"Someone can come to us at the time of the exam, not before. They're seen by a clinician who uses his or her judgment as to how serious the symptoms are that would affect the student's taking the exam."

"People can lie, but we try to investigate to get the clinical view," Catlin says. "We can't be sure if it's being faked, but we remind students that make-up exams are much harder, that you'll have other things to deal with when the make-up exam rolls around."

But other rumors--such as the tale that the sickout policy was instituted when a student committed suicide after being refused exemption from an exam--are untrue, Catlin says.

The persistence of such rumors may indicate that most students are not all that well-informed about mental health resources and treatment policies.

Many students only come into contact with counseling services when they are at or near a crisis point, and some, like Delgado, say they believe counselors could be doing more to make students aware of what resources exist.

"Advising should be more aggressive," Delgado says. "Harvard is sort of a swim-or-drown place. The availability of counseling services shouldn't be in that same arena."