Rising high-school senior Lauren Liechtenstein has been in love with Harvard since she first visited at the age of 12. She’s 17 now, and a student at the Harvard Secondary School Program (SSP), which lets high-school students spend eight weeks over the summer taking college-level courses within Harvard’s gates.

“I loved the place—I just loved everything about it,” says Liechtenstein, who is attending SSP for the second consecutive year. “I figured, why not try to spend the summer here and see what it’s like and find out about the college and how everything works?”

Like Liechtenstein, many students are drawn to SSP out of a love for “Harvard”—though what Harvard means differs from student to student.

For some, “Harvard” means great academics. For others, it’s synonymous with college life; for others still, it’s a line on a college application. Some, like Liechstenstein, are simply motivated by the idea of studying at Harvard. For most, it’s a combination of all these factors.

As Liechtenstein says, though it isn’t the primary reason she came here, she hopes that when she applies to Harvard College, her experience at SSP will have some bearing on the admissions committee’s decision—“I don’t know,” she says. “I’d like to think it helps.”

But some aspects of the “Harvard” experience SSP offers may be more authentic than others—though they live in the same dorms and eat the same food as Harvard freshmen, and sit in classrooms next to Harvard students, their experience is at an institution that boasts only 23 Harvard professors among its 241 instructors.

A TASTE OF HARVARD

For eight weeks each summer, approximately 1,000 high-school students fill first-year dormitories, while about 250 of their classmates commute into Harvard Square each morning. The rising high school juniors and seniors, who constitute about one-fifth of the overall enrollment of the Summer School, sit in classrooms for about 10 hours a week, often alongside Harvard undergraduates and graduate students.

Many have come to sample from the Summer School’s academic platter.

“Harvard was the only summer program with both International Relations and Graphics Design, which were the two classes I wanted to take,” says rising senior Alli Taylor, 17.

Although a scheduling conflict precluded her from enrolling in both courses, she says Harvard’s offerings have allowed her to experiment with an interest she cannot explore at her high school.

“I’m here because I’m thinking about taking international relations in college, so I’m looking at various colleges with strong international relations programs,” she says. “I want to see if I like the college and if I like international relations.”

Others students who attend SSP are hoping to experience “college life.”

They want “freedom from parents” or to “get outta house,” as indicated in free responses to a Crimson poll of SSP students administered last week.

Monitored by proctors who are undergraduates at Harvard College, students must follow basic rules—but the freedom they’re allowed is more than they might get at home or in another program.