Better and Better

IF scholarship aid to freshmen is at a record high, the Class of 1959 would seem to be deserving of it. Some recent statistics on the new class indicate that, so far as predictive indices go, 1959 is just about the top class to enter Dartmouth, bettering in every category the previous high marks set by the Class of 1957.

In the College Entrance Examination Board tests, 1959 had a mean score of 548.7 in the verbal test, compared with 544.2 for 1957, and had a mean score of 585.3 in mathematics, compared with 575.9 for 1957. It was well ahead of 1958 and still farther ahead of 1956 on all counts. All this and an undefeated football team too.

The present freshman class includes 43 men who ranked No. 1 in secondary school, 239 who were in the top tenth, 534 who were in the top quarter, and 684 who were in the top half of their classes. Nearly all the lower-half men were admitted from private schools. The class is made up 69.3% of high school graduates and 30.7% of men who entered Dartmouth from private schools. This is a continued increase in the high school group, which last year made up 67% of the entering class.

In geographic distribution, the Class of 1959 is notable for its higher representation of the Far West, up to 62 men or 8.3%, compared with 6.2% last year. The Middle West remains about the same with 19.9%, while New England dropped from 26.4% to 24.5% and the Middle Atlantic States dropped slightly from 41.2% to 40.9%. The South provided 4.5% of the class and foreign lands 1.9%. In all, the Class of 1959 represents 44 states, the District of Columbia and eleven foreign lands.

There are 111 sons of Dartmouth alumni in the freshman class, and 161 men admitted with some degree of geographical preference. This "preferential" total of 272 men is 36.3% of the class. Of the fathers of '59ers, 554 or 73.9% attended college. The freshmen range in age from 16 to 25, with the average member of the class starting college at 18 years, 2.5 months.

ROTC enrollment among the freshmen is markedly up over last year, totaling 283 in contrast to only 189 in the Class of 1958. The distribution, with last year's figure in parentheses, is Army Unit, 105 (62); Navy Unit, 112 (92); Air Force Unit, 66 (35).