Another first-year who lotteried into Kirkland, Susie E. Skoda ’07, said she did not receive concentration advice during advising night, since she was confident she would choose Russian studies.

“It was nice just to meet people, feel welcomed into the House,” she said. “This will definitely make the transition into the House a lot smoother.”

For students like Skoda who were considering a concentration not represented at the event, HoCo chairs went out of their way to provide students with peer advising in other ways.

The Winthrop HoCo provided contact information for one or two Winthrop students in each field, while the chairs of the Lowell HoCo tried to match first-years with upperclass students in at least one of their concentration choices.

Lowell House HoCo Co-Chair Stephanie L. Safdi ’05 said “contact with freshmen” was a key element of peer advising night.

“The freshman will get to meet other students in the House, which should ease the transition into the community,” Safdi said. “Tutors can come down, but we are really encouraging interaction with other students.”

Adams House HoCo Co-Chair Gina M. Bruno ’05 sent an e-mail to the Adams open-list to encourage them to join the first-years lotteried into the House.

“Some people needed a little nudging, but others were really excited,” she said. “Ten [o’clock] is a good study break time anyway. And then I laid down the guilt trip.”

Bruno said that she had received a number of e-mails from Adams House residents who wrote that they had changed their concentrations.

“It just goes to show that you’re not locked into your decision,” she said.

—Alan J. Tabak contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Elena P. Sorokin can be reached at sorokin@fas.harvard.edu.