The Class of Nineteen Thirty-five
LOGICALLY, Professor Lingley, who has proved such an adept pinch hitter for the Director of Admissions and Dean of Freshmen this past year, should be writing this analysis because he has selected the class of 1935 in its entirety and is, therefore, full to the gills with facts about it, whereas for the first time since 1922 I know nothing about the entering class except through a cold, impersonal analysis of someone else's work and short personal interviews which at the time of writing, October 5, have embraced about 300 members of the class. Consequently I am afraid this article will contain little fun and instead of being a human document, may be only a statistical analysis, lacking the one hundred and one details that only personal knowledge of individual cases can give.
To prove what new blood will do in a family, you will observe that the class of 1935 is a whale. It is not only larger than any other "selected" class, but comes near in size to the war baby, 1923, which matriculated 698 men. It may be of interest in this connection to tabulate the sizes of the previous selected classes from 1926 to 1934, inclusive, viz., 552, 595, 673, 638, 663, 626, 586, 625, 664.
President Hopkins, who instructs the admissions office as to the size of the class to be admitted, did not wish to take any chance on a possible heavy shrinkage in the sizes-of the upper classes and Mr. Lingley's shot at the 700 target set for him was amazingly accurate, like other shots he made in the admissions office. By the way, readers may amuse themselves by trying to figure out how they would be sure of a class to matriculate with a certain definite size when selection is largely made in April and where credits, finances, deaths, births, change of plans, stock markets, fickle youth and what have you are eternal concomitants of the problem.
I dread competing with Mr. Lingley in handling the depression problem. In fact, one of the first letters I received after coming back from my glorious 365-day Pee-rade was from a nice boy christened "Isadore" who wrote, "Please send me without cost or obligation a copy of your free catalogue. I thank you." Probably we will have to discard the gold standard. In any case alumni will need to be unusually helpful and understanding this year.
In the following statistical tabulations the class of 1935 is compared with the mythical composite nine classes, 1926 to 1934, which is called for clarity, though probably inaccurately, the "average." Perhaps I should add that some of the averages in these tables are meant for laymen and students of relativity rather than for expert accountants.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION
The first table, indicating that 1935 is 70 men larger than the average "selected" class, shows several interesting things. First of all Alabama, Connecticut, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin not only have delegations well above the average, but have almost certainly the largest delegations they ever sent to Dartmouth College.
The South is either very prosperous or there is nothing down there for boys to do, because Mississippi has finally broken the spell and now every state in the
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION
States Alabama Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Idaho Illinois Indiana lowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Foreign Total
Average 0.3 0.4 0.4 5.7 5.0 32.5 2.0 6.8 2.3 0.6 0.6 45.2 5.8 5.6 1.4 1.7 0.2 8.6 2.7 146.5 11.0 9.3 0.0 5.8 2.3 5.0 0.3 41.3 44.7 0.1118.6 0.4 0.7 33.9 3.0 1.2 30.9 5.2 0.3 0.5 2.5 2.4 0.7 13.5 1.2 1.9 3.2 5.8 0.6 5.9 626 0
19352 0 0 6 2 45 2 5 3 0 0 44 4 0 1 3 2 5 1 140 2215190 4 0 35 570 148 0 0 41 2 0 36 4 0 0 3 3 0 29 2 2 1 13 0 4 696
Union has had at least one freshman at Dartmouth College since the Selective Process started. Louisiana and Alabama have increased their usual delegations tenand seven-fold respectively and Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont and Wisconsin have doubled theirs. New Hampshire is not quite up to average, but is well ahead of last year's group. New York's crowd continues to keep ahead of that of Massachusetts' although its average is still considerably less. Massachusetts' average seems to be very slightly decreasing and New York's decidedly increasing. These definite tendencies need to be watched.
The most serious lapse is lowa's from an average of 5.6 to 0. Right at this moment it would probably take the Chrysler Building full of wheat to send a boy here to Dartmouth College. Montana, for perhaps the same reason, has fallen from grace and we will have to get after "Captain Jack.''
SECTIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION
States New England Middle Atlantic Southern Central Rocky Mountain Pacific Foreign Total
Average247.2 199.0 25.3 129.9 9.7 8.8 5.9 626.0
1935 258 244 27 153 2 8 4 696
New England thanks probably to Vermont and maple syrup, Connecticut and Albie Booth and the size of the class is a good bit ahead of its average, but the Rocky Mountain States are keeping their boys at home. The Middle Atlantic States, through the activities of New York and New Jersey, and the Central States, with good general team play and with Michigan starring, continue to show a most decided increase. Speaking of Michigan reminds me that we are getting more and more excellent boys from the vicinity of Detroit and I mistrust this fact is partially due to a very active and intelligent alumni group in that district.
