Limited Number

Of course, there will never be too many good students applying, as long as Harvard severly limits the number of transfers it accepts This restriction will continue unless undergraduate housing becomes less crowded than it now is, or unless the size of the freshman class is reduced. There is much support for such a reduction: Zeph Stewart, Senior Tutor of Adams House, for example thinks that "we should admit fewer freshman in order to admit more transfers."

The possibility of reducing the size of the incoming freshman class is very slight at this time. The reduction would have to be made from the ranks of the intellectual border-line cases, many of whom are sons of alumni. Not only does refusing alumni sons cause the Committee on Admissions much adverse criticism, but it also decreases the amount of alumni contributions. It is unlikely that the University would take this risk while it is conducting an $82.5 million fund drive.

Those applicants who finally arrive at Harvard find that there is really no special provision made for them as transfers. They are invited to attend the functions of Freshman Orientation Week if they wish, but afterwards they are on their own. Many transfers are not assigned an adviser and do not have the customary freshman adjustment aids. In addition, the transfer student is immediately faced with the problem of selecting a field of concentration, a choice that must be made earlier at Harvard than at most other colleges. He must also begin advanced course work for which he is often ill-prepared.

In spite of this difficult adjustment, the transfer usually has enough intelligence and maturity to master his new environment. The change is not made immediately, however. As Master Finley says, "Socially these people have a much harder time of it. Freshmen meet many of their friends brushing their teeth in the comunal bathrooms of their freshman dorms. Transfers do not have the social opportunities of the freshman year."

Freshman adjustment is made easier by the "We're all in the same sinking boat" feeling of the first year. By the time the transfer arrives, his classmates have already formed patterns and techniques for living their lives at Harvard; he receives relatively little empathy from those around him. The Administration does little to help him, but regards the transfer student as completely absorbed into the student body. Few House staff members are aware of a student's transfer status.

Benefits Gained

Despite the difficulties of the transfer's life, he seems to benefit from his life at Harvard. Very few transfers fail to do academically well. Overcoming the difficulties involved in transfering requires an exceptional desire to come to Harvard. Once he is here, the transfer is less likely to criticize Harvard than his classmate, who has never attended another university. The transfer has enough perspective to realize the faults inherent in a university life.

Transfers into Harvard are not very numerous and are therefore not regarded as much of a problem. However, to a large extent, the problem does not exist only because lack of housing prevents it from becoming fully formalized. A more definite transfer admission policy will have to be adopted within the the next few years as more and more students flood the colleges and greater numbers of superior students ask to transfer into Harvard. This increase will become especially noticeable with the coming vast expansion of the junior college system in the United States. Harvard will increasingly be forced to decide whether or not it is willing to decrease slightly the size of the entering freshman class in order to admit more of the highly qualified students who wish to transfer into this University.