The Class of 1953

ANY MEMBER of Dartmouth's present freshman class will tell you at the drop of a pea-green cap that 1953 is no ordinary freshman class. This sentiment has a familiar autumn ring, to be sure, but many persons in Hanover, more given to objective evaluation than the freshmen, will support the claim.

Support comes from the College officers who registered and matriculated the freshmen this fall, from Outing Clubbers who introduced them to Dartmouth's outdoor life, from the faculty advisers (and their wives) who met informally with them in home surroundings, from Mrs. Broderick who is hostess at Dartmouth House, and even, albeit in minuscule form, from the sophomores who have found the '53's not exactly the type to be pushed around. The professors in the classrooms, who require something better than three weeks' experience, are yet to be heard from.

MATCHES 1952 IN APTITUDE TEST

The Class of 1953 is the third to be admitted to Dartmouth under postwar competitive conditions. Like the two preceding classes, it begins its college career with exceptional scholastic and extracurricular promise. Although the Class of 1951 was selected from a peak of about 6,000 applicants, 1952 from 5,000 applicants and 1953 from slightly more than 4,000 applicants, the latest class appears to be about the equal of 1952 in scholastic aptitude, on the basis of tests in which they finished only one point apart. This would seem to substantiate the view of the Admissions Office that shrinkage in the application list, common to all men's colleges this past year, has taken place in the lower range in quality and that there has been little apparent change in the competition at the top of the list.

To come up to the freshman-year mark established by 1952, however, the new class has its work cut out for it. As readers of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE may recall, on scholastic aptitude tests the top half of the class of 1951 equalled the top 35% of pre-war Dartmouth classes and the top 18% of a national group of 70,000 students entering 373 colleges in the fall of 1941. The Class of 1952 was even better on this score, its top half equaling the top 42% of 1951 and the top 25% of pre-war Dartmouth classes.

These comparisons were in terms of promise. In actual scholastic performance the two classes came through satisfactorily. As against a pre-war freshman average of about 2.0, the Class of 1951 achieved a general average of 2.196 for the first semester and 2.275 for the second semester. The Class of 1952 bettered both averages, getting 2.26 for the first semester and 2.44 for the second semester.

These two classes together created a postwar pattern for freshmen, and now 1953 has arrived in Hanover giving evidence that in promise at any rate it is the equal of 1952. The new class has also shown that it will continue the pattern of vociferous class spirit that 1951 and 1952 brought with them to pull the campus out of the postwar doldrums. The first-year class has made its presence known ever since Freshman Week began September 13, a week before the official opening of College; it has had its fun with '52 effigies and sidewalk numerals; for Dartmouth Night it built a bonfire to end all bonfires; and in the tug-of-war substituted this year for the annual freshman-sopho-more rush it won, mostly by sheer numbers, the right forthwith to dispense with "beanies" and other freshman rules.

CLASS COMES FROM 36 STATES

The 698 members of this exuberant class have been assembled from 36 states, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, and is foreign countries. Among them are 99 sons of Dartmouth alumni (listed on the next page), representing 14.3% of the class. In addition to this group, there are 116 men, or 16.6%, from geographically preferred areas, namely, New Hampshire, the South, the West, and foreign countries.

This year's freshman class includes only 18 veterans, or a.6% as compared with 10% for the Class of 1953 and 11% for the Class of 1951. In average age—18 years, 3.3 months—it has just about restored the entering class to the pre-war average of 18 years, 2 months. Last year's class averaged 18 years, 6 months.

The percentage of boys coming to Dartmouth directly from public high schools is higher than usual this year. The figure is 59%, compared with 56.5% last year and with a general range in past years of from 50% to 55%.

The extracurricular talents brought to the campus by each entering class are always outstanding and varied, and in this respect also the Class of 1953 is continuing the postwar pattern set by its immediate predecessors. Of its 698 members, 170 were varsity football players in high school or prep school. The class includes the usual representation of captains of football, basketball, hockey, baseball, track and other sports, and the reports coming from Robinson and Bartlett Halls indicate that the directors of non-athletic organizations have found many capable men among the new candidates.

Other statistics on 1953 show that the class includes 107 class presidents, 38 presidents of student councils, and 42 editors of school publications. Thirty-four men stood No. 1 in their graduating classes and roughly three-fourths of the freshmen were in the top quarter of their prep school classes.

All in all, 1953 has brought to Hanover a record of great promise. As the third class in a row to enter Dartmouth under the stepped-up competition of the postwar period, its actual performance will be watched with interest, especially in relation to the high-water mark set scholastically by 1952 last year and athletically by 1951 the year before. Dartmouth's attitude is best summed up by President Dickey's closing statement in his convocation address: "Good luck, and we'll be with you all the way."

Meanwhile, 1953 continues to believe, with justification, that it is not just an ordinary freshman class.

LEONARD W. JOHNSON '53 Seattle, Washington

HOWARD L. KOONCE '53 Grand Junction, Colorado

NORMAN R. CARPENTER '53 Exeter, New Hampshire

WALTER S. PATTON '53 Amarillo, Texas

ANTON F. PHILIPS '53 Eindhover, Holland

RICHARD P. LENA '53 New London, Connecticut

THOMAS P. FRASER III '53 Dover, Delaware

KARL G. MCGHEE '53 Huntington, West Virginia

ROBERT A. LUNDEGAARD '53 Melrose Park, Pennsylvania

ROSS McKENNEY GETS RAPT ATTENTION ON THE D.O.C. FRESHMAN TRIP

A KING-SIZE BONFIRE for Dartmouth Night won 1953 the plaudits of the whole campus. It was a scientific masterpiece with drafts and everything.