When Sanket J. Bulsara '98 was looking for classes in a catalogue filled with 936-person courses like Ec 10, he decided he wanted to try something a bit different.

Bulsara applied for three of Harvard's exclusive first-year seminars, hoping to get an intimate learning experience with a top professor.

He was rejected from all three.

Bulsara is not alone: this fall, the program got 1,409 applications for just 240 spots in the seminars. While many students applied to several classes, 649 people sought admission to at least one.

And because of scheduling glitches only 198 students ultimately accepted the spots they were offered, leaving more than 400 first-years in positions like Bulsara's.

"I find it ridiculous that we freshmen, who are supposed to be able to find small and intimate classes, have such a small number of spots available to us for freshman seminars," Bulsara says.

For first-years, who often can't get the small tutorials or high-level department seminars available to upperclass students, the need may be particularly acute.

"Outside language classes [these] are probably the only intimate classes available to us," Bulsara says.

But while administrators applaud the program, they may not be able to expand it to serve more first-years.

"I think it's a very good program," says Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57. "It provides an opportunity for students to work closely with a professor in an informal setting."

Faculty members often prefer to teach graduate students or advanced classes, or simply may not want to add to their departmental courseload for the love of teaching.

"I think the main limit is in terms of finding people who want to do it," Jewett says.

For the professors who do teach the seminars, the admissions process can be agonizing.

Franke Professor of German Art and Culture Karl S. Guthke, who is offering a class on "Last Words," says he could only accept 12 of his 92 applicants.

Lowell Professor of Sociology Stanley Lieberson says he faced a similar dilemma. Lieberson accepted just 10 of the 99 students who applied to his seminar on racial and ethnic relations outside the United States.