Although the Class of 1961 graduated two years before Betty Friedan debunked the myth of the happy American housewife in The Feminine Mystique, many Radcliffe graduates were already struggling with having to chose between family and career.

"For young women trying to make decisions it was very confusing. Distinguished individuals disagreed," says Judith Wilson Rogers '61. "Radcliffe had a traditional senior-junior luncheon. At ours [then-Radcliffe President] Mary I. Bunting gave a statement on how it was possible to combine marriage and a career. Margaret Mead was the second speaker, and she told the class that it was not possible, that you had to make sacrifices."

"We had to be pioneers and figure it out for ourselves," says Rogers, a judge on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. "But that may be what a Radcliffe education was all about."

But some alumnae say Radcliffe didn't adequately prepare them for the real world, where they faced more limited opportunities than their Harvard counterparts. "We all hoped to be able to combine career and family, but when we got out and faced reality, there was a severe reassessment. A lot of people were turned down by high-powered graduate schools. The doors weren't open," saysPatterson.

Although many alumnae praise Radcliffe forsupporting women's professional endeavors, some ofthem point out that they received less supportthan their Harvard classmates.

"The people who went on to graduate school wentto academic programs rather than law or medicine.It was much more acceptable for a girl to do,"says Rich. "I started out thinking about medicine,but my father said no."

Forty percent of the 151 alumnae who respondedto a 25th reunion poll conducted by Radcliffe saidthey now work in the field of education; 14percent work in health and human services; 15percent are in business; 7 percent are in law, 9percent work in the arts, 3 percent work inbusiness and 11 percent are in some other field.

Although Radcliffe students in the early 1960scould plan on having some sort of a career, theywere not expected to provide for themselves. "Iremember one dean told us that our advantage layin the fact we were not main wage earners. So wehad the intellectual freedom to explore thepossibilities that men might not," says VivianPerlstein Folkenflik '61, who teaches at theUniversity of California at Irvine.

Radcliffe women of the early 1960s say theywere not supposed to allow this intellectualfreedom to interfere with their family lives. "Itwasn't the norm for women to have their career andchildbearing all at once," remembers Ann BoodyMorgan '61. "The women I knew raised theirfamilies first, then had careers." And Heywood,mother of three children, says: "My generation gotthe message that you planned a life so that in thefirst part you would have a family, but when thekids grew up you would have a career. Theywouldn't be simultaneous."

At present, all but 7 percent of the alumnaewho responded to the Radcliffe poll now workoutside their homes at least part of the time, and68 percent work full-time.

But 25 years ago, the recent graduates of anelite women's college had different aspirations."When we were in school we were generally expectedto go out and get married," says Claudia BurghardtMorgan '61; "Most of the women I knew were marriedwithin a year of graduation," Rich says.

With marriage on everyone's minds, datingHarvard men played an important part of Radcliffestudents' lives. "My family expected that collegewould introduce me to appropriate spouses," Levirecalls. And the distance between the Harvardhouses and the Radcliffe dorms only enhanced theimportance of having a date. "It wasn't easy toget into a relaxed situation [with Harvard men].Classes weren't oriented towards making friends,"says Gaby Stevens Kimmel '61, while Levi mentionsthat "the primary way of doing things was with adate. Even going to football games you had to beasked by a man."

Radcliffe may not have given the Class of 1961a perfect education, but most alumnae looking backsay the college gave them a good education.Seventy-one percent of those polled said theywould attend the school again.

"We can see how things could have beendifferent, but...Radcliffe did the best it could,"Folkenflik says. "I can't fault Radcliffe becauseI was born in 1940.