The Perfect Stew

"What college ought to be," says President James O. Freedman, "is a collection of talented human beings who are all very different from one another. One gets a rich brew, a thick stew with a lot of taste and flavor and spice."

He is not alone in his quest. Ever since Dartmouth instituted a selective admissions policy in 1921, the College's presidents have varied the student body's ingredients. First came southerners and westerners, then Jews, Blacks, Native Americans and women.

The same transition was taking place at the other top universities. Interviews with admissions officers at eight of these schools give strikingly similar visions of the "ideal" student body. Most of the deans said that a college should reflect cultural and geographical diversity, traditionally underrepresented groups, economically disadvantaged students, and men and women who are "community oriented." All were looking for highly focused people who excel in various areas; well-rounded students seem to get much lower priority. "The whole should be greater than the sum of the parts," explains Princeton's dean of admissions, Fred Hargadon.

The search for what one Stanford University professor calls "peaks of excellence" places high priority on intellectual powerhouses. "There's been an increase in competition for the best students around the country," says Bill Tingley, Stanford's associate dean of admissions. Like Dartmouth, last spring Stanford introduced a travel subsidy for top scholars to visit the campus.

The effort to inject diversity into universities has had mixed results. Female enrollment throughout the Ivy League varies from Princeton's 35 percent to Brown's 48, with an average of about 45. (Dartmouth's women constitute 40 percent of the undergraduate body.) And all the Ivy League schools have representation by Blacks and Hispanics totalling nine or ten percent. (Dartmouth's proportion is three percent, but the College also has a higher-than-average share of Native Americans). Nearly all of the admissions officers would like those percentages to increase.

While the elite colleges woo minorities, women and intellectuals, is the traditional well-rounded white male being jilted? "One has to look at the overall trends," Tingley answers. "At Stanford, as at most of the top schools, applications have soared. We're simply more selective than ever before. Applicants of 15 years ago would not meet the competition today."