THE CLASS OF 1929
As I have said each year in articles similar to this, statistics are of little human interest to the average run of mortals if no comparisons are involved. Consequently, in all the tables that follow, the class of 1929 will be compared with 1928. It should be noted in all the tablesthat 1929 is about 5% smaller than 1928.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
1929 1928 1929 1928 1929 1928 1929 1928 19291928
Ala. Ariz. Ark. Calif. Col. Conn. Del. D.C. Fla. Ga. Idaho 0 1 0 3 7 40 2 8 7 0 1 0 0 1 8 6 36 3 7 3 0 0 111 Ind. lowa Kans. Ky. La. Me. Md. Mass. Mich. Minn. 39 7 4 1 1 0 11 3 145 11 7 41 4 6 2 1 0 7 1 185 12 9 Miss. Mo. Mont. Nebr. Nev. N.H. N.J. N.M. N.Y. N.C. N.D. 0 6 0 8 0 45 48 0 103 0 0 0 7 3 8 0 58 49 0 113 0 0 O. Okla. Ore. Pa. R.I. S.C. S.D. Tenn. Tex. Utah Vt 42 3 4 38 10 0 0 3 2 0 16 23 2 1 25 1 2 0 4 5 2 22 Va. Wash. W. Va. Wis. Wyo. Foreign Total 0 0 2 6 0 4 638 2 3 4 3 0 4 673
The delegation from Massachusetts, which was exceptionally large last year, is normal again. Maine has had an interesting and desired increase. Montana has most unexpectedly sent us no boys for the first time in years, and we are sorry, because we have had exceptionally fine material from that state. The New York delegation, of course one of the largest, is about normal. Ohio has had incomparably the greatest increase, her delegation being at least 50% larger than it ever was before, and it is divulging no secrets to say that this 1929 Ohio group looks exceedingly good on paper. Oregon, with four boys, has its best record, and Pennsylvania with thirtyeight continues to climb. Rhode Island, in spite of the opening this fall of the Brown stadium, sends by far its largest group.
SECTIONAL DISTRIBUTION 1928 1929 New England 309 267 Middle Atlantic 191 194 Southern 31 26 Central 115 131 Rocky Mountain 11 9 Pacific 12 7 Foreign 4 4 Total 673 638
The grouping of the class by geographical sections indicates at once what is the most striking geographical feature of the class of 1929; namely the very large increase in the group from the Central states: 131 men as compared with 115 in the larger class of 1928. This increase seems to be at the expense of the New England group, the representation from other large sections of the country remaining practically constant.
FAVORED GROUPS 1928 1929 Alumni 39 30 New Hampshire 58 45 West of Mississippi 63 47 South of Ohio and Potomac 23 21 Foreign 4 4
Under the Selective Process for Admission, sons of Dartmouth alumni, residents of New Hampshire and of districts west of the Mississippi and south of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers, are given a decided preference, in general it being only necessary that such boys get their credentials. The above table indicates that these groups are pretty constant, the only change of interest being that the present class has a slightly smaller group from west of the Mississippi.
OCCUPATIONS OF PARENTS 1928 1929 Artists and Authors 18 11 Business 359 363 Chemist 6 0 Civil Service 13 10 Clerical 21 27 Clergy 4 3Doctor 38 49 Educator 27 21 Engineer 27 31 Farmer 17 14 Laborer 44 35 Lawyer 46 36 Newspaper 12 14 Miscellaneous 41 24 Total 673 638
Personally, I get rather tired of trying to find something to comment on in a comparison of the occupations of parents, because I am rather sure there is really no important trend which distinguishes Dartmouth from other colleges in this particular matter, and hence there is no use commenting if there is no distinguishing characteristic. The most startling statistic is that 1929 has no sons of chemists and no sons of undertakers. There can surely be no connection between these two facts. Clergymen are either having fewer sons or their sons are going less to college, or finally fewer of them are coming to Dartmouth. Doctors' boys, however, are looking up, and laborers' sons are holding their own. I would like to suggest to alumni that they slack up on bankers' sons and make a drive for more farmers' boys and more sons of the clergy.
