The plan file that pops up on telnet when someone "fingers" Rachel L. Brown '01 reads, "Back to basics..."

Her message refers to her new life outlook. Recently Brown has decided she needs to balance her priorities, a technique she says many other students need to learn.

The former Undergraduate Council presidential candidate surprised her running mate two weeks ago when she decided to drop out of the race, but she says she wanted to protect herself from the campus plague. Burnout.

"It bothers me that people lose sight of what's important--maintaining sanity," Brown says. "If I had [run], that would have been a step too far."

With a student body accustomed to packed schedules of courses and activities and high expectations from family and friends, Harvard's environment sends many students overboard, according to Charles P. Ducey, director of the Bureau of Study Counsel.

While he says it is difficult to define burnout precisely, the symptoms include a sense of being immobilized, withdrawn and apathetic.

Burnout is not a medical term, which complicates the process of gathering exact statistics on burnout. Conversations with students, though, reveal that the feeling is widespread at Harvard.

"Anecdotal indications suggest that burnout is a fairly widespread phenomenon on campus," Ducey writes in an e-mail message.

Students tend to define themselves by others' expectations. When students avoid addressing these problems, the burnout escalates, according to Ducey.

Peak burnout time is now--the Bureau of Study Counsel calendars are full with students who complain about uncharacteristic exhaustion and lack of motivation. Recognizing the signs early, he writes, can stop this burnout before it becomes debilitating.

Kindling the Flames

Members of the administration say Harvard students are in some ways selected for their tendency to overextend themselves.

Associate Dean of Harvard College David P. Illingworth '71, who used to be an admissions officer, says they never directly aimed for burnout-prone students.

"Some of this makes me think back to my days in admissions and say, 'Did we ever make the decision to admit intense people?'" Illingworth says. "The answer is no...I don't think that's an attribute we intentionally look for."

But in seeking out high achievers in academics, athletics, music and other activities, Harvard annually yields a crop of first-years ready to take on everything, not hesitating to put their names on every list at the fall activity fair.

"I think our students tend to be the kind of people who get intensely involved in just about anything," he says.