Some of the problems tutors encounter, saysMcCavana, include students dealing with death,eating disorders and problems with classes.

Varying Experiences

Differences in the house advising systems aregenerally due to the initiative of senior tutorswho monitor advising and house tutors, who arrangeinformal study breaks and student meetings.

In Kirkland House, for example, each student isformally interviewed each year by an adviserassigned to them during their sophomore year. InLowell House, by contrast, there are no structuredindividual meetings. Sophomore advisers areencouraged by the house to call their advisees,but this interaction is not formalized, nor is itmonitored by the house office.

Student experiences with advising also varyaccording to how they choose to use the variety ofadvisers assigned to them in their house andconcentration.

"[House advising] is one of the most underusedresources by the undergraduates," says Kevin M.Groszkowski '96. He says students do not takeadvantage of the academic or personal advisingsources available in the house.

Elizabeth C. Bayley '96, a resident of DunsterHouse, says she enjoys the relaxed relationshipwith her entryway tutor and concentration tutor,unlike the formal academic meetings with herfirst-year proctor.

However, she says she does not know who hernon-concentration adviser is.

"It's sort of a mysterious thing for me," shesays. "I would like to know who the person is, butI'm already busy with the tutors I know."

She says her best resource is other students,especially "upperclassmen who know the ropes."

Gregory J. Lopez '95, a Lowell House resident,says he is satisfied with the current advisingsystem in the houses.

"They are supposed to be your peers more than astrict sort of relationship," he says.

But he says the system requires a certain"aggressiveness" on the students' part.

"It is easy for tutors not to know aboutstudents' academic problems until its too late,"he says. "It's not like the tutors are going tocome to you."

Advising Overlap