President Claims Admissions Looks Beyond 'Brains'

Turning to the College in his annual report, President Pusey said, "The College is not looking simply for 'brains.' The admitting officers have always sought and continue to seek intellectual alertness, variety of interests and talents, motivation and imagination, ability, desire, and that old-fashioned thing called 'character' wherever such qualities can be found."

Wilbur J. Bender '27, Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid from 1952 to 1960, indicated in his final report, released last fall, that Harvard now follows, or is approaching a "top-one percent" policy--the admission of only students who would stand, academically, in the upper one per cent of the country's students. "Would the College be a wonderfully stimulating and rewarding place," Bender asked, when every entering student was a potential magna or summa man?"

Bender also said that admissions officers ought to look for qualities beyond "test-scoring intelligence" but that a youth with a high IQ would not necessarily lack those extra qualities.

Pusey said that the College persists in attracting young men with those assets (beyond "brains").

"The Class of 1964 excelled all its predecessors in promise," reported the President. "What this means, I am sure, is not that this and other recent classes are brighter at the top but simply that the pressure of numbers has steadily pushed upward the floor of acceptable academic attitude."

Pusey noted several gradual changes at Harvard, a result of the fact that incoming freshmen are better prepared and motivated than those of a decade or more ago. He noted the cultural activities innovated during Freshman Registration Week, the Yard "House" plan, non-credit seminars, non-Honors tutorial, chemistry tutorial, undergraduate study in Biology, and the new concentration in Social Studies.

"The College maintains its place as a primary force in the University," said Pusey.