"I think a lot of students come here thinking. 'Boston! What a great city!' but then you never end up finding your way over there," says Heather A. Harris '92, a master's assistant at Quincy House.

"I thought I'd be going in every day, but it didn't quite work out that way," says Tehshik P. Yoon '96, who is a Crimson editor.

Many students say they came to Harvard thinking the school was in Boston itself.

"I didn't really have the impression that [Harvard] was separate from Boston," says Joanne K. Lee '98. "I was just thinking Cambridge, Boston....it was there."

Particularly for students from distant areas, the Harvard admissions materials use of Boston can be confusing.

"I bet a lot of people from other areas come thinking that they're going to school in Boston and end up going to school in Cambridge," Harris says. "They don't figure it out until they get here.

Although many say they would like to, most undergraduates say they rarely travel to Boston for cultural or educational purposes.

S. Greg Prakalapkorn '97 says he has only been to one museum this year, "and that was for a project."

"It's really sad... I guess I haven't taken in any of the historical aspects of the city," Lieberman says.

Several students interviewed say they also avoid the Boston night life, though Boston clubs say they advertise on campus and draw some Harvard clientele.

"I don't find the night life in Boston to be that good," says second-year Law School student Elise Boddie. "Everything shuts down early."

Why Not Boston?

Students give many reasons for avoiding the nearby Hub, but the one most frequently cited is lack of time.

"It seems like it's going to take too much time, and it's effort," says Lorelei J. Grunwaldt '97. "It's weird...it seems like it's so far away, but it's minutes away on the T."

Kawika D.B. Chetron '97 says he thought he'd be going into Boston more often. But "I thought I'd have a little more time to breathe as well," he says.