Onward and Upward with '68

PRODUCED over the summer, under a new plan that had a pleased campus wondering why it hadn't been done before, the Green Book for the Class of 1968 was waiting for the freshmen when they arrived in Hanover in September. Pictured in the freshman directory (and much more handsomely than in past years because the '68s sent in their own photographs) are the 811 men who make up Dartmouth's newest class. The accompanying preparatory school records indicate that the freshman class is peppered not only with valedictorians and National Honor Society members but also with athletes, class presidents, editors, musicians, glee clubbers, actors, debaters, student government representatives, and even one Chief Justice of the Student Court. Although the GreenBook doesn't show it, the freshmen in the flesh give the impression of being both tall and hefty - a trend in physique that has been commented on by the Admissions Office and especially by President Dickey who has to shake hands with all of them.

The 811 members of the Class of 1968 have been skimmed from 4200 boys who filed completed applications for admission to Dartmouth. Some idea of the nature of the competition these days can be gathered from the Admission Office's estimate that 85% of the 4200 applicants were qualified to handle the academic work of the College. It is reported that applications for next year are already running about 10% higher and that close to 5000 candidates will be in the competition for the Class of 1969.

In scholastic quality, the present freshman class fully measures up to what has become a steadily rising "profile" for entering classes at Dartmouth. In College Board aptitude tests, the median verbal score for the Class of 1968 was 654, and the median math score was 705. Two years ago the median scores were 640 verbal and 670 in math. Five years ago they were 592 and 638. Of this year's freshmen, 692 or 85% ranked in the top quarter of their secondary school classes, and 63% ranked in the top tenth. This latter percentage of top-tenth students is a record figure for any entering class at Dartmouth. It compares with 49% five years ago and only 34% ten years ago. More dramatically than the median scores in the CEEB aptitude tests this gain indicates the mounting scholastic quality of the freshmen now coming to the College.

Some 600 different secondary schools are represented in the freshman class this fall. Approximately 72% of the class has come from public schools and 28% from private schools. This is a slight swing away from the 75-25 ratio that has prevailed for entering classes in recent years.

The Class of 1968 has a wide geographical spread, it has been assembled from 46 of the 50 states (missing: Kansas, Nevada, North Dakota, and Utah) plus the District of Columbia and 17 foreign lands. In regional representation, the Middle Atlantic States lead with 274 men, although this customary lead is challenged this year by New England with 231 men. The Middle Western States follow with 136, the Far West with 74, and the South with 67. Eight freshmen from Canada are a larger than usual delegation from Dartmouth's good neighbor to the north.

The sons of Dartmouth alumni in the freshman class (listed below) number 167 or 20.6% of the class. They represent, so far as Admissions Office records show, an all-time high in both number and percent. The fathers' classes range from 1916 to 1945, with the largest groups of sons in the 1933 to 1940 range. The Class of 1939, out of college 25 years, leads with 18 sons, closely followed by 1940 with 16 and 1934 with 15. Other classes with sizable groups of '68 sons are 1933 with 13, 1935 and 1938 with 11 each, and 1936 and 1937 with ten each.

Hopkins Center wears its feelings on its front balcony.

The freshmen show their "gear" at the first home game.

Cheap and willing (?) labor for the fraternity houses.

Cheap and willing (?) labor for the fraternity houses.