The answering machine says it all.

"I'm kind of married to my thesis right now, so I'm hard to get a hold of," says the machine answering the phone of Daniel J. Kolodner '97, an English concentrator.

While Kolodner and numerous other seniors in the English and government departments celebrated the end of their theses with champagne yesterday afternoon, for many other students, the thesis process is just beginning.

Some first-years sell their souls and senior year early on to honors-only majors like history and literature or social studies when they declare their concentration. Other (wiser?) first-years hedge their bets and major in English, economics or government, where they can keep their options open to the bitter end, and still graduate if they drop their theses at the last minute.

As first-years struggle to find the right concentration, juniors attend pre-thesis advising meetings in their departments with trepidation in their eyes, and wonder if it's too late to escape.

The thesis is purported to be the capstone experience of the Harvard education. According to the lore, it's as important to the College experience as the houses students live in, the friends they have and the extracurricular activities they participate in.

So how do hundreds of future seniors make the decision?

Students say they consider a number of factors: academic interests, other time commitments, possible advantage in jobs or graduate school, the satisfaction of graduating with honors and quality of life.

But how much do each of these matter? Will a thesis really trash your social life? Will your future employer know the difference between departmental and non-departmental honors? Will a graduate school care?

Bleary-eyed seniors and their non-thesis-writing roommates wearily offer advice.

Quality of Life

Every year, large numbers of Harvard students put their lives on hold to concentrate on the mammoth project of the senior thesis.

Many suffer greatly, growing to loath their topics, their advisers and most of all, their deadlines. Others bubble enthusiastically, sure that their thesis is the best experience of their lives.

English concentrator Barbara Chung '97 finished her thesis with time to spare. She had only spell-checking left to do five days before yesterday's due date.

"I'm just really, really happy that I'm doing a thesis," she says about her work entitled "Images of Resurrection in John Donne's Holy Sonnets."

"My topic is fantastic, and I love writing and reading," she adds.