This October, for the third time in its history, Playboy magazine will publish an Ivy League issue featuring Harvard students, as well as students from other Ivy League institutions.

Interviews of the approximately 50 Harvard students who applied for the issue were held yesterday and will continue today at the Guest Quarters Suite Hotel.

Women who wished to be considered for the special issue in Playboy were asked to fill out a biographical form with information about their hobbies and other interests.

They then took part in a casual 15 minute interview and a photo shoot with Playboy photographer David Chan.

Harvard students who applied yesterday to be a Playboy model gave a variety of reasons for doing so.

"It sounds like a lot of fun," said a junior in Winthrop House who wished to remain anonymous. "I'm really proud of my body and the things I've accomplished," she added.

The Winthrop student said she read about the Playboy modeling opportunity through an ad in The Harvard Lampoon. "When I saw the ad I decided I was going to do this," she said.

She said she was not concerned by how her interactions with fellow Harvard students and professors might change if she were to appear in Playboy.

"Well, I think if I were worried I wouldn't be here," she said. "In an ideal world, what you do outside your social and academic life won't affect you."

Applicants said being a feminist does not conflict with posing for Playboy.

"I'm more of a feminist than most people you'll ever meet...I have very feminist motivations for doing this," said Amanda S. Proctor '97, a Winthrop resident who said she decided to apply because she wanted to dispel stereotypes about Harvard women.

"I think there's a big dual stereo-type that women who go to schools like Harvard are too good and above other women," Proctor said.

The magazine allows its models to choose whether to pose nude, seminude or clothed. If chosen, Proctor said that she would pose clothed.

"I'm 19 years old and I have to think about burning bridges, and then, there'sthe issue of my parents," she said.

But Proctor said she respected those who chooseto pose in the nude. "I admire the fact that thesewomen are comfortable with their own bodies andidentities," she said.

Playboy representatives looked for diversitywhen selecting models for the issue, according toKaren Lynn, a makeup artist for the magazine.