DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS DISCUSSES "SELECTED FAILURES"

In an article in The Dartmouth entitled "Some Selected Failures", Dean E. Gordon Bill, Director of Admissions, revealed some interesting information in regard to men failing their cpllege work and in regard to the reasons why a selective process does not insure against failures. A portion of Dean Bill's article is reprinted here.

Twenty-eight members of the class of 1927 were separated from college in February. As the class entered with 595 men this percentage of separatees is encouragingly .small: When-the selective process was first conceived the writer, in his enthusiastic ignorance, thought that henceforth practically no Freshmen would be separatedl for scholastic but such failures are a relative matter, and I have come to realize also that among 600 angels selected at the age of adolescence a considerable percentage would start to moult after a few months of, shall we say, academic freedom. So age and its unearned increment of wisdom have conspired to make me satisfied with a five per cent casualty list at the end of the semester.

Of the twenty-eight men separated the Empire State once more easily carries off the honors with nine men in the list. Such a variation as twenty-three per cent of the class and thirty-two per cent of the failures for the second year in succession gives cause for reflection! Ohio jumps into the limelight this year with five failures—about the. same number as Ohio has furnished presidents. Here the variation from five per cent of the class to eighteen per cent of the failures is worse and more of it. New Hampshire furnishes four failures, and Massachusetts two. Once again this record of Massachusetts is striking; twenty-one per cent of the class and only seven per cent of the failures. California, Illinois, Indiana, lowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, furnishing one failure each, get this amount of publicity but have nothing to be ashamed of. Probably Connecticut had the best record of any state, as she sent twenty-nine men to the Freshman class and had no separations charged to her account.

An impersonal analysis of thsee failures may be worth while. First of all, about twenty of the twenty-eight men had Psychological tests that gave a very strong presumption of scholastic failure. In other words, these men could only hope for scholastic success as a result of exceptional diligence. Such Psychological tests would have furnished an excellent criterion for refusing admission to this particular group, although such tests would also have excluded others who have had the industry and faithfulness to maintain a creditable standing in college.

One of the most significant things about these twenty-eight men is that almost without exception they had been poor or average students before entering college. Before selection of a class is made each applicant is graded in the office of admissions with an A, B, C, D, or E for his preparatory school scholarship. Of the twenty-eight failures no one was rated A, one received a B, eleven had C's, six were graded C—, and ten had D's. If I am asked why so many C and D men were selected I will answer that only about thirty per cent of the applicants applying to Dartmouth or any other college can be rated A or B for their preparatory scholastic work. In other words, seventy per cent of a Freshman class of six hundred must be chosen from applicants having an average, or lower, schola stic record. One great problem of admissions is so to evaluate other qualifications possessed by such applicants that the college and the applicant will profit by a closer contact, and so at the same time the ruinous wastage due to separation will be reduced to a minimum. The B scholar referred to above could easily have done our work if he had not followed Cupid's well marked trail to the exclusion of English, Mathematics, class, chapel, and recreation.

At first glance one of the most amazing facts concerning these failures is that eighteen of the twenty-eight entered from private schools. Only thirty per cent of the entire class came from private schools, which however furnished sixty four per cent of the separations. This bit of statistics will probably not hold from year to year, but it is interesting while it lasts.

It is interesting to observe that in so far as personal ratings were concerned, school principals and alumni were in pretty uniform agreement about these twenty-eight men. In eighteen cases they agreed almost exactly; in five the principals' ratings were considerably the higher, and in five others the alumni were more enthusiastic.

The question will be asked why were these particular C and D scholars selected for admission. The answer is that the Director of Admissions is only occasionally a prophet. Without exception these twenty-eight men were rated, "markedly" or "distinctly" above the average, either by their principal or by an alumnus, and in general by both, in the qualities going to make up what we have designated "character"; namely, Intellectual Interest, Personality, Mental Alertness, Industry and Faithfulness, Ambition and Straightforwardness.

There were three boys of the class of 1927 who lost at least nine semester hours, who, nevertheless, were continued in college on probation. The reasons for making such exceptions may be interesting. One of these men came from a srnall mid-western high school, and entered by "Special Certificate." Without doubt, he was the most uniformly highly rated applicant for admission to the class of 1927. He ranked at graduation third in a class of forty-three, was rated "markedly" above the average in each personal quality by both his principal and the alumnus, was outstandingly active in non-athletic activities, and was consdered a very high grade athlete by all who observed him. It seemed that this boy should be given further opportunity to make the adjustment in college that had apparently been difficult before being permanentl separated. This man ranked very low in his Psychological tests. Another man had been a C scholar in school and entered by certificate and examination. He was rated "distinctly" above the average on all counts, had been uninterested in activities at school, and had been out of school a year during which time he had been teaching with success. He ranked high in his Psychological tests, and after a creditable semester was apparently floored by his examinations. He seemed to be of the stuff that improves with age. The third man, who entered by examination, ranked high in the two courses he passed, and although there was a reasonable doubt as to whether or not this success was due to his excellent preparation rather than to himself, it seemed best to give him another trial, even though his Psychological tests were low.