Goodenough said he does not think students will be hurt by their unconventional preparation. He was quick to add, however, that the license exams in question--among them the National Board of Medical Examiners Test--are badly designed, posing "Petty questions, testing how many facts have been crammed" into students heads, instead of conceptual understanding.

Without question, Goodenough said, New Pathway students should be better prepared than others for the clinical exams, which are a battery of tests given in addition to the licensing tests.

Mandl was among the students who said he wasn't concerned about the prospect of being inordinately challenged by the exams.

"The classic curriculum prepares more directly toward the boards, and we're about as far away as you can get from just preparation for the boards. But hopefully, we'll retain more of what we've learned," he said.

Few connected with the New Pathway program are willing to predict that the future will be without problems. In fact, some have already raised concerns that were not anticipated during the program's planning. Among them: the nature of the program has made it tougher for the 24 Pathway students to feel as if they are part of the Class of 1989, which has some 140 additional members.

"We need to make an active effort to integrate socially," said Mandl.

Another problem considered potentially serious is the prospect that the Pathway students will be perceived by others at the school as the faculty's favorites, or otherwise more special than the program's planners had intended.

While most downplayed this, Goodenough termed the possible perception of preferential treatment as "problematical."

But, he said, working through the problems that come up this year may prove critical to the program's overall success, and possible future expansion.

For if Harvard weren't considering making the New Pathway the regular pathway at the Medical School, Goodenough said, "we wouldn't be doing it at all."