard because...first I heard so many nice things about Boston. The history, culture as well as natural surroundings are certainly very attractive. And the Harvard Integrated Life Sciences program enables me to jump out of my comfort zone (oral biology) and immerse myself in a more inter-disciplinary academic community.
What is your biggest challenge so far—about life in the US, and/or about Harvard?
Lots of my fellow students are surprised by the workload of ELP. So I am trying my best to adjust to the busy life of a graduate student, learning to prioritize the tasks and organize my life. Try to get job done and, at the same time, sleep and eat properly.
What’s been the most fun/most exciting thing so far?
In all, it is meeting bright students from all over the world of different disciplines. I appreciate the different approaches people take when dealing with the same question. Harvard is truly an international institution. A particularly interesting experience is the trip to JFK museum, which is a vivid experience of American culture and politics.
What is ELP doing for you? How is it helping you handle the challenges of settling in at Harvard?
First we have time to transition smoothly and make friends. And in the program, I feel welcomed by the GSAS community because they make this experience very personal to everyone. For example, we have activities (movies, orientation, tours) in the residence halls. We have the opportunity to address our concerns and talk to people who would listen and help us. It is exciting to meet helpful faculty and staffs from health service, library, and medical school and of course GSAS.
I hope when the other incoming students arrive, I am able to help them in the way that GSAS helped ELP students.
In addition, our ELP instructor Shawn [Morris] is a super funny and responsible teacher. He is very strict with our performance and individually gives us advice on how to improve English. In class we have heated discussion regarding novels and scholarly writings. We are encouraged to express different opinions. But at the same time, nobody wants to get on the bad side of Shawn by not doing homework!
Jeong-Mo Choi, Republic of Korea, Chemistry
Why did you decide to do your graduate work in the US and at Harvard?
I finished my undergraduate study in Korea. Because of its small size and a short history of its academia (compared to other countries such as the US and Japan), Korea has few leading scientists in the world. I wanted to learn the world-class research, and I thought the US could provide such a research environment.
Actually, I took a long time to decide to study at Harvard, for I had some other options, which also seemed to provide great research environments. Thus I started to consider another factor: an interdisciplinary atmosphere. Harvard is not famous only for its natural sciences, but also for its humanities and social sciences. I was told that interdisciplinary conversations are common and natural at Harvard, and that if you wanted, you could meet people in other fields and learn something from them. This aspect of Harvard really attracted me, so I chose Harvard, eventually.
What are your scholarly interests? (Any particular faculty you’d like to work with?)
My primary research interest is theoretical and computational chemistry, and there are some famous and wonderful researchers in Harvard; Alan Aspuru-Guzik, Eric J. Heller, and Eugene I. Shakhnovich. I plan to do rotations in their labs, and I hope to find a lab fit to me during rotations.
What is your biggest challenge so far—about life in the US, and/or about Harvard?
The biggest challenge is, maybe obviously, English. This is my first time living in the US, and also my first time using English from morning to night. I love to chat with friends; usually I have a lot to say when I am with my friends, but it is not so easy for me to use proper expressions via a foreign language. Furthermore, talking with various people requires me to understand all different accents, but I’m not that familiar with dialects and foreign accents, so this is also a challenging problem.
The life in the US is not that different, compared to the language issue. I am not so sensitive to food and such environmental factors, and so far, the US culture seems not so dramatically different from Korea.
What’s been the most fun/most exciting thing so far?
I met many friends from different fields of academia and different cultures. Even when we are not in a classroom, we share ideas and knowledge. We discuss many issues. All discussions are delivered in a polite and tolerant way. For example, once I discussed a historical issue of East Asia, with friends from China and Japan. We confirmed many differences in our historical viewpoints, mainly given in our different school educations, but nobody used a single offensive word. We accepted our differences, and showed respect to other thoughts. I have hardly ever seen this kind of discussion.
What is ELP doing for you? How is it helping you handle the challenges of settling in at Harvard?
My primary treasures given by ELP are my friends. They are smart and kind, and willingly help me when I encounter difficulties. Without them, I would not endure my lonely life as an inarticulate stranger in the US. One day, I was so depressed about my English; I spoke my mind to one of my friends carefully, afraid of his ridicule or indifference. However, he gave me warm words of advice and consolation, and they really encouraged me. I hope our friendship continues during my graduate study and even after.
Christina Saak, Germany, Molecular & Cellular Biology
Why did you decide to do your graduate work in the US and at Harvard?
I decided to come to the US for my graduate studies, as I like the fact that it is a compact 5-year program, whereas in Germany, usually the Master’s and Doctoral program are separate. I decided to come to Harvard primarily because of the enthusiastic faculty who interviewed me and convinced me that Harvard is a place at which I can feel comfortable for the next years.
What are your scholarly interests?
I am primarily interested in genetics, both molecular and developmental. For my first rotation, I will work with Professor Craig Hunter.
What is your biggest challenge so far—about life in the US, and/or about Harvard?
Since I have already gone to school in Colorado Springs for half a year, I had an idea of what to expect when I came to the USA. Of course, there are differences between Boston and Colorado Springs, but I did not have such a severe culture shock that I would have had, had this been the first time in the USA for me. The biggest challenge about Harvard so far has been finding my way around the relatively big campus, since the university, at which I pursued my undergraduate studies, Jacobs University Bremen, is a small institution with a small campus.
What’s been the most fun/most exciting thing so far?
So far, the most interesting part of the ELP was the campus tour and learning about the history of Harvard University. It is very exciting for me to be at such a history-charged place.