But wait. Weren't seminars supposed to be the aspect of a Harvard education that was exempt from hassle, free of competition? The different program? Isn't the hypocrisy apparent when seminars are hyped as the best of Harvard and then held arms-length away while 400 first-years salivate?

That's just my point. For all the plusses of a Harvard education, there are some lessons that we have just not learned from small colleges like Oberlin and Williams. Intimate contact with professors is rare. And often, as is the case with these seminars, to put oneself in a situation where that sort of contact is possible, students have to go through hell.

All of the groundwork is laid for Harvard to do good on its promise to give first-year students a taste of the best that education can be. The program is in place, and it does good things.

It just doesn't do them for enough people.

Joshua W. Shenk '93, a Crimson editor, wishes he knew Henry Rosovsky well enough to call him "Roso" to his face.

...if you can get in. That means an application. And maybe an interview. And a lot of luck.