Charles Henry Conrad Wright, Associate Professor of the French Language and Literature.

Although not strictly within the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the promotion of Solon Irving Bailey to the Phillips Professorship of Astronomy may be mentioned here.

The New Plan of Admission.

In the last annual report figures were presented concerning the number and geographical distribution of students admitted to Harvard College under the old and new methods of examination. In the second year of its trial the new method has been used more freely, and the proportion of candidates who failed, although larger than under the old method, was much less than at the first experiment,--perhaps because the nature of the test was better understood and fewer boys tried it merely on the chance that it would prove easy to pass. The number of candidates under the new plan and the percentage of failures for the two years have been as follows:   1911  1912 Applicants,  185  259 Records not approved,  46  46 Admitted,  83==59.7%  154==72.3% Rejected,  56==40.3%  59==27.7%

Under the old plan in 1911 17.1 per cent of the candidates were rejected, and 8.1 per cent did not reappear to complete their examinations in September; in 1912, 19.1 per cent were rejected, and 6.1 per cent failed to reappear.

The distribution of the students admitted by the new method--geographically, and as between public and private schools,--does not differ much from last year, save that private preparatory schools in Massachusetts have begun to make some use of the new plan. Since it gives them greater freedom in their curricula, they are likely to resort to it more in the future. The following table shows the distribution for the two years by percentages:   1911  1912   Old Plan  New Plan  Old Plan  New Plan Public Schools,  45.7  80.5  41.8  79 Private and endowed schools,  54.2  19.4  58.1  20.9 Schools in Massachusetts,  72  41  72.7  42.2 Schools in New England,  85  47  87.1  51.2 Schools in other Atlantic States,  8.5  31  8.1  28.5 Schools west of the Alleghenies,  4.5  21  3.8  19.4

The results of the examinations will be found in greater detail in the report of the Chairman of the Committee on Admission.

That the new examinations are a good test of fitness for college work would seem clear from the records in their first year of the students recruited thereby, as shown in the report of the Dean of Harvard College. The proportion of low grades among the seventy-nine Freshmen who entered in this way in 1911 is much less, and the proportion of high grades decidedly larger, than for the average of the class. These young men have proved that they are qualified to pursue college studies; and, whether they could have passed all the examinations required under the old plan or not, they are admitted without conditions. The result is that of the 598 men who were admitted by examination and actually entered the Freshman class in 1912, 402, or more than two-thirds, entered clear. That is a great advantage both to them and to the College, for conditions are an additional burden upon students who ought to devote all their scholastic energy to college work. They are a heavy drag upon the Freshman year. Borne chiefly by the weakest, or least well equipped, they hold these men back and slow down the pace of the whole class.

Choices for Concentration.

The report for last year contained also a table showing the number of Freshmen who had chosen each of the fields of study for the concentration of their college work. The choices made by the Freshmen last May were not very different; but for that very reason, as showing a tendency rather than accident, a comparison of the two years is not without interest. The principal changes are increases in the actual numbers concentrating in Classics, English, Comparative Literature, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Philosophy; and a slight relative decrease in the number in the group of History, Economics, and Government.

CHOICES OF SUBJECTS OF CONCENTRATION.   Class  Class   of  of Subjects  1914  1915 The Classics,  12  22 English,  42  74 Romance Languages,  45  39 Germanic Languages,  9  14 Comparative Literature,  3  12 History and Literature,  9  4 Fine Arts,  12  14 Music,  9  6 Architecture,  6 Too vaguely expressed as Modern Languages,  9 Total, Group I,  156  185 Engineering,  55  43 Chemistry,  38  72 Biology,  14  12 Geology,  5  4 Physics,  4  7 Anthropology,  1 Special Combinations,    3 Too vaguely expressed as Natural Sciences,  2 Total, Group II,  119  141 Economics,  133  132 History,  41  50 Government,  25  33 Anthropology,    2 Too vaguely expressed as History and Political Sciences,  33 Total, Group III,  232  217 Mathematics,  9  21 Philosophy,  3  9 Total, Group IV,  12  30

PERCENTAGES OF CONCENTRATION. Language, Literature, Fine Arts, and Music,  30%  32% Natural Sciences,  23%  25% Economics, History, Government,  45%  38% Mathematics and Philosophy,  2%  5%

A few men have been allowed for good reasons to change their field of concentration, but they are not numerous enough to have a material effect upon the percentage. These tables indicate the main subjects of the students' work, but we must remember that they by no means express either the range of studies pursued by the individual student or the amount of instruction given by the several departments, for every undergraduate is obliged to distribute six of his courses among the groups in which his main work does not lie, and he may use his four free courses in the same way.

Oral Examinations.

The oral examinations in French and German, which went into effect for the Class of 1914, required that no student should be registered as a Junior unless he could read one of those languages with fair ease and accuracy. The examinations were held three or four times a year; and the result, as stated in the last annual report, has been that each time about one half of the applicants failed. But the student may work on the language and try until he passes; and the upshot illustrates the general experience that students will rise to any reasonable standard which is seriously required; for by the end of October, 1912, only thirty-three members of the Class of 1914 had failed to pass the examination. Thus the object of the rule has been in large measure attained--that of ensuring among the upper classmen an ability to use books in at least one foreign language.