Freshmen Face Hard Problems In Getting Taken into Houses

In an attempt to enable Freshmen to face more intelligence the problem involved in gaining admission to a House, the CRIMSON will run a series of articles on the many phases of this annually recurring headache.

The first will deal with the considerations which guide the Houses in admitting new members, and the tricks of the trade or getting in. Following ones will be concerned with the varying "personalities" of the different Houses, as opposed to mere admission standards.

Last spring 347 Yardings were turned down at the first admission. This year the number will probably be greater, since the Housemasters have decided to favor upperclassmen more than they have in the past. Like finding a job in a "recession," getting into a House forces a Freshman to sell himself to the powers that be if he doesn't want to be left out in the cold of Mt. Auburn St.

Houses vary widely in the number of first-choice applications they receive. Although exact figures are not available, last year Eliot, Lowell, and Winthrop were all very heavily over-applied; Leverett had a smaller surplus of applicants; Adams, Dunster, and Kirkland were considerably under-applied.

The obvious moral is: he whose first choice is one of the more popular Houses should make his second choice where the rush is not so reminiscent of Park Street Under at five o'clock in the afternoon.

Cross-Section Aimed at

In picking applicants, Housemasters attempt roughly to choose a cross-section of the class; in this they are aided by the Central Committee on House Admissions, which provides them with a table showing the make-up of the class according to such criteria as concentration fields, schools, and academic standing.

In addition to these factors, each House judges its applicants on their extra-curricular activities, including athletics; their personality; reports from Freshman advisers, where available; and the number of acquaintances in the House applied for. The last is exceedingly important, and a large number of letters of recommendation from men already in the House pays off when admission lists are made up.

Houses Vary

Although the Houses aim at a cross-section as a desirable goal, they nevertheless differ considerably in composition. For example, Eliot House at present has a larger proportion of men from the "exclusive" private schools than the other Houses, and Lowell has a larger percentage in the upper reaches of the rank list than has the college as a whole. These are indications of certain differences in entrance criteria, although the Housemasters have declined to state these discrepancies, since such a revelation might smack of competitive advertising.

Specific differences, such as the total number of vacancies and the number of suites available of a given size or at a given price, can be learned at the individual Houses. Since these vary widely, both from House to House and from year to year, it is advisable to get the interview over as early as possible and then do some shopping around if rooms available are few at the price and size desirable.

Freshmen should see the Housemaster or head tutor if possible; they have the most say when the final list is made up. It is also a good idea to set as high a price as possible: this is fairer to those who cannot afford to make a high bid, and increases the chances of getting in, for obvious reasons. Interviewing more than one member of the House staff is by no means a handicap.

The importance of the Central Committee in assigning men must not be over-emphasized. It will not seek out men who are too shy to let a Housemaster know how good they are. The Committee's chief function is to take the names of the men not admitted by the House of their first choice and bring these names to the attention of under-applied Houses, with the end in view of aiding Housemasters to achieve an approximate cross-section