THE CHOICE OF ELECTIVES.

Few occasions offer to undergraduates more opportunities for serious thought than the filling out of their list of courses at the beginning of the College year. A course of study, which in many institutions is wholly or in part determined and prescribed by their officers, is here worked out by each individual student in accordance with his tastes and aims. This almost unqualified freedom of choice, which is peculiarly Harvard's has often been criticised by those who doubt the ability of the average undergraduate to think intelligently for himself. They can no doubt, cite actual cases of misdirected energies or of too widely distributed plans of study, but these will be the exceptions. Few men who are old enough to pass the requirements for admission to Harvard College, will wander far from a course of study which suits their individual cases.

Freshmen are not as a rule as familiar with the nature of the courses open to them as upperclassmen, and it is for that reason that advisors are appointed to assist them in planning their schedules. They should remember, however, that the adviser is intended primarily to help them decide, not to decide for them. A Freshman should have a reasonably clear idea of what he wishes to do, and if he is in doubt about a course which is not within the adviser's department, he should go to one of the men connected with it. By following such a plan, he will learn to realize the true value of the elective system, and prove himself worthy of the freedom it allows him.