In classes, he says, students didn't fully discuss women's issues because women weren't there.

Regardless of their stance on the matter, plunging into a coed environment at Harvard is only one of the changes that Deep Springers face when they enroll.

Some problems are common to all transfer students, like finding a place in the maze of extracurriculars. But because Deep Springs is so different from Harvard, other contrasts present themselves.

Harvard and Deep Springs are equally intense but in very different ways. Harvard classes are rigorous, but professors are distant, students from Deep Springs say.

At Harvard, "nobody cared too much about what I was writing," Kshirsagar says. "It's easy to slack off when it looks like nobody else cares."

The poor state of Harvard advising is a problem for all undergraduates, not just Deep Springers. But the contrast with Deep Springs' tiny classes--and professors who live in the next building over--can be jarring.

"It's a lot more likely that someone at Deep Springs will say, 'What's going on with you? You look fritzed out. Why don't you go take a walk?'" Wambsgans says.

And while smaller than dormitories at many colleges, Harvard's Houses are each more than 10 times larger than the Deep Springs student body.