FAVORED GROUPS
Alumni New Hampshire West of Mississippi South of Ohio and Potomac Foreign Total
Average37.9 41.3 52.6 19.5 5.9 157.2
1955 47 35 46 20 4 152
The sons of the Prophets are a mighty throng and are getting to be quite a problem, constituting about 7% of this class and over 8% of last year's class. They are the only radically favored group. If the son of an alumnus gets his fifteen units of entrance credits, and can convince the Director of Admissions that he will not flunk out, he is admitted if he is not in jail at the time college opens.
The average class of the Dartmouth fathers of the class of 1935 is about 1904. In other words, it takes a Dartmouth father about 27 years to get a boy into college. The classes of 1892 and 1911 represent the total spread of the fathers' classes. Statistics would seem to show one case—that if an alumnus wants to get a boy into Dartmouth quickly, he should go into the Christian ministry.
The fact that in spite of so large a class, the total admissions under the favored group clause is considerably below the average, shows how hard-boiled professors of History can become when moved from their usual habitats. As a matter of fact, some complicated mathematics indicates that there are 22.6 less favored lads in 1935 than there should be. This is the first time since 1921 that there has ever been any goat in the Admissions Office except the writer.
OCCUPATIONS OF FATHERS
Business Lawyer Physician Artisan Engineer Educator Farmer Clerk Civil Service Official Artist or Author Dentist Editor Accountant Clergyman Chemist Miscellaneous Total Deceased
Average 371.1 38.9 35.4 29.1 29.1 22.5 13.9 14.5 9.8 9.8 7.0 6.0 6.6 5.8 4.0 22.4 626.0 44.5
1935 431 60 48 25 29 15 17 14 8 4 10 4 7 9 2 13 696 47
Why, in this particular year, 431 fathers should be in "business" as compared with an average of 371.1 is simply beyond me. Perhaps it is because the very efficient young lady who made out this table didn't know how else to list some of them. An even 60 lawyer fathers as compared with 38.9 should make the college safe for a generation. I had thought of trying to get my own boy into a lawyer's office a year or so hence, but what's the use? Hard times are apparently making people think they are sick and that both their teeth and their souls need attention. A few educators have apparently started to raise apples. Sons of prominent golf professionals, the best of baseball umpires (not Dolly's), brewers of something or other, police officers and so many Tel. and Tel. officials that I dare not number them for fear some prominent novelist will get a wrong impression of who is running this college, make up many interesting boys in the class of 1935. One lad is the son so he says of a general "practioner." Probably an "official" system teacher.
BUSINESS
Business Executive Merchant Manufacturer Realtor Salesman Insurance Contractor and Builder Banker Broker Hotel and Restaurant Printer and Publisher Druggist Advertising Unclassified Total
Average126.1 57.0 44.0 20.0 19.6 19.1 16.8 19.0 14.8 5.2 5.5 3.6 6.2 14.2 371.1
1935 91 102 54 29 35 26 12 23 18 2 10 3 12 14 431
Will someone tell me why so many people are trying to sell things when there is no money to buy anything with? Twice as many merchants as usual! More salesmen! Widespread and wholesale contemplation of suicide has given insurance a boost. Many bankers are evidently seeking asylum and protection in their own vaults. Not many people are building and most people are eating at home.
VOCATIONS
Business Lawyer Physician Artisan Engineer Educator Farmer Clerk Artist or Author Civil Service Official Dentist Editor Accountant Clergyman Scientist Miscellaneous Total None planned or considered Total
Planned1415673 0 26 19 1 0 10 0 3 1 0 0 2 S 340
Considered,12463 22 0 41 26 2 0 19 0 4 2 0 2 95319
Total26511995 0 67453 0 29 0 73 0 2111365937696
It is really a shame to kid alumni with the above table and sometime I am going to write a sketch on the psychology of this matter. Applicants are asked in January to name their definitely planned, or only considered, vocations. They feel they have to put down something; then by the time college opens, they have thought of so many objections to their proposed life of labor that they have no idea which vocation they wish to pursue, but only that they are not going into the thing they named in January. On the other hand, some boys in January leave this question unanswered. They then get to worrying and thinking that they ought to decide, so by the time they come to college they are sure temporarily of their future vocation. Without any exaggeration geration at least 75% of the 300 boys I have seen up to the date of writing have a different decision on proposed vocations from what they had in January. I will leave my readers to estimate, therefore, the value of the above table. The enquiry is probably valuable, as it gets boys into the habit of being able to change their minds. Perhaps I should add that apparently only men contemplating medicine seem to stick to their earlier decisions and that is because such a decision is rarely a thing of the moment. Incidentally, why do so many sons of doctors go into medicine? The only things constant in this table are the facts that no one expects to be a clerk or artisan and that those expecting to study law are dreaming of an easy road to lots of money in business. Optimistic youth!
