82% Assigned to House Named in Top 3 Choices

Members of the Freshman class will receive House assignments tomorrow morning, and 82 per cent of the students will be admitted to one of their first three choices, Dean Watson announced yesterday.

Although the percentage of students admitted to their first-choice House increased this year from 67.3 per cent to 67.4 per cent, the percentage of students who were not admitted to one of the first three choices has nearly doubled in the last two years. In 1956, ten per cent did not enter one of their chosen Houses.

Dean Watson attributed this decline to the large number of Freshmen applying to a single House. A CRIMSON poll showed that nearly one half of the class of '61 had Kirkland House as one of their first three choices.

Leighton Satisfied

Dean Leighton expressed satisfaction with the present system of free choice, despite the disparity in the popularity of the Houses. "I think the system is fine," he commented, especially when compared with the IBM system of College assignment used at Yale.

"In the process of choosing, the students find out a lot about the College and who is here. An IBM system doesn't explain the structure of the College as a whole. Our system justifies much time and thought," Leighton commented.

Last year, 85.5 per cent of the Freshmen were admitted to one of their first three choices, while in 1956 the figure was between 89 and 90 per cent. First choice acceptances have remained at about 67 per cent for the last few years.

According to the CRIMSON poll, Eliot House received the largest number of first choices. Kirkland, Dunster, Adams, Lowell, Winthrop, and Leverett trailed in that order.