Probably someone will want to know that the 363 business fathers have occupation as follows: BUSINESS Advertising 1 Banker IS Bonds 8 Builder and Contractor 13 Hotel and Restaurant 7 Insurance 17 Lumberman 13 Manufacturer 58 Merchant 83 Officer of Company 48 Purchasing Agent 6 Railroad 6 Real Estate 23 Dept. Mgr. and Supt. 14 Salesman and Manager 29 Tailor 3 General Business 19 Total 363
The following denominational preferences were noted: CHURCH PREFERENCES 1928 1929 Baptist 40 35 Christian 2 5 Christian Science 12 22 Congregational 174 139 Dutch Reformed 5 0 Episcopal 109 107 Ethical Culture 0 1 Jewish 18 13 Lutheran 11 10 Methodist 69 72 Presbyterian 85 94 Roman. Catholic 83 63 Unitarian IS 18 Universalist 8 5 United 2 0 Miscellaneous 5 6 No preference 35 48 Total 673 638
Ihe class of 1929 should be noted for containing the largest number of heathen, 48, of any class that has entered the college. However, no one can make me believe that this is because chapel is now on a voluntary basis. Christian Science, having 22 adherents in the class, goes back to its former average, the class of 1928 having comparatively a very small number from that church. Congregationalists, 20%, and those of the Jewish faith, 2%, are apparently on the wane, striking probably their minimum figures. Methodists continue their habits of recent years by increasing. All these facts may be of interest to someone, but I will probably have to explain next year that the class of 1929 was exceptional in regard to the above facts.
COLLEGE TRAINING OF PARENTS 1928 1929 Sons of Dartmouth Alumni 39 30 College Fathers 182 168 No. of Colleges 77 82 College Mothers 65 68 No. of Colleges 41 38 Both Parents College Bred 43 36
One hundred and sixty-eight sons of college men is about normal, and 68 sons of college mothers is a perceptible increase. This latter figure grows gradually from year to year, and I wonder if anyone has ever thought that the increase of popularity of Dartmouth is due to the increase of college trained mothers throughout the country. Thirty sons of Dartmouth alumni, or 4.7% is just about as it has been for years. We have not yet reached the sons of the larger Dartmouth classes, the average college year of the Dartmouth fathers of 1929 being 1897, (it was 1896 for last year's class.) Speaking of sons of alumni, I was interested to average up the psychological tests, (intelligence examinations,) of these 30 boys. Not being one of those who believe that you can prophesy the color of a child's hair by knowing the I.Q. (intelligence quotient, not Iraq) of his father, I hoped the average for the sons of alumni would be either very high or very low, so I would have something to write about, but I am sorry to report that the average was almost exactly the average for the whole class.
Last year the college ranking next to Dartmouth with sons in the class were: M.I.T. 11, Yale 9, Columbia 8, Boston University and Harvard 5. This year they are M.I.T. 10, Michigan 9, Pennsylvania 8, Harvard and Nebraska 6.
Last year Wellesley had 7 boys in the class, Smith 6, Oberlin 4, Mt. Holyoke and Vassar 3. This year Hunter has 6, Mt. Holyoke, Smith and Wellesley 5, Boston University and Bryn Mawr 4, and Vassar 3.
SCHOOL REPRESENTATION No. No. No. of from from Schools Public Private Public Private 1929 334 232 102 39S 243 1928 357 264 93 429 244
As I have written so many times, the study of our school representation statistics is very thrilling to anyone who is looking ahead to the future of Dartmouth. This class represents 334 schools, which, considering the size of the class, is as large as that of last year's recordbreaking school representation. An analysis of this year's class shows that the number of private schools represented continues to increase, for the reason, I believe, that more and more boys before entering Dartmouth are taking an extra year in a finishing-off school. Three hundred and ninety-five (395) of the new men of 1929 came directly from high schools, and 243 from private schools.
The largest delegation in 1929 came, as usual, from Phillips Exeter, with 22 men; but this year the runner-up is Mercersburg, with 14. The third largest delegation, 10 men, comes from Andover. It is a source of great satisfaction to everyone at Dartmouth that the College is becoming so popular at Mercersburg.
Last year 228 schools sent but a single man each, and this year there were 210 such schools. I insist that this is the most wonderful fact about the Dartmouth system of admissions, and one that I personally do not believe can be duplicated at any college in the country.
METHODS OF ADMISSION 1928 1929 Certificate 535 548 Examinations 37 32 Examinations and Certificate 94 55 "Special Certificate" 179 206 Without conditions 464 525 Maximum conditions 37 17
NUMBER OF STUDENTS FROM A SCHOOL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 22 281929 210 80 22 13 6 5 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1928 229 61 37 7 14 3 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 1
Possibly the most significant figure listed above is that 525, probably a record number of men, entered without condition, and that only 17 entered with the maximum allowed condition of 2 units. In this connection it may be of interest to alumni to know that beginning with the class entering next fall it will be the policy of the college to admit no man with entrance conditions, a recent study having conclusively shown that conditioned men as a group are considerably inferior scholastically in college to those who enter without condition.
