Harvard students most unhappy: poll
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-31 08:47

A long-held stereotype that Harvard unders feel neglected by their professors and don't have as much fun as students at other colleges now has some data to back it up.

Student satisfaction at Harvard College ranks near the bottom of a group of 31 elite private schools, according to survey results outlined in a confidential memo obtained by The Boston Globe and reported in its Tuesday edition.

The group of 31 colleges, known as the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, or COFHE, includes all eight Ivy League schools, other top research universities like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford, and liberal arts colleges like Amherst and Wellesley.

The 21-page memo, from staff researchers at Harvard to academic deans, documents student dissatisfaction with faculty availability, quality of instruction, quality of advising, as well as the sense of community and social life on campus.

"Harvard students are less satisfied with their undergraduate educations than the students at almost all of the other COFHE schools," according to the memo, dated October 2004.

On a five-point scale, Harvard's overall student satisfaction comes out to 3.95, compared to an average of 4.16 for the other 30 schools. Only four schools scored lower than Harvard, but the schools were not named in the memo.

Students complain that Harvard lacks places where students can socialize and has so many rules that it is difficult to hold a party on campus, where almost all undergraduates live.

In the classroom, students can go through four years with limited contact with professors. Large lecture classes are divided into sections headed by graduate students. Small classes are frequently taught by temporary instructors. In many cases, advisers are graduate students, administrators or full-time advisers.

"I've definitely had great professors," said Kathy Lee, a student, "but most of the time you have to chase them down and show initiative if you want to get to know them."

Close

Sofia: Tom Cruise and me China's college students get okay to tie knot Britney's bump: the latest

Today's Top News     Top Life News
Paper-making giant probed for illegal logging         KMT, CPC parties open historic dialogue         Chemical tanker crashes, killing 27         China to curb surging investment         China lifts 50-year ban on student marriages         Beijing court hears wrangle on Viagra patent	Rhythm of Chinese metropolitan folk moves city       Bush girl accompanied by fellow Yalie beau       71% of Chinese women sexually harassed?       Transport officials top China's graft roster       Super hit 'Peacock' bucks art film trend       Nurtured child most likely good mum: study