Radcliffe Anticipates Applications Increase

A significant rise in the number of applicants to Radcliffe may necessitate a change in the college's method of processing applications, President Wilbur K. Jordan said yesterday.

"The whole trend of applications suggests that they are going to run substantially above last year," Jordan said. "This, in turn, will mean that the Admissions Committee will have a substantially harder job," he continued.

Under the current processing system, each member of the committee studies the complete folder of information on every applicant. Last year this procedure took three weeks, Jordan said.

The Radcliffe Committee on Admissions is composed of Jordan, four annex deans and one or two outside persons, usually Harvard professors.

Deans Consider Streamlining

Mrs. Mary Jean Farrington, Assistant Director of Admissions, said last night that the admissions office is considering several plans which would speed up the processing. She said that a revised procedure will probably be announced in January.

The fact that more people are applying to colleges each year accounts for much of the increase, Mrs. Farrington suggested. In addition, "Radcliffe is getting better known and is getting more distribution in its applications," she said.

Jordan postulated that applications will "inevitably double in the next three or four years." He noted that the babies of the war boom years have not yet reached college age.

While applications for the class of 1962 are running considerably higher than last year's, the number of applications for '61 represented a significant increase over the previous entering class, Mrs. Farrington reported. Applicants for the Class of 1960, however, showed only a small increase over the preceding class, she said.