In the Ivory Tower, students' academic pursuits could actually be quite relaxed.
After enrollment, they had one month to choose their mentors for the coming years—a two-way selection process where mentors chose students, and students, in turn, assessed the abilities of their prospective mentors.
Some large classrooms offering popular courses were open to all, while some public classes were compulsory. Other classrooms might admit only two or three students each year, or even none for several years.
But choosing a mentor was mandatory.
Depending on the mentor's choice, the ensuing coursework would either be easy or difficult. Some teachers were dogmatic, rigid, and strict, leaving students so swamped they risked cerebral hemorrhages.
Other professors hardly interfered, leaving students with four or five years of idleness, often leading to intellectual decay.
Beyond the other required courses, students had to pick two to three electives based on their credit needs.
