Transfers Accepted in 1.3:1 Sex Ratio Under Equal Access Admission Policy

Harvard admitted 55 transfer students this year, 24 of whom are women, under an experimental policy of equal access admissions, Calvin N. Mosley, associate director of Harvard admissions for transfers, said Friday.

Students were admitted in approximately the same male to female ratio as they applied, from a pool of 735 applicants.

Mosley said the relatively small number of transfer applicants to Harvard--425 students--may have resulted from last year's moratorium on transfers, during which Harvard did not accept any resident transfers and only two non residents. "That scared people off," he said.

Mosley also said that Harvard this year told in-coming sophomores that it preferred only juniors to apply, in order to equalize competition, but added that this idea had not worked as well as Harvard had wanted.

Harvard this year accepted 17 men as incoming juniors and 14 as sophomores.

Alberts Arthurs, Radcliffe dean of admissions, financial said and women's education, said Saturday this year's transfer program was "an interesting experiment" and preview to equal access, which will go into effect for undergraduate admissions next year.

"It was useful to see the kinks when our offices worked together," Arthurs said.

Mosley said, "We tried to see the dynamics, reach an understanding of the emphases, and learn the kinds of biases of the staff members.

"We also learned that boys and girls do have a different set of opportunities and it is important to read that into their backgrounds when necessary," Mosley added.

The transfer committee, composed of the members of the Harvard and Radcliffe admissions staffs, department tutors; a general-education representative and a Dudley House representative, accepted six minority students from 54 minority applicants.

Louise A. Cohen, associate director of Radcliffe admissions, said Friday the process used in this year's transfer program "would be hard to improve on," and added, "We felt very good about it."

Mosley said he believes the transfer committee has "loosened up" and is more willing to look at students in terms of non-traditional background than it was five years ago.

This year four veterans and eight "older women"--women over 25 years old--were admitted.

Arthurs said the admissions committee has been especially interested in accepting older women. "We don't give them extra points," she said, "but we are glad when they get through the admissions process."

Mosley said abilities which make the applicants have a distinguishing excellence--such as athletic and artistic ones--are weighted equally and therefore there is no need to compensate for the fact that some women do not have the athletic qualifications of men.

Of the transfers admitted for next year, two are athletes: one is a female shot putter and the other a male soccer player.

Students admitted from "national schools" almost always are accepted as a result of a "departmental argument." Mosley said, explaining that the kind of academic work they need to do may be found at Harvard and not at their own schools.

Harvard admitted only one transfer from an Ivy League school this year--a male from Brown University who has been out of college for four years.

Mosley said, "Not one woman made it in because she is a woman and not one man made it in because Harvard was getting paranoid about accepting so many women. I think we got the best.