The 16 finalists felt disbelief, pride, even ecstasy--they had made it through the preliminary round of senior Class Marshal elections, and for them, it was a moment to relish.

"It's the bomb," said Gwen Y. Shen '00, one of 16 finalists announced this weekend. Shen plans to postpone a wisdom tooth extraction until next week--just in case she wins. "I don't want to be celebrating with puffy cheeks," she said.

From Tuesday to Thursday of this week, seniors will vote a second time to select the eight marshals who will be responsible for representing their class until graduation and then beyond.

During the preliminary elections held last week in dining halls, seniors were asked to vote on a pool of 91 candidates, 51 female and 40 male. Each of the candidates had to compile a petition of 25 signatures in order to be put on the ballet.

This is the first year, due to the end of Radcliffe College, that the marshal election is no longer split into separate gender categories with four male and four female marshals.

The preliminary election resulted in a gender reversal, with the group of finalists consisting of ten males and six females.

But most finalists said that ultimately, they do not think the new system will affect the election much, and that there will still be a balanced group of marshals.

Most were not in favor of gender quotas, believing that the end of Radcliffe meant the beginning of a unified student body with fewer male-female divisions.