Yesson found his commute significantly lessened when he switched from Brown to Harvard.

"I was teaching at Brown but living in Cambridge," he says. "That certainly played into the decision."

Students sometimes complain that visiting professors raise their grading standards when teaching at Harvard, an outgrowth of the common perception that Harvard students are fundamentally more intellectual than students at other schools.

Visiting faculty say they have noticed disparities in the student populations.

"It's a totally different type of undergraduate teaching experience," says Cornelius. "That's one of the reasons I decided to come back for a visit."

Cornelius--who is spending his visit at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies--notes the vastly smaller size of Harvard classes.

"Here I can teach everything essentially as a seminar," he says.

"My smallest upper-division undergraduate course at UCSD has 150 people," Cornelius says. "Here, my smallest is a junior seminar, which has about 10 people including auditors. And there are 14 in my so-called lecture class."

Finney, who, like Cornelius, teaches in the public University of California system, also points out the essential differences between state schools and private schools such as Harvard.

"Given the selectivity of Harvard, undergraduates are obviously better trained and more talented, in general, than undergraduate students at a public institution like UC-Davis, although there are exceptions," she says.

Visiting assistant professor of economics Matthew Kahn, who will be teaching at Harvard for two more semesters, says Harvard for two more semesters, says Harvard students are more assertive than students at his home institution, Columbia University.

"Harvard undergraduates have tremendous self confidence," Kahn says. "At Columbia, when I ask a class of 35 students a question, I'll see 3 hands raised, while at Harvard, 20 students will fight for the 'air time.'"

Kahn also praises the quality of Harvard's graduate students.

""Harvard undergraduates also benefit by having as [teaching fellows] some of the best new economists who genuinely care about teaching and conveying basic economic ideas," Kahn says. "That improves the quality of any undergraduate course immensely."

Not all visitors are overwhelmed with the exceptional talent of Harvard students, however. Maudlin says the differences he has noticed have not all been positive.