It's Oscar time and our reporter on Locust Walk asked a handful of student experts to predict the outcome, or at least take a wild guess.

• Ryan Orr, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Class of 1999
  "Probably 'Titanic' will win, but it shouldn't; it's such a girlie movie. 'The Full Monty' should win. Why? Because fat guys who do stripteases are funny."

• Brock Landers, College, Class of 2001
  "'Titanic' will win, and it deserves to. The story was good, the special effects were great, and the suspense was unbelievable. I kept thinking, will the ship go down? I was really surprised by the ending -- the writers showed a lot of courage there, I think."

• Maria DeMaio, College, Class of 2000
  "'Titanic's' definitely going to win, which is fine with me. Personally, I happened to like 'Good Will Hunting' better, but I realize it's not flashy enough to win."

• Jordan Rockwell, College, Class of 2000
  "'Titanic' will win, and it's not undeserving -- it has more going for it than just its production values. It's a wonderful film -- but 'L.A. Confidential' is an extraordinary film."

• Yodit Teklemariam, College, Class of 1999
  "Probably 'Titanic' will win. Personally, I thought 'As Good As It Gets' was a bit better, and 'Good Will Hunting' really should win. But they don't really appeal to a large enough niche."

• Mai Nguyen, College, Class of 1999
  "'Titanic' will win and should win! I loved it, and I've seen it three times already-- you're talking to a really biased person here."

• Matt Johnson, College, Class of 1999
  "I'd like for 'L.A. Confidential' to win. But 'Titanic' probably will, which is unfortunate, because I hated that movie. All those implausible little tearjerker parts, like when Rose throws the diamond away -- I was unable to suspend disbelief for that long. I had trouble staying awake for the three hours."

• Aaron Vernon, School of Engineering and Applied Science, Class of 1998
  "'Titanic' will win, because the Academy always likes to give out awards in bunches -- it'll win 15 awards just because the special effects are good. I think 'Good Will Hunting' should get it, anyway, because I'm a big math fan and it has a lot of math."

• Guinevere Givot, College, Class of 1999
  "I'm pretty sure 'Titanic' will get [the award]. Although I didn't really love any movies this year, I think 'Good Will Hunting' was better than 'Titanic,' and I liked 'L.A. Confidential' the most."

  -- Gabriel Aherne

• Next Issue -- Our reporter on Locust walk wants to know which Seinfeld character we'll miss the most.