While most students expect interviews for summer jobs to be challenging, few have ever had grammar books shoved in their faces.

But the process of becoming a Harvard Summer School proctor isn't like most jobs.

One undergraduate applied to be a proctor last month. Her interview went well, she said--until she accidentally used the word "hopefully."

"[The interviewer] turns around, gets a book off the bookshelf, asks me if I am familiar with this book, and tells me to read the paragraph [explaining that] 'hopefully' is incorrect grammar," said the student, who asked that her name be withheld.

The interviewer was able to turn to the exact page and paragraph containing the rule, which were bookmarked.

"It made me feel horrible about the whole interview," the student says.

Students who have applied to be Summer School proctors say the process can be brutal--more than one undergraduate has been reduced to tears. Some say interviewers for the program are unnecessarily harsh and demanding, making their best efforts to unnerve undergraduate applicants.

But administrators at Harvard's Division of Continuing Education--which administers the Summer School program--defend the rough treatment.