Most Harvard students are pros at handling stress. However, thanks to randomization, each spring a first-year rite of passage often becomes one of the most stressful experience of students' lives, one that cannot be overcome by good organization or even a few all-nighters.

It's blocking time, and advanced planning, social acumen and diplomacy are necessary if you want to survive the painful process.

As next Wednesday's due date for blocking forms draws near, many first-years at least those who are confidant in their up to 16-member blocking groups-are sighing with relief.

With the onset of randomization two years ago, once rooming forms are turned in to housing officials and the names and IDs are entered into the Web Site, each group's future, (or at least their residential affiliation), will be left to fate.

"The computer lottery will randomly assign blocking groups to different houses," Housing Officer Mac J. Broderick said.

For some, determining which friends to block with has been a source of frustration and rising emotion in the weeks leading up to the deadline. The situation, said Matthew S. O'Hare '01, "can get kind of ugly."

"The process was stressful," said O'Hare. "We got down to 12 and we wanted a consensus so eventually one person got kicked out." O'Hare compares the entire randomized housing process to picking teams on the playground in grade school.

Tales of blocking deceit abound. According to one pair of bitter female first-years, they were assured spots in a coveted blocking group months ago. They had not even thought about blocking until this past Sunday--when the blocking group chiefs arrived in person at their rooms to inform them that they had been "cut."

"The girls told us with absolutely no emotion that they promised too many people," said one member of the pair, who prefer to remain anonymous.

"Really, though, we were excluded in favor of a group of gorgeous boys," she added.

One of the female first-years described the gravity of the situation.

"We cried for two days straight," she said, "because your blocking group is your only group of friends... It will determine your social life for the rest of your Harvard career."

The stress of the situation is compounded by the feeling, whether myth or reality, that a blocking group is the scene of each student's ultimate social status. For some, the ideal situation is easy to come by.

"Blocking was no problem at all," Liz L. Sarles '01 said. Sarles, a lacrosse player living in Weld, will be blocking a with a close group of friends (all athletes).

"We decided months ago... Now the only problem is what to tell the people who want to attach themselves to our group," Sarles said.

Other first-year students are more strategic.

Tamar C. Katz '00 admits that her blocking group is excited that they have a member with a medical condition eligible for an exemption that will allow him (and his group) to live closer to University Health Services. And Katz is not alone in her joy. People are being really nice to him, bringing him things," she said.