Some know it as "The Wall of Shame." Others call it "The Wailing Wall."

No matter which euphemism you use, this display of rejection letters that many students post along their corridors or beside their desks can be found in more than one senior room this year.

One near-graduate who aspires to a career in journalism says she has posted the masthead of every newspaper that has turned her away. Other students say they and their friends highlight the word "unfortunately" every time it appears in a rejection letter. A few compare what they call "flush rates," circling every consecutive "f," "l," "u," "s," and "h" in each such letter.

As the rejection letters arrive in scores, bolstered by a continuing economic recession and job shortage, many of the seniors who will graduate next month remain unsure of their future plans. Feeling the burden of the tight economy, many seniors have been forced to hunt much more extensively, or to explore other postgraduate options.

'Frantically Looking'

On a recent trip to the Office of Career Services (OCS), Peter S. Kozinets '91 says he found "many seniors there, frantically looking for binders."

OCS Director Martha P. Leape says she has seen a marked increase in the number of students using the office's services.

"In the fall months we saw 15 percent more students than we did the year before," Leape says. "It's been a much busier year. There has been a higher level of anxiety among the students."

In addition to students, Leape says a number of recent graduates have returned to take advantage of the office. Increased layoffs in the area have made these visits more prevalent, Leape says.

Today's job market is a far cry from that available in the mid-1980s, when--at least according to legend--young graduates flocked to Wall Street or Washington D.C. to grab jobs waiting to be taken.

"The kinds of jobs that many seniors are interested in are scarce this year," Leape says. "That's required seniors to do more extensive job hunts and be more flexible about where they will live next year."

Corporate jobs are especially scarce, Leape says, in addition to public sector jobs in Massachusetts and New York.

"Some students may have to settle for a different type of job than they had reason to expect," Leape says. She says seniors have had to deviate significantly from their hopes, accepting lower-level jobs with lower pay or working for less prestigious employers.

Students often rely heavily on corporate recruiters who come to campus each year sweeping soon-to-be-graduates off their feet, but the business scene, like many others, is looking bleak. Leape says that while OCS was visited by the same number of recruiters as last year, "some were saying that they would be hiring fewer students."

At Andersen Consulting's Boston firm, recruitment on college campuses hasn't been cut back, but the company is making fewer job offers because of unusually high acceptance rates, according to recruiting director David J. Clarkson.