JUNIOR SPRING: Hope Springs Eternal

Juniors have a lot on their minds. There are thesis proposals to write and lucrative summer jobs to be found. MCATs and LSATs are just around the corner, and extracurriculars need experienced leaders. This spring, juniors will find themselves looking the real world in the eye.

Eliot House Senior Tutor Margaret Bruzelius acknowledges that juniors face opposing pressures to enter careers and excel in academics in their second semester, but says that's normal part of the Harvard experience.

"I think people just deal. Every year has its problems and people deal," Bruzelius says.

She adds that, as a whole, the junior class does not seem anxious. "The people who worry start worrying when they're freshmen, and the people who don't worry don't worry," Bruzelius says.

Jamie L. Jones '00 says that the real world has always lurked in the background of her Harvard life.

"Graduate school and/or my future career have always been part of my thoughts and decisions since my first year at Harvard," says Jones, who is a former Crimson executive.

Juniors say, though, they are increasingly structuring their time around preparation for their careers.

Jones, an English concentrator, says she has always sensed that her time as a Harvard undergraduate is finite.

"I am as focused as ever on spending my time at Harvard wisely, but I just cannot worry myself into a state of panic over my impending graduation." Jones says. She is taking career preparation in stride, saying that "LSATs, MCATs, these and fellowship applications take time, but they are a necessary--and not always a miserable--part of the Harvard experience."

James Y. Ko '00, a biology concentrator says a lot of his energy these days is directed towards his medical school plans.

"For junior pre-meds like myself, it really is a make-or-break semester," Ko says. "Most of us are taking the MCATs in April, and it's our last chance to bring our GPA up [before applications)."

Some juniors have lightened their course load in order to prepare for standardized tests like the MCAT.

"This is the first semester that I am not taking either a biological sciences or chemistry class, and the major reason is to prepare for the MCAT, which I consider to be like another class," says Shearwood "Woody" McClelland '00, a biology concentrator in Eliot House.

Summer can be a time to relax from these academic pressures. It is also a chance to build experience that can turn into a career. Juniors in particular, may feel pressure to use the "last summer" to pad their resumes before the search for a real job.