Only 54 per cent of the Class of 1964 were assigned to their first choice House this spring, Dean Watson announced Saturday. He said the low percentage--the smallest in 15 years--was the result of a disproportionate number of applications to Leverett House.

"This year's class just didn't distribute itself," Watson explained. He noted that Leverett had received "by far" the most applications. Unconfirmed reports alleged that Leverett this year was swamped with more than 900 applications for 140 openings. In 1958, before the construction of the Towers, Leverett received fewer applications than any other house.

Watson observed that since the construction of the new facilities at Leverett and Quincy, the percentage of freshmen to gain admittance to their first choice House has steadily declined. In 1968, 68 per cent of the freshmen were assigned to their first choice. A year later the figure was down to 66 per cent; last year it was 60 per cent.

Arbitrary Assignments Increase

In this year's class, 83 per cent received one of their first three choices, a decrease of 5 per cent since last year. Seventeen per cent were arbitrarily assigned to a House.

"The Masters found their job more difficult than ever before," Watson said. In the light of this year's problems, the system will be "studied and perhaps revised," but no immediate changes are planned.