Harvard places "much too much importance" on thesis writing, and that "if you don't write a thesis, your major doesn't seem to count," says Ginsberg, an East Asian Language and Civilizations (EALC) concentrator.

Other non-honors seniors share Ginsberg's sentiment. "I feel like things [at Harvard] are geared toward those who write a thesis," says non-honors history concentrator Millard B. Rice '89. "The whole tutorial system climaxes with a thesis."

Kaufman, too, says he feels that as a non-honors concentrator, "there's just not a whole lot to talk about, not a whole lot the department can do for you after you've fulfilled all requirements."

But Regine D. Johnson, acting head tutor for the EALC Department, says there is "absolutely no difference" in the way the department regards honors versus non-honors seniors.

Johnson says she is equally accessible to all EALC concentrators, both honors and non-honors, and says she sees every student in the department for an interview before signing study cards each term.

Other departments say that although honors students get thesis-oriented advising, non-honors students have equal access to faculty and advisers.

"It's very important that non-honors seniors understand that we are very concerned about them," says the History Department's Kuhn. "They are very much part of our program."

Kuhn says each history concentrator receives an adviser who is available to assist with academic problems and help prepare him or her for the general examination at the end of the senior year.

But Rice says his adviser told him the general exam was "not something to be concerned about at this point."

"Essentially we agreed I'd hang out until January," Rice says. "[And in January] it'll definitely be up to me to contact him."