In my freshman year, my life goal was to become a physics professor. There is a legendary class at Harvard called Physics 16, famed as the most difficult undergrad physics course. I had my heart set on taking it.
You needed a 5 on the AP Physics exam, the highest possible score, to even be eligible for it. Unfortunately, my high school hadn’t offered AP Physics. Maybe there’s still another way, I thought. I emailed the professor to ask. Okay, he said. I have my own qualification test. Take it, and if you pass I’ll let you in. I was thrilled.
I buckled down and studied my ass off for the next week straight.
The day of the test, I showed up at his office, took it, handed it in. He graded it while I waited.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You didn’t pass.” I was crushed. I’d given it my absolute best — and it still wasn’t enough. I wasn’t going to get to take the class of my dreams.
“Um…can I still take the class anyway?”
He stared at me like he’d never been asked this question before. There was a long silence. “Well…I guess so.”
This is how I became the only student in Physics 16 who wasn’t supposed to be there.
Just ask
Physics 16 was the hardest class I’ve ever taken. My classmates were among the smartest humans I’ve ever met in my life. They had been top ranked in international math competitions since the 8th grade, discovered original theorems, published PhD-level work. I was a terrier trying to run with racehorses. I barely scraped by, and frankly that was with a lot of their help.
But I got to take the class. :)
Just make the ask. Don’t psych yourself out. The worst thing that can happen is someone says no — and sometimes, they might just say yes.
Notes
[1] Epilogue: After a lot of hard work, I ended up becoming the grader for Physics 16 and ultimately graduated with honors. You never know what can happen.
[2] This class is so well known that there’s a whole musical about it, and every year they replay it and hold a watching session. It’s called Les Phys, and it’s pretty good.
Thanks to Keir Mierle and Ada Chen Rekhi for reading early drafts of this post.