THE NEW ADMISSION PLAN

Today the New England Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools will discuss the subject of "New Methods of Admission to Colleges." Harvard is a leader in aiming to fit her entrance requirements to the curricula of secondary schools all over the country. By an analysis of the figures published this morning some idea of the success of the new plan of admission to Harvard may be obtained.

Of this year's Freshman class, the first to enter since the framing of the new plan, 19 percent came from outside New England and 8 1-2 percent from outside the North Atlantic states. Of those who entered by the old plan 14 percent came from outside New England and only 5 percent from outside the North Atlantic division. Of those who entered by the new plan, however, 51 percent came from outside New England and 24 percent from outside the North Atlantic states. These percentages would seem to lead to the belief that the new plan is more popular with the schools outside of New England and the East than the old, and therefore more adapted to their needs. If this is indeed true, the new plan must be called successful, for if it is a real test and not merely an easy way of getting into college (a question with we discussed Wednesday), and at the same time bases its demands upon the work done ordinarily at schools in California and Texas alike, what more can be expected?

That the new plan will act as a magnet to draw equal representation from all over the country can hardly be expected. Its purpose is merely to open the door so that an entire extra year of preparation will not be needed for men who have not gone to Harvard fitting schools. Making Harvard more nationally representative is a distinct work. The new plan can only remove the brake to progress in that direction which the old plan had clamped on.