"Some of the most refreshing people at Harvard are transfers. Harvard ought to liberalize the transfer operation greatly," says John U. Monro '34, Director of Financial Aid and a member of the Committee on Admissions. John H. Finley, Jr., '25, Master of Eliot House adds, In general the people who have the gimp to get out of another college are prima facie good people. I am very kindly disposed to transfer students."

This sort of favorable response to the transfer student is characteristic of the University Administration. The person who is admitted as a transfer student to Harvard from another college is very carefully screened and academically ranks above the University average. Twenty-three men were admitted as transfers this fall, 33 last year, and only ten in 1955.

The paucity of transfers admitted two years ago brought forth a plea from the Masters for more transfer students. The Committee on Educational Policy has also appealed for the admission of more of these men. Eliot Perkins '23, Master of Lowell House declares, "The general run of transfer student is superior. It is a pity that under the present great pressure for freshman admission, we take fewer than we used to."

Frequent Transfers

The Committee on Admissions has not always been limited to taking a mere handful of transfers. Wilbur J. Bender, Dean of Admissions, himself a transfer into Harvard, notes that "not too long ago, the one-year senior, the person who transfered to get a Harvard degree, was quite common." In the late 1940's the College took about 100 transfer students a year.

At the present time, however, the Committee on Admissions admits annually only about 25 transfers from nearly 200 applicants. The stated policy sent to each person requesting transfer information reads thus: "Each year Harvard admits a limited number of transfer students from other colleges who are honor students in their own colleges and who have a substantial academic reason for wanting to attend Harvard. The competition is rigorous and only those men who are particularly well-qualified are selected."

This stern and cautious invitation, coupled with Harvard's reputation of being not overly receptive to transfers, undoubtedly discourages many transfer prospects from applying. Furthermore, the University makes no effort to solicit transfer applications by sending admissions officers around the country to seek them.

Students Discouraged

The prospects for transfering are further dimmed by the University's policy of not giving scholarships to transfer students during their first year of residence. "I think this rule may have arisen quite a few years ago to prevent universities from buying athletes from each other," Monro says. In cases of substantial need, transfer students can be given scholarships after a successful first term of residence. The only exception to the no scholarship rule is that made for junior colleges don't feel that we're buying their students." explains Fred L. Glimp, Assistant Director of Admissions.

The motivations of those who do apply as transfers are closely scrutinized by the Committee on Admissions. The application of a man wanting to transfer from Columbia in order to take classes with a girl at Radcliffe was refused without much hesitation. Eric P. Cutler, Assistant Director of Admissions who is in charge of the transfer docket, says, "We get a lot of applications who are drifting along in their own schools, who have come here and see that people talk about classes. We can't take risks on these people."

The Committee on Admissions does not look with favor on the applications of students who feel out of place at their own college. It believes these people will probably be equally out of place at Harvard. "We get some tragic cases of maladjustment due to the fraternity system, people who either can't get into a fraternity or who are unhappy in their fraternity," Cutler commented.

The transfer the Committee favors mostly is the student who has compiled a very good academic record at a school in which he feels he has reached an academic roadblock. Recently admitted examples of this kind of student are a transfer who ran out of Anthropology courses at Williams, one at Middlebury who exhausted the Classics Department, and another from Oberlin who came to Harvard because of its Social Relations Department.

A substantial group of transfers are students from technical schools who find that "Science is not all of education, and who wish a liberal arts program. Some of these people do a remarkable job at Harvard," Cutler says. "We sometimes take a reformed veteran who has gone in the service from another college," he adds.

Since the Committee feels that all the Big Three schools offer an adequate education, there are very few transfers admitted from Yale and Princeton. This years crop comes from such diverse schools as Western Washington College of Education, the University of Nebraska, Park College in Kansas, Lowell State Teachers College, and Annapolis. The only group of schools from which the Committee would like more applications are junior colleges.

Of those transfers admitted,, almost all come to Harvard the next fall. "The people we do admit stand head and shoulders above the rest." Cutler maintains, "From the present applications, we couldn't get fifty good transfers even if we tried.