Divinity School Leads In Rate of Enrollment

Enrollment figures release by Harvard officials yesterday reveal that the Divinity School, with an increase form 71 to 86 prospective Churchmen, is the only part of the University which did not either remain relatively the same or decrease in number.

Contrary to expectations, the Medical School showed an almost negative in crease from 527 to 520, and the Business School held its own surprisingly well in only dropping from 859 to 805.

The College itself can boast of 3,545 undergraduates as compared with last year's pre-draft figure of 3,549, but all other branches show a marked decrease. Hardest hit were the Law School, which took a dive from 1,248 down to 805; the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, from 889 to 669; and the School of Engineering Sciences, from 124 to 35.

Business vs. Law

The introduction of a Quartermaster's Rotc, combined with a new 12 month, draft-exempt business course, account for the presence of many more student business men back at Harvard than could normally be expected. The Law School, on the other hand, had no such antitoxin, and has suffered accordingly.

Medical School officials explain that the number of students they can admit in the first and second years is directly fixed by the limitations of equipment, while the small increase they did have was due to the fact that they took on six more third year transfer students.

Reason for More Churchmen

Draft-exemption would appear to be the chief explanation why more men decided to enter the Divinity School, but officials point out that this reason is more apparent than real. The fact is that that were "only 15 or 16 in the entering class, whereas that were 18 last year." The actual reason lies in the fact that now, for the first time, it is possible to get a Ph.D. by going to the Divinity School, and those men who are allowed to take advantage of this new ruling are not, technically, in the "entering class," but have an "advanced standing."

The number of Junior Fellows remained exactly the same: there were 24 last year and there are 24 this year. Nieman Fellowships granting a year at Harvard to outstanding journalists have, on the other hand, actually increased from 13 to 15.

Last year at this time the University total was 7,665 students, and late entrants brought the final enrollment to 8,151. Late registrations this year are expected to bring the total to about 7,400, an overall drop of about 10 per cent