ENROLLMENT FIGURES AND STATISTICS OF CLASS OF 1927

Registrations at Dartmouth for the College's 155th year are approximately the same as for the past two years, according to an announcement made by President Ernest M. Hopkins at the first faculty meeting of the academic year. The undergraduate enrollment, according to President Hopkins, totals 1954 and is made up of 432 seniors, 418 juniors, 510 sophomores and 594 freshmen. One special student is enrolled. Commenting on these figures, President Hopkins expressed satisfaction that the student body had been kept within the present limit of 2000 determined by the principle of restricting enrollment to that number which the College can best accommodate. The fluctuation from year to year of the changes in upper classes and of the number of freshmen entering from the group selected, have made it exceedingly difficult to make any accurate forecasts from one year to another and resulted at times in enrollment in excess of the limits imposed, according to the President, who characterized the present enrollment figure as a "triumph of the efficiency of the board of admissions."

President Hopkins called the attention of the faculty to the fact that the increased number of applicants for admission to colleges did not contain any largely increased number of men capable of doing satisfactory college work, but made merely a larger group from whom those capable of satisfactory work were to be selected. He defended also the policy of the college bearing upon this problem and stated the belief of the college that its greatest responsibility was for the number of whom it could provide best rather than for the number for whom it could provide at all.

Figures denoting the geographical distribution of the members of the present freshman class are attracting especial attention in the College. Of the 594 men entering, but 231 are from New England states. From the Middle Atlantic states 206 men are enrolled, from Central states 110, from Southern states 23, Rocky Mountain states 11, Pacific Coast states 10, and foreign countries 4. For the first time in the history of the College the largest freshman delegation has come from a state outside of New England, New York sending 139 to 125 for Massachusetts. This change, it is pointed out, is in line with what has been the trend of the College's geographical distribution of students within the past decade. Other states which have increased their representation at Dartmouth this year are New Hampshire which this year sent 52 men as against last year's number of 38, Connecticut which has sent 29 men, last year 19; Ohio 28 men, last year 17; District of Columbia 11 men, last year 6; Michigan 8 men, last year 4; Indiana 6, last year 2; Montana 7 men, last year 1. The New York state representation increased to 139 from 96 last year. Decreases in representation were noted from Massachusetts, last year 142, this year 125; Illinois 36, last year 48; lowa 8, last year 13; Vermont 10, last year 19; Pennsylvania 26, last year 30, and Colorado 2, last year 4.

States represented in the present freshman class and not in last year's class are Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, and Wyoming. States represented in last years' class and not in the present class are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, North Dakota, Texas and Utah.

Sons of alumni in the entering class at Dartmouth number 27 as against 34 last year.

Four hundred and six of the 594 freshmen at Dartmouth entered college without conditions and 166 having graduated in the upper quarter of their class at a school attended for four years were admitted by "special certificate" according to a statistical report issued here by E. Gordon Bill, Dean of Freshmen and Director of Admissions in charge of Dartmouth's Selective Process.

Dean Bill's report also shows an increase in men entering from private schools, and a steadily increasing percentage of men taking the A.B. course in a freshman class which comes from all parts of the country and is so diversified as to contain the same number of sons of bankers as it does sons of clerks.

Admission by certificate from an accredited school was granted to 496 men, while 60 men from schools not accredited entered by examination. The number of men entering by combining certificate credits with examinations was reduced to 32. "The Selective Process," said Dean Bill, "is resulting in securing more men whom their preparatory schools are willing to endorse." Only 24 men were admitted with the maximum number of conditions allowed.

The entering class this year came from 329 different schools with 186 schools represented by only one student and the largest delegation from a single school numbering but 14. This "multitude of school minorities" said President Ernest M. Hopkins, is what Dartmouth desires in order, to continue free from convention and standardization." This year 412 men were admitted from 249 different public schools and 176 men from 80 private schools. The number of men receiving scholarship aid is 125, approximately one-fifth of the class.

Discussing the occupational distribution of parents, one of the factors of the Selective System, Dean Bill's report reveals the entering class as a desirable cross section of the country containing as many sons of clerks as of bankers. The enrollment of 104 sons of manufacturers, 81 sons of merchants, 48 men whose fathers are officers of companies, 36 whose fathers are doctors, 33 sons of lawyers, 25 sons of engineers, 24 sons of farmers, and 18 sons of laborers. There are also registered in the class 22 sons of builders, 20 sons of real estate men, 19 men whose fathers are bankers, and the same number of sons of clerks. The sons of 18 artists and authors, 17 insurance men, 16 men in Civil Service work, 16 educators and 14 clergymen are also included, in the class. Newspaper men and lumber men are represented by but four sons and undertakers by only three.

The study prepared by Dean Bill points out that 139 members of the present freshman class are sons of college graduates. Sons of Dartmouth alumni number 27 and the fathers of the remaining 112 representing 72 other colleges. The mothers of 48 freshmen are college graduates and represent 29 colleges. Thirty-two men of the entering class are sons of parents both of whom are college graduates.

Church preferences as expressed by member of the class show 139 Congregationalists, 90 Episcopalians, 87 Presbyterians, 73 Roman Catholics, 56 Methodists, 35 Baptists, 21 Jews, 19 Unitarians, and 18 Christian Scientists.

The average age of the Dartmouth freshman class on entering this year was 18.38 years, with the youngest member of the class 15 years old and the oldest 24. There are in the class 11 sixteen-year-old boys and 114 who are a year older.

Large relative increases are noted in the representations from Connecticut, Florida, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and the District of Columbia, with corresponding decreases from lowa, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont. In sectional distribution, New England quite naturally leads with 231 representatives, followed by the Middle Atlantic States with 206, and the Central States with 110. Southern States contributed 23 men to the class, Rocky Mountain States 11 and Pacific Coast States 10.

According to the report there is a steadily increasing percentage of men taking the A.B. course, the enrollment in that department this year comprising 40.8 per cent of the new class.