While undergraduates will be able to offer input on the hot issue of curricular reforms in the coming months through the Student/Faculty Committee of Undergraduate Education (CUE), there is little doubt that structural academic changes will both be authored and decided on by Faculty members.

However, the one forum that considers every student's opinion on his or her academic experience--and influences the educational experience of almost every student--is the Course Evaluation Guide published yearly by the CUE.

Since 1973, the CUE Guide has used results from questionnaires distributed to the vast majority of Harvard classes. The results are used to compile statistical information and short written reviews of Harvard's undergraduate courses and instructors.

According to the introduction to the Guide, its aim is "to help students make the most of their academic experience by granting them ready access to their peer's advice."

But the CUE Guide is more than just the Harvard undergraduate's heavily-utilized consumer report on academic programs.

Faculty, administrators and teaching fellows all say that they use the statistics and written comments to improve their own courses and evaluate junior Faculty and graduate students for hiring and promotion.

Student Use

While the majority of students say that they use the CUE Guide when planning their course schedule, most say that the Guide could be improved.

Adriana E. Abdenur '97 says that the categories in the rating are often too narrow.

"My interests aren't always what the class interests are," she says. "For example, I'm an East Asian Studies concentrator, and I'm interested in inner Asia, which a lot of people aren't interested in."

Abdenur adds that although she is more likely to shop a course with a high rating, she does not necessarily rule out a low-rated course.

Students say they feel that many of the categories are confusing and even overlapping. They add that the most useful categories are the overall course ratings and the workload ratings.

"Because all the Moral Reasoning classes sounded the same, I took Justice because it had the lowest workload," says Nick C. Malis '99.

Mixed Reactions from Faculty

While students undoubtedly use the Guide extensively, Faculty and administrators say that they have mixed opinions on the usefulness of the Guide.