Several grants made during the last year, plus a decline in scholarship applicants from 40 to 33 percent have lightened the load somewhat. But thtis Spring. Harvard had over 400 mutual applicants for aid with Yale, and over 200 with Princeton. "Even thouga we do measure students somewhat differently," von Stade continued, "we often decide on the same men." This competition leads some administrators to fear that scholarships will eventually be used for embellishment rather than assistance. With several colleges seeking the same man, a stipend of $600 to $100 may serve merely as a lure. Of course, the element of need often results in the joint awarding of scholarship funds by several schools, what these officials fear is that this money may some day be used as a fancy red ribbon to attract the "glamour boys." at the expense of the needy student.
The year 1951-52 saw the reactivation of several additional alumni Schools Committees, bringing the total to more than 50. Kinnicutt noted a "distinct increase" in activity and interest among committeemen in the last year. The main problem areas for the alumni are still the Southeast and sections of the Far West. States like Kentucky, Arkansas and Nebraska have few College graduates, and most of the University alumni show little interest in the College. Areas like California and Texas have a different situation. Here, even when the Committees are well-manned, they must compete with excellent institutions like California and Stanford on the coast, and with schools like SMU, Texas, and others--most of which are rather generous to athletes--in the South.
The Minneapolis Gang
Practices among the active committees vary. Some of them, like Minneapolis, and, during the last twelve months, Dayton, are lagely one-man shows. The major high and prepschools in Minnesota are combed largely through the efforts of D. Donald Peddie '41 who has converted Minneapolis into a "Harvard town." Similarly, St. Louis and Baltimore are considered "Princeton towns," while Seattle and Portland are pretty well controlled by Yale alumni.
The Birmingham, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Los Anglese clubs are other, particularly active centers. Birmingham, which sent two men to Class of 1951, entered nine in the Class of 1955, including the first national scholar to come from the city.
Within the last year, the most amazing progress has been made by the Dayton committee, whose chief worker is Francis P. Locke '33. Previous classes have attracted one Dayton student in every two or three years. But for the Class of 1956, 34 students from the Ohio city filed applications; 25 were admitted, with the fantastic number of four national scholarships. Toledo, Memphis, Miami, and Portland also showed considerable progress, while on the Atlantic seaboard, the North Shore and Westchester clubs have become particularly active.
Kinnicut, praising the program, remarked that "A lot of enthusiasm has been generated. We're a lot better off than we were two years ago. Alumni are lem and are contributing their assistance. Another factor is the increased interest gradually becoming aware of the prob of the Undergraduate Schools Committee."
In tribute to Harvard's expanding admissions program. Albert I. Dickenson, Dartmouth Director of Admissions, said:
"As an admissions officer of an institution which would like to compete for the 'elite' of the annual crop of college candidates. I should be glad if Harvard's great reputation did not have the strong appeal to desirable boys that it does have, and I should also be glad if the legendary insouciance of Harvard men were not so often the guileless facade behind which Harvard men are in there pitching for the old university."
This article is an up to-date revision of the CRIMSON's first Admissions Report, for which Douglas M. Fouquet '51 and Bayley F. Mason '51 were awarded the 1951 Dana Reed Prize for the best piece of undergraduate writing to appear in a Harvard publication.