Students Hope For the Luck Of the Draw

Forget MassMillions--the lotteries Harvard students are most interested in award coveted spots in popular classes.

While Harvard boasts its share of large lecture halls, the superhuman class size of certain popular Core classes sometimes strains the system to its limit, forcing some professors to turn away students through the infamous class lottery.

This fall, according to Director of the Core Susan W. Lewis, five classes--including Foreign Cultures 62: Chiness Family, Marriage and Kinship, Literature and Arts B-71: Jazz and Science B-15: Evolutionary Biology--are limiting their numbers through lotteries.

And despite Warren Professor of American Legal History Morton J. Horwitz's previous statement that he would "hold class in Yankee Stadium" if necessary, Historical Studies B-61: The Warren Court was limited to 323 students.

Preference was first given to undergraduates and then to those who needed the course to fulfill a Core requirement, according to a sheet handed out to prospective class members. From that selection, students were randomly chosen in a repeated cycle of senior, junior, sophomore and first-year.

Those unlucky students who are forced to change their course schedule from that listed on their study cards because of lotteries are not charged the normal add/drop fee, according to Lewis.

And for the handful of students that weren't lucky enough to make the first cut to join Literature and Arts B-71, there was hope yet.

"It has a wait list of about 60. The professor said that students who want to take the class should come Monday," Lewis said.

She added that since some students who get into lotteried courses choose not to take them, those who wait out the uncertainty of the wait list can sometimes get into the course after all.

For Julie L. Damon '94 the third time was the charm. Damon was lotteried out of Literature and Arts B-17, "Michelangelo," this year--for the third year in a row.

But Damon said she took an extra step to try to gain entrance into the course.

"I called the office and left a message telling them that I would camp out at the door," she said.

Damon's tenacity paid off--she got into the class. Her initial rejection, however, underlines a gripe that many seniors have with some Core lotteries.

The lottery for Foreign Cultures 62, forexample, does not favor upperclass students orstudents who have been kept out of the coursebefore.

Science B-15's lottery system, though,continues to favor upperclass students overfirst-years. Seniors and students who have beenkept out before are automatically grantedentrance.

And while it may be small comfort to studentskept out of the course of their dreams, therecould have been more lotteries.

For a while, a lottery was considered forLiterature and Arts A-55, "Opera," taught byPeabody Professor of Music Lewis H. Lockwood. But,Susan Lewis said, the course will not berestricted by lottery.

"All of the people who fill out the form andturn up for sectioning on Friday will get into thecourse," she said.

And Literature and Arts A-66, "The Myth ofAmerica," which was lotteried last year, so farplans unlimited enrollment, Lewis said. Since thecourse meets in the Science Center, severalhundred students can be accommodated.

But Lewis cautioned that students will not bein the clear until sectioning forms are turned innext week and a more accurate picture of courseenrollment can be determined.

It is unlikely, however, that lotteries willdisappear from the academic scenealtogether--unless, perhaps, Harvard adopts asystem of pre-registration.

But, Lewis says, it's all part of the Harvardexperience.

"Lotteries are about the shopping period andthe unpredictability of it," Lewis said

The lottery for Foreign Cultures 62, forexample, does not favor upperclass students orstudents who have been kept out of the coursebefore.

Science B-15's lottery system, though,continues to favor upperclass students overfirst-years. Seniors and students who have beenkept out before are automatically grantedentrance.

And while it may be small comfort to studentskept out of the course of their dreams, therecould have been more lotteries.

For a while, a lottery was considered forLiterature and Arts A-55, "Opera," taught byPeabody Professor of Music Lewis H. Lockwood. But,Susan Lewis said, the course will not berestricted by lottery.

"All of the people who fill out the form andturn up for sectioning on Friday will get into thecourse," she said.

And Literature and Arts A-66, "The Myth ofAmerica," which was lotteried last year, so farplans unlimited enrollment, Lewis said. Since thecourse meets in the Science Center, severalhundred students can be accommodated.

But Lewis cautioned that students will not bein the clear until sectioning forms are turned innext week and a more accurate picture of courseenrollment can be determined.

It is unlikely, however, that lotteries willdisappear from the academic scenealtogether--unless, perhaps, Harvard adopts asystem of pre-registration.

But, Lewis says, it's all part of the Harvardexperience.

"Lotteries are about the shopping period andthe unpredictability of it," Lewis said