Gerry M. Perez says he though he would have to study all the time in order to say alive academically in Harvard's summer school program.

But Perez says he has been pleasantly surprised by the level of academic rigor in his Harvard courses.

"I thought they would be harder, that I'd have to kill myself to stay on top," says Perez, who well be a senior at Miami Country Day School in Miami, Fl. this fall. "But I still find time to go out with my friends."

But Perez says he has learned a lot, too.

"I've been very intellectually stimulated, even though they're not very time-consuming," Perez says.

Like many high school students who have decided to spend a summer previewing the Harvard experience, Perez says he has found many surprises-some pleasant, some not-so-pleasant.

Some students say they have received more reading and assignments at Harvard summer school than they ever imagined possible. Others, such as Perez, have found their workloads to be unexpectedly light.

There are summer school students who say they have found a diverse array of peers that has enhanced their summer school experience. But there are also students who have tended to cling to those who are similar to them ethnically.

But almost all high school students interviewed by The Crimson agree on at least one thing-the little slice of life at Harvard they have experienced this summer is not what they thought it would be.

Above all, most high school students say they arrived at Harvard expecting to be blown away by the academics.

"I expected the experience to match up to the name," says Tiffany M. Kanotz, a rising senior at Marshall Fundamental Secondary High School in Los Angeles. "I expected the courses to be intellectually challenging and just as enjoyable."

But Kanotz says that her six-plus weeks here have been a disappointment in that sense.

"It didn't measure up to my expectations," she says.

Kanotz says she spent the last two summers taking courses at California State University in Los Angeles, and that Harvard's summer school isn't a significant step up from her prior experience.

"[My classes] are both very interesting, but I really don't think Harvard offers any better education than, say, Cal State," she says. R

Still, Kanotz says she has found what mostundergraduates discover in their time here-thatshe is learning a considerable amount from herpeers.