REASONS FOR CHOOSING DARTMOUTH
1. Reasons rather definitely connected with the intellectual reputa- tion of the college:
1934 1935 Scholastic Standing 90 106 General Reputation 88 96 Its Graduate Schools 60 69 Its Curriculum 51 73 Standards 15 28 304 352
2. Reasons more definitely personal:
Impressions by Alumni and Undergraduates.. . 105 71 Dartmouth Ancestry 30 27 Friend's Advice 14 17 Father's Wish 10 5 Principal's Recommendation 2 4 161 144
3. Miscellaneous reasons:
Location and Environment 97 95 Composition of Student Body 20 19 Its Size 17 19 Outdoor Life 16 4 The College Spirit 11 10 Traditions 10 8 Non-coeducational 9 4 Eastern College 9 8 Winter Sports 4 1 Democratic 4 13 Scholarship Aid 3 1 Athletic Reputation 1 0 No reason given 0 10 201 192
The above table is of value as well as of interest. As usual the general scholastic equipment of the College is incomparably the great drawing card. This equipment apparently attracted 352 boys, as compared with 304 last year. Some inexplicable reasons—probably unshorn locks and shabby clothes during the awful year just passed—have failed to make alumni, etc., as attractive as in other days, but democracy continues on the flood tide. No one seems to dare to mention our athletic reputation, which has been so outstanding and varied during the Selective Process.
CHURCH PREFERENCES
Congregational Episcopal Presbyterian Roman Catholic Methodist Baptist Jewish Christian Scientist Unitarian Lutheran Dutch Reformed Universalist Christian Miscellaneous No Preference Total
Average134.2108.592.366.350.632.831.8 20.2 19.510.2 2.6 6.44.312.837.5 626.0
19551339198664421752514 8 6 431197696
Of course, the outstanding events indicated in the above table are that over 10% of the class of 1935 is of the Jewish faith, as compared to an average of 5%, and that 14% of the class, or an 8% increase, have no church preference. This triumph of the chosen and the heathen peoples seems to be a continuing process and it will not be long before the above table can be limited to just two or three items.
COLLEGE TRAINING OF PARENTS
Sons of Dartmouth Alumni College-Trained Fathers Number of Colleges Fathers College-Trained Mothers Number of Colleges Mothers Both Parents College Bred
Average37.9175.277.466.439.141.6
1935 47 193 94 102 56 71
Certainly 110 class that lias ever entered Dartmouth compares in its educational background with 1935. The Class of 1934 had a record breaking number of sons of Dartmouth alumni, but otherwise this class stands out with nearly twice as many boys having college trained mothers and with both parents college bred as compared with other classes. Approximately 150 colleges and universities are represented in the class.
Harvard with 13 grandsons in the class will make Dartmouth alumni look to their laurels. N. Y. U. with 11, Yale with 10, Columbia and Michigan with 8 and Pennsylvania with 7 are also good safeguards against inbreeding. This year Smith is in a class by herself, furnishing the maternal educational background of 16, followed by Wellesley with 11, Vassar 7 and Michigan and Hunter 4.
SCHOOL REPRESENTATION
Average1935
No. ofSchools334357
Public241235
Private93122
No. fromPublic390363
No. fromPrivate 232 328
No. fromColleges 4 5
The Class of 1935 beats all records in its school representation. No less than 357 secondary schools have boys in the class. I believe that this record cannot be approximated by any other institution in the country, and as I mention each year, in this grand influx of fresh and varied blood, the college has its surest guarantee of continuous prosperity and usefulness. The number of private schools sending us boys is steadily increasing, and as I have often pointed out, this in general means that more and more boys after graduation from high school are taking an additional year of preparation at private schools, either because they are too young to enter college or have been only average scholars, or have attended schools of only average quality. For the first time in the history of the College, the boys entering the freshman class from private schools are nearly as many as those entering directly from high schools, 52% from high schools, 47% from private schools and the remainder transfers from other colleges.
Let me repeat what I have often said before, that when the boy is sufficiently mature, when he has been at least a creditable scholar, and his high school is of reasonably good quality, I believe there is no reason whatever for additional preparation for college.
NUMBER OF STUDENTS FROM A SCHOOL
1 2 3 If 5 6 7 8,9,10 MaximumAverage 211.0 66.3 23.6 11.57.64.02.6 6.1 22.6 1935 223.0 70.0 28.0 17.0 5.0 2.0 6.0 6.0 27.0
The freshman class has no less than 223 single representatives from schools, as compared with 211, the average class. This particular figure never fails to enthuse me. It is of tremendous importance in the life history of the college. Twelve schools this year, as compared with 8.7 on the average, sent as many as 7 men each. Exeter, with 27 men, leads other schools, but not by so large a margin as usual. It has always been particularly difficult for the writer to turn down applicants from that excellent school where their system of grading is so severe that only years of experience can interpret it. Tabor sends 20 boys and Deerfield 15. "Poly Prep" of Brooklyn, a splendid school, is represented by a surprisingly large group of 13 boys and the University School of Cleveland sends 9. Andover, Columbia Grammar, Choate, Mercersburg, Staunton Military Academy and Worcester each sends 7 boys. Some of these are old stand-bys, but we are especially glad to welcome so exceptional a number from Choate and the University School.
