And Glouberman, also a Dudley resident, says he was "looking forward to coming back to school, but not really looking forward to going back to the houses" when he returned to Harvard.

Some students, whose friends had graduated while they were on leaves from Harvard, say they chose to lodge in the co-ops because it offered them a better chance to make closer friends than they would have had in their old houses.

House life might provide students with the opportunity to interact with more students, "but how well do you really know them?" asks Jessie Williams '89-'92, who lives in Jordan.

Although Harvard is known for touting its house system, Assistant Dean of Housing Thomas A. Dingman admits the co-ops provide "more of a sense of family than a house can provide."

And Safman points out that, "Living at the co-op, you're living with people, not just among people."

However, some residents do say that the closeness of co-op life is not always an asset. "With the number of people we have, there isn't a lot of privacy." Cowie says about the Dudley Co-op.

Students are frequently "overwhelmed with the possibilities for socializing," she says. The biggest problem facing students who choose to live in the co-op is the adjustment to close quarters, she adds.

But the "smallness is crucial," says Michael A. Sabin '90 of Jordan. "The nature of the situation is to keep it small so it is personal."

Although co-op residents comprise less than I percent of the undergraduate student body, those who live there say there is rarely a shortage of newcomers waiting to try the communal life. "We don't advertise very much because we haven't really got the space," Redditt says.

Jordan, however, which is losing many of its current students to graduation, is trying actively to recruit new residents, Cabranes-Grant says. "The population is obviously down from the all-time high," he says.

Both Jordan and Dudley have invited first-year students, who filled out their housing choices last week, to visit this month, although first-year students are usually advised to live in a Harvard house before applying to one of the co-ops.

"Most students choose big houses, but some students find that they must do something different," Cabranes-Grant says.

As Williams puts it, "Most people here are pretty impervious to bell towers, anyway."