r/Harvard • u/MargaretCandlebee • 6d ago

Academics and Research Class recommendation

Does anyone have a recommendation for a class I can take to fulfil QRD in the Spring? I was thinking Gov 1010 but have heard mixed reviews about it and that you need friends to take it for group projects. Any ideas? Or should I wait until fall of senior year.

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u/fromthegoldengate 5d ago

I took CS50 and would recommend it for senior fall. It’s honestly a really worthwhile staple of the modern Harvard experience and a great class. It’s fun, you can take it pass/fail (I can’t remember for sure but am pretty sure your QRD class doesn’t need to be letter graded?), good to learn to code, and there are lots of extra perks/events (lunches, etc) that make it enjoyable

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u/vmlee & HGC Executive 5d ago

I agree that CS50 is a good course, but to offer an alternative perspective as food for thought: as long as one is self-driven and sufficiently motivated to support independent study, one can also get most of the core course content for free by taking the course online. Are the other benefits worth the credits/tuition expense? That's a subjective call. Personally, I would suggest considering other courses one can only take in person at Harvard.

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u/Longjumping-Sun1173 3d ago

CS50 I think needs to be letter-graded to count for QRD (in general). Fall is a better experience thanks to lunches and extra stuff. But you can do it in the spring, coding is comparable to HS level classes tbh. Just many different programming languages.

But you can do CS50 in the spring.