Not Ready to be Superseded

“It’s like being the last person to leave a party, and everyone else has left and you’re still drinking your whisky in the corner, and the host wants you to leave, but you just refuse, because you really love the song that’s playing.”

So it goes for “super seniors,” according to Thea S. Morton ’06-’07.

It certainly seems as if there’s a significant chunk of ’06 lagging behind for that last sip.

Harvard’s super seniors are not of the repeat 12th grade variety, but rather have generally taken a semester or two off to experience life outside of the ivy gates. Some work, while others jet set for a year. One super senior even spent a term laboring on a goat farm in New Zealand.

Such adventures are a somewhat common phenomenon: the Administrative Board approved 171 leave of absence petitions, according to the Board’s 2006-2007 Guide For Students.

“A lot of my friends are still here,” says Visual and Environmental Studies concentrator Anna E. R. Greenberg ’06-’07 who lives in the Dudley Cooperative with several other super seniors. “Maybe 60 percent of my friends are still on campus and some of [those who already graduated] still live nearby.”

Indeed, super seniors often stick together. “In my blocking group of 10, nine people took a semester or a year off,” says Social Studies concentrator Feargus J. Denman ’06-’07. “The other studied abroad for a semester.” Denman also estimates that 60 percent of his friends are super seniors.

Two super senior roommates, Sarah C. Bahan ’06-’07 and Elena M. Krieger ’06-’07 took the first semester of what would have been their senior year off. Krieger interned in Brazil and Bahan worked in Namibia.

Bahan and Krieger opted to take time off after considering studying abroad. “We couldn’t do a study abroad program as easily as some of our peers, because we’re science concentrators,” says Bahan.

“It didn’t make that much sense to go study physics and astronomy in Latin America, and give up my opportunities to take the classes at Harvard,” Krieger said.

The roommates benefited from a four year Harvard education, supplemented by an additional semester of international experience.

While it may be sad to see your class graduate without you, there are still perks to super seniordom. Bahan and Krieger got first dibs in this year’s housing lottery, landing a capacious Pforzheimer suite because of their superior status. Their cozy common room is filled with plush furniture and boasts a charming view of the Quad courtyard. “When students see our room, I say ‘take time off and it can be yours!’” says Bahan.

But not everyone understands the allure of taking an extra semester at Harvard. “[People ask me] ‘So why are you sticking around?’” says Laurel T. Holland ’06-’07, who took time off to work for a theater company in Paris last year.

“There may be the stereotype that most Harvard students finish their time in eight consecutive semesters,” Holland says. “They don’t realize that it was a conscious decision, and that it can be beneficial.”