Virtually every student has some form of ambition, be it in academics, extracurriculars, and social life (“We have to go party, now!”)

Harvard’s libraries are often a respite for the academically attention-challenged. Lamont Library’s cushy chairs are often invitations to a good dream while the Cabot Science Library is a sterile and work-oriented spot. Widener Library’s endless stacks were once dark and quiet-conditions that helped make “sex in the stacks” a Harvard tradition. Newly installed motion detectors are forcing students to exercise their brains instead. Another study related tradition is primal scream, a naked run that ritually occurs on the last night before finals begin. Don’t ask.

After School

High school extracurricular activities had regular hours. But here, you may find yourself awake at 5:30 a.m. rowing on the Charles River or burning the midnight oil doling soup to Cambridge homeless or putting the finishing touches on a campus publication. With 250 independent student organizations, your identity at Harvard is often intermeshed with how you spend your time away from your books.

Varsity Athletes at Harvard are under-appreciated, but remarkably successful. Club teams from Rugby to Ultimate Frisbee to Tae Kwon Do often demand nearly the same commitment as a varsity sport. Intramural teams, which allow students to battle their classmates in such sports as crew and fencing, often rival the enthusiasm of gung-ho varsity athletes.

Athletic facilities across the river are fantastic, but here in Cambridge, pungent crowds and dated equipment fill the student gyms, the crowded MAC and its quad counterpart, the QRAC.

Politically motivated students get their fill of hobnobbing at the Institute of Politics while Harvard politicians on the Undergraduate Council seek to improve the lives of Harvard students. With motivated leadership, the council helped bring the Roots and Black Eyed Peas to Sanders Theatre earlier this year. Future goals include online concentration guides and extended party hours (from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m.).

Phillips Brooks House Association serves as the overseer to a variety of community service organizations. The people protesting right now are part of the Progressive Student Labor Movement (PSLM), a group dedicated to raising the wages Harvard pays to its employees.