Pre-frosh Weekend: Students Remember First Sight of Yard

For some current first-years, the fun of their pre-frosh weekend began months before they came to campus.

Last April, dozens of prospective students sat in a circle, introducing themselves by name--and e-mail address.

"Hi. I'm Aron. AC5681," Aron R. Croft '03 remembers saying.

The students had met in an online discussion group after being accepted to Harvard. For them, pre-frosh weekend was a chance to put names to faces and cement friendships.

Today, hundreds of high school seniors will arrive in the Yard for pre-frosh weekend--or the April Visiting Program, as it's called in Byerly Hall.

Current students remember their pre-frosh weekends as a whirlwind of events and personalities. Many say they met best friends during their first encounter with Harvard; others can't remember a soul.

And more than a few say the weekend was the deciding factor in their college choice.

"Pre-frosh weekend was the reason I came to Harvard," Aaliyah Q. Shafiq '00 says.

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Some students say they remember exchanging "warm fuzzies" at the traditional ice cream social as a highlight of their experience.

While gathering the yarn strands,

Emily R. Murphy '03 says she eagerly worked the crowd, although she hardly remembers whom she shook hands with.

But she met her closest friend at Harvard that weekend as well.

"The last day I met the guy who is my best friend," she says. "We ended up walking to a psych class, and now we're in a psych class together."

Lena R. Epstein '03, who stayed with her sister Lily last April, says she bonded quickly and easily with fellow pre-frosh.

"Three of my closest friends on campus I made during pre-frosh weekend," she says. "We kept in touch all summer and they were the first people I saw when I got here."

At a jazz concert, Marco L.O. Duranti '02 sat next to a junior who also played jazz piano. Duranti met the fellow jazz fan's brother, another pre-frosh. They are now roommates.

Michael B. Murphy '03 and Jean E. Huang '03, who refer to each other as "pre-frosh buddies," met when Murphy's friend spilled lemonade on Huang's velvet pants.

Other meetings were more prosaic.

"We had a group of six girls [rooming together] and we just stuck together," Meredith L. "Max" Hodges '03 says. "We e-mailed all summer and now we have pre-frosh reunion brunches every once in a while."

But not all pre-frosh roommates got along swimmingly.

Daniel R. Fish '03 only saw the other prospective student living in his room when he stumbled in at 5 a.m.

"The whole weekend I never spoke to the kid," he says. "I kinda woke up when he collapsed in the doorway."

Fish says he managed to make more personal connections, however.

"I met this other pre-frosh, a girl, and we walked across the river and broke into the football stadium and then we hooked up in the basement of Straus [Hall]," he says.

Fish has remained amicable with his pre-frosh acquaintance, and he admits the experience may have influenced his decision to attend Harvard.

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For others, the behavior of their hosts provided the most memorable moments of the weekend.

Margot K. Mendelson '03 declares that she stayed with "the dorkiest person at Harvard."

"She told me that anyone who went out was just a ditz and that I should just join the Kendo Club and the Math Team," she says. "It was so bad I left and spent the night at the hotel with my mom."

When Matthew D. Seidel '03 found out his Wigglesworth host would be spending Saturday night working on a problem set, Seidel knew his weekend would be a drag.

"I ended up at the ice cream social thing. I just mingled and talked to lots of girls," he says. "I guess it was a good time except for the problem set part."

Michael J. Lopez '03 stayed with a friend from home but saw a different side of Harvard in his host's roommate, a computer science concentrator.

"He basically just sat around working all the time," Lopez says.

Others recall the opposite problem--their hosts stumbled in drunk in the wee hours of the morning.

Students who plan to host pre-frosh this weekend say they will take their responsibilities more seriously, however.

Even though Wilson R. S. Prichard '03 did not attend visiting weekend last year, he looks forward to entertaining high school seniors.

"I think of them as little puppy dogs who are lost," he says. "They don't know what they're doing and you can play with them."

Pritchard and his Weld roommates requested 17 pre-frosh, but they doubt they will actually be assigned that many bodies.

While Mendelson says she hasn't decided how to advise her guests, she's certain of one thing.

"We're not going to urge them to join the math team," she says.

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While meeting new people usually makes the strongest impression, the activities and events that make up the weekend also have an impact on how much pre-frosh enjoy Harvard.

Even four years after her pre-frosh experience, Shafiq still recalls the excitement of Eleganza, a fashion and talent show run by Black C.A.S.T.

"I just remember thinking, 'These people are so talented and Harvard's so wonderful and I just want to be a part of this next year,'" Shafiq says.

Damaris I. Wortes '03 also loved Eleganza, but says she felt deceived.

"They had all these hot men there and then I found out they had recruited them from other schools," she says. "That's cheating."

Classes barely registered for most current students, and students say the other informational events like department open houses and advising panels have faded from memory. That is, if they attended them at all.

After socializing for most of the weekend, Annie M. Skrodzki '03 says she ran into her parents, who were upset they hadn't seen her at any of the scheduled events.

"I had to drag my friend to the undergraduate research symposium until we saw my mom, and then we snuck out," Skrodzki says.

A few students complained about the poor social life.

"We just walked around looking for parties, and when we found one it was lame," Stephen Kim '03 says.

While some students gripe about their pre-frosh experiences, most say they were happy to make the trip.

Those who failed to attend say they regret their choice.

Rudy N. Cajiri '01 had an academic competition during his pre-frosh weekend and decided to visit his sister at Harvard the following weekend.

"People kept telling me, 'The food was better last weekend,'" Cajiri says.

And without his handy red folder and map, Cajiri lost his way several times.

"I remember getting lost from Lowell Lecture Hall to Lowell House," he says. "I also got lost in the Yard. It's like a circle so I just walked out an exit and went all the way around."

When her brother told her pre-frosh weekend was a waste of time, Valeria Escobari '00 decided not to bother. As a result, she says she never had the chance to meet and mingle before classes began.

"It's the biggest mistake I've ever made," she says.