And Krask says he doubts her College stint will bar her from Hollywood's golden gates.

"I have no idea what she'll want after four years of school. But if she wants to, she can be a star," Krask says.

Her publicist, Jim Dobson, is even more optimistic.

"She's a brilliant actress," Dobson says, adding, "She's so natural, she really can make people laugh and cry."

And, he gushes, "Eventually, she'll be making Academy-Award winning films."

So when Playboy asked her to pose nude, Salenger and her advisors agreed she should pose for nothing more revealing than a fashion layout.

"She wants to be respected for her talent," Dobson says. "She loves to be considered a beautiful, sexy young actress, but she's not a big-breasted Hollywood bimbo."

But Salenger, who turned down a producer's request that she bare more than her soul in Jimmy Reardon, does not rule out the possibility of someday eliminating no-nudity clauses from her film contracts--if she thinks it "necessary."

Salenger says her theatrical career began accidentally. She was on location at the set of Annie watching her sister rehearse a dance routine when a girl playing a background orphan became ill. A producer saw her and decided she was right for the part. At age 10, her career was underway. Four years later, Salenger landed her first starring role in Natty Gann. Since that time, she says she has maintained a whirlwind schedule.

That schedule left little time for studying, but Salenger says having "kind of a photographic memory" helped her "learn six months of school in a weekend."

"Yeah, people say it's not a normal childhood," she says. "But I've maintained the same friends since seventh grade. I do normal things. I've just done less of them."

All About `Mer'

"Fame has never gone to her head," says Salenger's mother, Dottie Lewis, a Los Angeles interior decorator. "I told her I'd never let her act if she ever stopped being nice, but she is, she's really a nice girl. She deserves success--she's worked hard for it."

Salenger's roommate, Tanya S.J. Selvaratnam '92, says the performer is easy to live with.

"She's a normal person who happens to be a movie star," Selvaratnam says. "Everyone expects her to be a glitzy bitch, but she makes everyone feel so comfortable. She's a warm, considerate person with a lot of energy."