Math and Admissions

The re-examination of policy is always a fashionable pursuit in intellectual circles, and next year a new CEP subcommittee will scrutinize the College's admissions standards. Prominent among the issues almost certain to be discussed is that of imposing a mathematics achievement requirement for admissions.

Demanding any level of math achievement as a prerequisite for admission would be an unhealthy move. The present requirements are in line with those of many universities; instituting a math requirement would assume that Harvard's influence in elevating high-school standards is quite significant. Such an assumption does not seem well-grounded; for the schools which would respond by directing their college prospects to take the courses Harvard demands are probably those schools who now teach the most mathematics anyway. But the rural, Western and Southern schools which offer only a curricular minimum are unlikely to change to meet Harvard's demands. If Harvard should impose a math requirement, it would cut itself off from much good material.

The admissions policy of the college will, hopefully, continue to find room for the "diamond in the rough," the intelligent applicant who at East Podunk High has not been given the academic advantages of Exeter or Bronx Science. Presumably these students benefit from attending Harvard and the diverse background they contribute is valuable for undergraduate education.

But it is often the case that Harvard must search out such applicants through local alumni clubs and admissions-committee members' visits. Getting the Westerner or Southerner to Harvard is often a matter of recruitment, and any mathematics requirement might make this recruiting very difficult, if not impossible in certain areas.

Although imposing a math requirement would have a deleterious effect, this does not mean that the College must give up in its efforts to help raise secondary school standards. Instead of the present recommended, but vague, three years of math which is suggested, the College might outline a course coverage they think worthwhile. For while three years in some schools might put the student through trig and advanced algebra, in many others it covers only geometry and second year algebra. The College might instruct alumni to speak to local schools, and write schools which have sent students here, advising strongly that the more math an applicant has studied the better will be his chances.

As much flexibility as possible, however, should be preserved. A flat requirement in math would cost Harvard much talent and serve only as a gesture of academic superiority.