Now that classes have started and he has experienced a few weeks of homework, Ashwin says he is ready to try more activities--like rock climbing.

"I'm finding myself with free time," he says. He's eager to fill it with new commitments.

For other students, taking on major extracurricular positions has been easier to do in the early weeks when classes have not gotten underway yet.

Sarah, for instance, signed on as a producer for the first-year musical.

"I'm glad I decided to do this without thinking about the long run, because if I had I might have been scared off," she says.

Lee hasn't committed to activities beyond rowing. He says he might want to comp the Lampoon or work on a public service project, but for the moment he is watching his friends for guidance.

"When you get a sense of what everybody else is doing, you get a sense of what might be interesting," he says.

That approach has already yielded results for Sarah and Kip. She joined a prison tutoring program because her leader on the Freshman Urban Program this fall is in charge of it. And Kip joined when he heard about it from Sarah.