"What does it mean to be 'dating someone'?" Alexander asks, questioning whether the label indicates that a couple is "sleeping together," or "Just having a good time," as was the case in the 1940s, '50s and early '60s.

Harvard students may feel better knowing this is a national trend, not just their bad luck, With the rise in co-ed schools, says Alexander, "It became more the norm to socialize in groups. Socializing--hanging out--has become much more informal."

Yet the two extremes persist at Harvard. Students "either move in together or 'hook up' for a weekend," says Fishman. "You don't see many people going out for a semester."

Jessica R. Saalfield '92 says a prime example of Harvard's casual attitude toward relationships is the house "Screw Your Roommate" dances, which often facilitate hooking up.

The Dudley Co-op resident says, however, that the number of engagements among seniors in the spring indicates that the other extreme is also alive and well at Harvard.

Unfortunately, students sometimes mistake a hookup for the beginnings of relationship, says Fishman. "There are very frequent misunderstandings. Someone's always looking for the long term thing from the hookup."

Mindich agrees, saying, "At other schools, people just kind of hook up, then go their separate ways and don't attach as much self-esteem to it. At this place, there aren't as many random hookups where no one expects anything from the other person."

Loneliness, peer pressure and the simple desire to "rack up some experience" are reasons why people resort to hook ups, according to Saalfield.

Although there are fewer hookups in the homosexual community because the population is smaller, "there's definitely experimentation," says Saalfield, who is bisexual.

Before love can lost its status as a "fourletter word," Harvard students must learn where to begin.

And many students say Harvard's structure does not provide adequate opportunities to meet members of the opposite sex.

"There aren't a lot of social outlets here," Fishman says. "There aren't that many real fraternizing opportunities."

"Harvard makes it tough to have a relationship," McBee says. "It's hard to meet someone, to begin with."

Social lives of first year students, for the most part, revolve around crowded, sweaty keg parties. Their upperclass peers, however, have numerous Cambridge bars and nine Harvard all-male final clubs to select from.

If couples don't meet at these prime locations, they can still meet their future soulmates through classes, the houses or extracurriculars, some students say.