Virtually everything is different--the climate, the city, the presence of women (Deep Springs is all-male), the huge lecture halls and anonymous Houses. At Harvard, Deep Springers say they've had to work hard to get used to the scale of life.

"It still was really lonely," says Colin M. Wambsgans '00. "It felt very isolating in a very different way from how Deep Springs felt isolating."

Cowboys and Intellects

When they arrive in the valley, most Deep Springs students can't tell alfalfa from arugula. But the learning begins immediately.

"They just stick you on a tractor and tell you, 'Don't hit anything,'" Wambsgans says.

Students tend to all aspects of the ranch--milking the cows, feeding the livestock, moving the long irrigation lines that bring water to the acres of fields. Indoors, they wash pots and pans, cook and repair automobiles.

One of the first jobs Graeme C. A. Wood '01 held was also the bloodiest of his life: butchering. Wood oversaw the slaughter of the cows and pigs used in the kitchens and made sure the meat was handled properly.

The students rotate jobs a few times a year, spending longer at skilled labor posts. A student labor commissioner delegates the most coveted spots.