A brief look through the first-year facebok turns up these fairly sizeable numbers for the entering Class of 1994: 27 from Exeter, 14 from Boston Latin, 13 from Andover, 11 from Milton and nine from St. Paul's.

For the Class of 1993, the trend is much the same: 22 from Exeter, 22 from Andover, 15 from Boston Latin, 13 from St. Paul's and eight from Milton.

Many Harvard students who recently graduated from these prep schools say it's no coincidence that these numbers, though smaller than they were in the past, are still substantial. They say they were acutely aware of their school's long history of intimacy with Harvard when applying to colleges.

Valerie J. Anderson '93, a graduate of Boston Latin, says that, looking over the "distinguished graduates" in her school's auditorium always serves as a reminder of her school's close connection with Harvard. "You see the names of Leverett, Eliot, Lowell, Winthrop--they're all there," she says.

"That's the attitude that is spread around the school, that there's a long connection between St. Paul's and places like Harvard," says Brenda C. Couglin '93.

And some students say they are confident that these connections gave them a leg up in the admissions process.

Couglin, like many graduates from feeder schools who are at Harvard, says that students in her class perceived being interviewed on their high school campus by Harvard admissions officers--instead of regular Harvard alumni--as a distinct advantage. Sending a team of admissions officers to New England prep schools for a day or two of interviews is Harvard's normal procedure; Couglin was interviewed by Assistant Dean of the College John R. Marquand.

"To be interviewed by the people who are making the decisions is a great advantage," says a Harvard senior and a graduate of Milton Academy who was interviewed by Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons '67.

Tradition Ending

Director of Admissions Marlyn McGrath Lewis '70-'73 says that although New England prep school students are not advantaged by on-campus interviews, that tradition is ending nonetheless. Beginning next fall, she says, prep school students will receive standard alumni interviews just like every other applicant.

"We're now at the point where we have enough alumni in the area so that they can invite the students up or go to campus," Lewis says, adding that the Admissions Office is both trying to cut costs and treat every applicant equally.

"I don't think it's an advantage at all. I just think it's different treatment," she says of the on-campus interviews. "We certainly don't want people to perceive that there is an advantage, because there isn't."

Besides the personal interviews, many attribute the longstanding success of prep school students in the admissions process to close personal relationships between college counselors at the schools and Harvard's admissions office.

Harvard admissions officers have themselves often been alumni of the elite prep schools and, in turn, many counselors at the schools are Harvard alums. In addition, admissions officers who have covered these schools for a number of years have come to know these counselors quite well, those involved in the admissions process say.

As a result, students from these schools say, having the counselors on their side is a big advantage, much more so than it would be at most other high schools.