One problem that impacted many first-years was the particularly heavy demand for certain seminars.

The high demand seems particularly acute for seminars in the social sciences, according to Doherty.

In some cases this fall, more than 90 students competed for a single dozen-student seminar.

One seminar leader had to cancel interviews because of the demand, and instead distributed a supplementary application that asked for SAT scores and high school extracurricular activities, among other things.

Such a discrepancy in demand for seminars could diminish the effect of expansion, since students may continue to apply only to a few of the seminars.

Doherty says the clumping of interest around certain seminars is a problem.

“Students feel almost as if it’s a random process of selection, which is hard on both the students and instructors,” she says.

However, some professors say they actually consider the selection process one of the program’s strengths.

Professor of History of Art and Architecture James Cuno said that having the opportunity to select students improves the seminars.

“It’s not an easy thing to do, but you get a chance to choose students who will get along and interact well, and you have a hand in shaping the profile of the class,” he says.

Departments’ Sacrifices

Some departments have been reluctant to encourage their Faculty to offer seminars because they fear compromising the quality of departmental offerings. In teaching freshmen seminars, many instructors give up the potential to teach other courses.

In essence, those who teach freshman seminars “volunteer their time” to the program, Doherty says. While some lecturers who lead seminars are paid from the program’s endowment, Faculty are still only paid by their department.

“The scarce resource isn’t money,” Pedersen says. “The scarce resource is Faculty time.”

Professor of Greek and Latin Richard F. Thomas, who chairs the classics department, says departments must sacrifice course offerings if they are going to help widen non-departmental programs.