Strangely enough no high school sends more than 5 boys this year, but Columbia High of Maplewood, N. J., Evanston High, and Montclair High each sends 5. Oak Park and Lawrence (Mass.) High have a representation of 4 in the class. The general distribution of the class among high schools is remarkable.
METHODS OF ADMISSION
Certificate Examination Certificate and Examination Transfer "Honor" Certificate
Average 515.5 45.2 68.3 4.1 251.4
1935 600 46 45 5 401
Mr. Lingley has certainly achieved a triumph by admitting 58% of the class by honor certificate. In other words, nearly 3 /5 of the class of 1935 stood in the top quarter of their classes during their last two years of preparation. As a matter of fact, the actual situation is much better than this because many such high ranking applicants do not present "honor" certificates and others present their credits by examination. Probably as I suggested some years ago, the change of name of this certificate from "special" which strangely enough carried to some the connotation of weakness—to "honor" has resulted in the above figures being much more accurate than in the past.
The class of 1935 is almost exactly the average age, 18.12 years, as compared with the general average of "selected" classes of 18.18. The oldest selected classes were 1928 and 1930 with an average age of 18.39 years. The youngest class was 1933, its average being only 17.86 years. The class of 1931 averaged 17.87 years. The present class has few extremes of age, the youngest being 16 years, 7 months and the oldest 23 years. Three hundred and forty are 18 years, 137 are 19, 156 are 17. Most of the other selected classes have had one man 25 or 26 years old with at least one child of 15. I recall that 1931 entertained in its midst an infant of only 14.
I asked my assistant to tabulate some humorous incidents of registration, but her carefully considered reply that "There isn't a funny remark in the bunch," disturbs me because it may portend that 1935, like some other large bodies I have known, is too serious. If by any chance I ever have the opportunity to matriculate a large portion of a class which will not take itself too seriously, which will be individually full of enthusiasm, and mistakes, and "elation," I should be inclined to ask the proper authorities to waive all credit deficiencies.
THE OPENING DATS
Perhaps I should close with some of the tragedies of the first few days of college. For example, one lad fortunately came in to see me before he had completed his registration and matriculation. I did not at all like his eyes and some hurried calls to our consultant in Mental Hygiene ended in this boy's going home before he was admitted.
Then to change the pace, I will mention the case of a fine lad from the prairie country who, the day after he got here, went to pick fall asters with his hands and instead annointed his rosy cheeks with the juice of the poison ivy and although he spent several days in Dick's House, he did not enjoy the beauties of that glorious home, because his eyes were shut as tight as those of a new-born kitten.
The first day of freshman classes, Monday, September 21, happened to be the Day of Atonement, and I had to call in additional staff to help me inform applicants for excuse from classes that the college had to plug along no matter how sacred the day, but that this was a gorgeous chance in which to use up some of their allowed cuts.
HOMESICKNESS
As usual, a couple of boys started out their college careers with clean slates by having their appendices laid aside during the first day or two, but this is a mild disease compared to homesickness which is often laughed at by inexperienced laymen, which is often not appreciated by the average doctor and which, in its initial effects on a college course, is about as serious as those of infantile paralysis. As far as its effects on his nervous system, his digestion, and his mentality are concerned, I would about as soon see a matriculant enter my office with smallpox all over him as to see him enter with that haunted look in his eyes and with the beads of perspiration on his brow, which are always present in such cases. One boy, carrying unmistakable evidences of the disease came in to tell me that his father had just gone broke and that he had to leave. As usual in such cases I stalled and a series of long telegrams disclosed the fact that the father's business had miraculously improved. The boy is here for good now and will do well. Personally, I have found that stalling, mixed with an understanding of its seriousness, is a fair emetic for homesickness.
As usual a few of the class left college for good during the first week one because he had apparently discovered to his satisfaction that if he stayed at Dartmouth he would be gray before he could start extracting teeth and another because excessive growth and a long medical history had so lowered his vitality that his hands were always cold by day and his legs by night.
JUNIOR SELECTIONS
Next year I hope to be able in this article to say something about boys admitted under our new, progressive, and potentially fruitful system of "Junior Selections" that is the selection of outstanding applicants for admission a year in advance of their entrance to college.
