Less Crush in the Ivy

With a solecism worthy of Sam ("Include me out") Goldwyn, Harvard's Dean of Admissions Fred Glimp reports that high school seniors this year are "selecting themselves out" of the competition to get into the nation's best college. In un-reverse English, this means a surprising drop in applications. The decline applies throughout the Ivy League--last thing the Ivy weeders expected in 1961.

At Harvard and Princeton last week, applications were 4-5% lower than last year's alltime high. Dartmouth was down 8%, Brown 10%, Columbia 10%, Yale 10% and Amherst 20%. The same thing was happening at several Eastern women's "prestige" colleges.

Looking for a reason, Brown's Director of Admission Charles Doebler complained that "publicity about tough admissions has backfired." Other officials blamed rising tuition, $200-$300 in the Ivy League this recession year. But Amherst's Dean of Admission Eugene S. Wilson echoed the majority opinion: "More realistic counseling." High school seniors are weighing their own qualifications more carefully and rejecting colleges that they think will reject them.

One effect of realistic counseling is a reduction in multiple applications, which is all to the good. Yet ironically, competition is fiercer than ever. Because youngsters really want to attend the college they apply to, Ivy League campuses can no longer overbook freshmen classes, and may reject an even higher proportion of serious applicants. Colleges are not sure whether to fear or cheer the dropoff.

Harvard's Glimp worries that the wrong people are taking themselves out of the race. Brown's Doebler says: "We are not sure the right people are here at all. Some darned good kids could be scared out of applying for no good reason."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.