Enrollment Report

It was nearly everyone's guess that Dartmouth's enrollment for 1952-53 would be down slightly from that of last year. However, after the smoke of freshman matriculation and upperclass registration had cleared away, the College found itself with a total enrollment of 2,837 and a slight increase over last fall's on-the-button figure of 2,800.

Undergraduate enrollment is 2,653, with the rest of the grand total made up Of 164 graduate students in the three associated schools and 20 graduate students or teaching fellows in the College. In the usual ascending numbers, the senior class of 1953 has 575 men enrolled; the class of 1954, 608; the class of 1955, 679; and the freshman class of 1956, 739. Drop-backs, unclassified students, and members of the classes of 1949 through 1952 are also in the undergraduate total.

First-year enrollment in the Thayer School this fall shows the effects of the widespread publicity given to the national shortage of engineers. Forty first-year students, compared with only 11 last year, give Thayer School a total enrollment of 55, the largest student body it has had since the war. Tuck School has 157 men registered, 68 in the second year; and the Medical School has 48 men, evenly divided between the two classes, plus 45 doctors doing graduate work.

The number of Dartmouth undergraduates enrolled in the Army, Navy and Air Force ROTC units is 1,352, of whom 470 are freshmen. The Air Force has the largest unit, with 724 men, followed by the Navy with 358 and the Army with 270.

The fact that freshman enrollment in ROTC is down from last year may indicate an increased reliance on the present Selective Service policy of deferring college students who meet the required academic standards. Early last month, however, Geleral Hershey, director of Selective Service, warned students who expected to attend college next fall that they faced much stiffer deferment regulations. He stated the belief that enough men would be returning from the armed services to keep college classes full without deferring as many. Under the present system, deferment for about 200,000 students is based in part on a special examination, and on December 4 some Dartmouth undergraduates, in company with college men all over the country, will be taking the latest Selective Service College Qualification Test.