"I should say that OCS was helpful as far as they could be. Eleanor Sparagana [last year's OCS study abroad adviser] was very supportive," de los Reyes says.

In the past four years, there have been at least three different OCS directors of study abroad. Students cite this switch in advisers as one of the factors complicating the process.

"There have been a few study abroad directors [in my years here], and they have tried to keep continuity, but you still have to keep on top of the paperwork yourself," Chimene I. R. Keitner '96 says.

Publicity Problem?

At Harvard, students and administrators agree initiative for study abroad must come from the student.

At many schools, there are frequent mailings from the study abroad offices to advertise programs financially affiliated with the school. But since Harvard does not sponsor any of its own study abroad programs, it does not advertise such possibilities.

OCS holds educational meetings to tell students about their options, but many students say such meetings are not well-publicized.

At Princeton, students say they are routinely informed of these meetings.

Princeton student Jared P. Schutz says, "There is a meeting twice a year. It is generally well promoted with flyers in everyone's mailboxes and with ads in the paper."

Those Harvard students that attend the OCS meetings say they find them helpful.

"I was wandering through the Yard and saw a poster saying there was an open house at OCS, and I was the only one that showed up," says Amanda Rawls '96, a Crimson editor who spent a semester last year traveling in Kenya for academic credit.

"You need to know what questions to ask when you get over there," she says.

Despite the deficiency of advertising, OCS can be a valuable source for information when planning foreign study, students say.

"OCS definitely has good resources, but you really need a lot of individual initiative," Keitner says.

Financial Concerns