Even at Harvard, no one expects every class to be stellar, and a few duds are just par for the course...though every dud next year will cost you about $2,550.

It may be the price tag, or it may be the time investment, but students will do almost anything to avoid picking a bad course.

When drawing up a list of possible classes, the Courses of Instruction mailed to all domestic undergraduates is only the first place to start. (See story, page B-8.) Then they turn to the CUE Guide, The Crimson's Confidential Guide and word of mouth. (See story, this page).

But the most important part of the process comes the week of classes before registration--shopping period--when students test their options in the one week of classes before registration.

But last February the Graduate Student Council (GSC) reminded the Harvard community of the inconveniences of shopping period with a proposal for a non-binding undergraduate preregistration.

Nearly all undergraduates say that shopping period is one of the most academically enriching parts of the Harvard experience.

However, graduate students say they depend on teaching jobs that often evaporate when the enrollment in large courses drops below the expected level.

Professors echo graduate students' complaints, saying that shopping period wastes a week of class time and often forces them to hire unqualified Teaching Fellows (TFs) when enrollment exceeds expectations.

"Most students are desperate to take really good courses in their precious four years here, and I understand that," says William M. Todd III, incoming dean of undergraduate education.

But, he adds, "As a professor, I hate shopping period....Frankly, I would love to see it go. The negative aspects far outweigh the positive."

Weighing the Options

While students invariably say they feel that shopping period is one of the most important student services that the College provides, Faculty and administrators question its long-term advantages.

First, uncertainty in enrollment means that undergraduates can end up being taught by ill-prepared TFs added to the teaching staff at the last minute.

Todd says that having last-minute TFs is especially problematic in the Core courses, the classes whose enrollment is most unpredictable.

"The nature of a Core course is that it's not introductory, and grad students are not necessarily the ideal teachers for the course," he says. (See story, page B-1.)