Class of 1962

THE intriguing thing about a freshman class newly arrived on campus is its promise - the speculation that in its green and youthful ranks are an unknown number of men who will do great things, sparked perhaps by their Dartmouth experience. And what increases the wonder is that there is absolutely no way of telling now just who will become men of special stature, the high school valedictorians or the so-called "late bloomers."

One hundred years ago this fall, the Class of 1862 arrived in Hanover, numbering only 105 men. One of those freshmen was Edward Tuck, who soon made friends with sophomore William Jewett Tucker '61, his roommate-to-be. Here were the beginnings of two giants among Dartmouth men.

This preamble to a few facts about the Class of 1962, whose freshly matriculated 771 members comprise the second largest class in Dartmouth's history, is not leading up to any special claim for the present freshman crop. But the credentials the class brought with it to Hanover are most impressive, and there is no dearth of that intriguing promise in its case.

On the basis of test scores, the scholastic potential of 1962 is the highest of any class ever matriculated at Dartmouth. Using figures for all the classes now in College, the verbal aptitude mean score has progressed thus over the past four years: 548 - 568 - 574 - 579. The mean score in mathematical aptitude has also climbed: 585 - 601 - 604 - 609. It is interesting to compare 1962's verbal mean of 579 with 1953's score of 534, and its math mean of 609 with 1953's score of 555, to get an idea of the upward trend during the nine-year period for which comparable data are available.

The percentage of '62 men standing in the top tenth of their secondary-school classes was a record 46.5%. This betters the previous high of 41.2% for the Class of 1961, but the percentage of men with top-quarter standing (78.5) was not as high as the 81.6% for 1961 or the 79.1% for 1960. The number of valedictorians was also down from last year, 42 to 55. Of the '62 men with standing below the top quarter of their secondary-school classes, 15.9% were in the second quarter, 4.6% were in the third quarter, and 0.9% were in the last quarter.

The total number of secondary schools represented in the freshman class is 545, a new high by a wide margin over the 498 schools that sent freshmen two years ago. The great majority of the Dartmouth freshmen have come from public schools, the division being 72% from high schools and 28% from private schools. Last year the division was 69-31 and two years ago it was exactly the same as this fall, 72-28.

The geographical spread of '62 men is exceptionally high, with 46 of the 49 states represented in the class. Only Mississippi, Utah and Alaska are missing. Opposite and below, from different sectionsof the country and from abroad, are some ofthe members of the Class of 1962, which hasan especially wide geographical distribution.

Forty-four states for the Class of 1959 is the only recent class distribution that comes close to the '62 mark. In addition to the 46 states, freshmen come also from the District of Columbia, Hawaii, and eight foreign lands: Canada, England, Greece, Thailand, Peru, Holland, Spain and Norway.

Sectional statistics show that the steady increase in men from the Far West is reversed in the Class of 1962, which has 8.8% of its men from that part of the country, compared with 11.9% in last year's entering class and 9.0% two years ago. The South continues to climb, with 6.9% this year, compared with 6.5%, 5.1% and 4.5% for the previous three classes, and only 2.9% eight years ago. New England again shows a decline, down to 22.5% from 23.1% last year, 33.2% eight years ago, and 36.6% twenty years ago. The Middle Atlantic states, up to 36.2%, have gained the percentages lost by other sections. The Middle West at 22.6% is only a shade below last year's representation.

The final figure of 771 men in the Class of 1962 is the end result of 5,843 preliminary applications and 3,368 completed applications for the class. Both totals are below the figures for the Class of 1961 which had 6,270 preliminary and 3,674 completed applications for a class of 715 men, and therefore had greater numerical competition. Alumni sons in the new freshman class number 125, or 16.2% of the class.

The fact that an earlier deadline of January 31 was set for applications accounted for some 200 fewer active candidates for the Class of 1962. Dartmouth's director of admissions, Edward T. Chamberlain '36, is of the opinion that "scare" stories about stiff competition for admission to Ivy League colleges also had their effect on the number of applicants this year. There were fewer "hopeless" cases to process, and this is attributed to improved guidance in secondary schools and to better understanding by parents of what is involved in college admissions today.

To go along with its scholastic prowess, the Class of 1962 includes 68 student government presidents, 51 senior class presidents, 109 boys' state representatives, 32 newspaper editors, 69 football captains, 41 basketball captains, and 137 captains of other varsity teams.

Hanoverians who judge freshman classes by the kind of bonfires they build for football rallies give 1962 very good marks. The annual tug-of-war was a walkaway for the freshmen, and in Dartmouth spirit as well as scholastic and extracurricular ability 1962 seems to be all there.

Scholarship grants totaling approximately $200,000 have been made to 196 freshmen, or 25.3% of the class. The average grant of better than $1,000 comes close to meeting Dartmouth's present tuition charge of $1,1.70. It is estimated that at least another 5% of the freshmen are getting "outside" scholarships through such programs as the National Merit, NROTC, General Motors and other corporation grants awarded directly to the student to be used at the college of his choice.

James T. Hale Minneapolis, Minnesota

S. Edward Boselly Seattle, Washington

Colin E. Harley Laurens, South Carolina

William G. QuirkNarragansett, Rhode Island

Walter B. McRae Missoula, Montana

Anderson G. Bartlett Tulsa, Oklahoma

Anthony Denton Wellingborough, England

James F. O'Brien Princeton, New Jersey

Freshmen off to their first classes after Convocation on September 22.

Dennis J. Crumbine Shaker Heights, Ohio

Sidney R. Leavitt Rochester, New Hampshire

Wouter Goedkoop Bloemendaal, Holland