As for the College, officials say they woulddisapprove of sponsors using the conference to geta head start on recruiting.

"It's important that if corporations areinvolved in a student program, we review thattheir involvement is reflective of an educationalrole," Cooke says. She says she is satisfied thatthe HSA conference meets this requirement.

Sakoda says recruiting is the conference'ssecondary purpose. He instructed the sponsors tosend speakers who would be "inspirational" and"motivational" using personal stories to exposestudents to their industries.

"We've communicated to them that there arestudents from different backgrounds," Sakoda says."If there is a strong recruiting presence it willdetract from the educational experience."

In fact, participants say they were morecomfortable asking questions about business andrecruiting because they were not in an interviewsituation.

"It's a little less of a pressure situation,"says Joseph Osnoss '00. "In a recruiting session,students are a little reluctant to ask directquestions."

All the same, some students say there was adefinite "job fair" feel to the program.

"I expected it to be more educational," saysLonne A. Jaffe '99. "There were times when it feltlike an information session at the Faculty Club."

"Considering the amount of money they investedin the conference, that could be expected," hesays.

The opportunities weren't lost on therecruiters.

"If there are questions about how to apply toMcKinsey, now would be a great time to ask them,"says Scott L. Lessing '88, director of Harvardrecruiting for McKinsey.

Quenching a Thirst

The conference manifests a growing desire amongstudents for professional training before theygraduate.

Sakoda says the idea for the leadershipconference came from what he perceived to be alack of business education at the College.

And several of the conference participantsechoed Sakoda's observation.