Study of Harvard Class of 1971 Shows Nearly All Have Gone to Grad School

Almost 90 per cent of the Harvard Class of '71 went on to graduate school, although only 49 per cent entered these programs immediately after graduating, a survey of the class, released today by the Office of Career Services and Off-Campus Learning, shows.

Francis D. Fisher, director of the OCS-OCL, said last week his office undertook the study--called "One Thousand Men of Harvard"--to help undergraduates make career plans.

The study is the first of its kind at Harvard, and "really the first careful study of what happened to a recent class at any school," Fisher said. Ninety-two per cent of the class responded to the OCS-OCL inquiries.

The survey does not include Radcliffe graduates from that class because women's career plans today are probably closer to those of the men in the class of '71 than to the women of that class, he said.

The Breakdown

About 25 per cent of the Class of 1971 ultimately went to law school, and almost 20 per cent attended medical school. About 15 per cent went on to business school, and 13 per cent pursued further academic study.

At the time they graduated, more than 99 per cent of the class indicated they planned to attend graduate school at some time.

Fisher said that a closer examination of the 38 per cent of class that took time off between college and graduate programs indicated that most graduates look for one of two types of work. A very small number begin lifetime careers immediately after graduation, while the majority looks for interim work in fields they may not want to continue for life.

The 13 per cent of the class that has not gone on to do graduate work is mainly concentrated in banking and finance, teaching, journalism and computer programming.

The pattern of almost universal application to graduate school is relatively new, the report states, referring to statistics from the Class of 1921 showing only 25 per cent of the students going into graduate programs.

"Does it make any sense to think of Harvard College as a unit, a terminal thing, when it's obviously part of a long-term process?" Fisher asked.

The survey also shows that 26 per cent of the students doing graduate work chose to attend Harvard schools, while 53 percent of them enrolled either in Ivy League schools, MIT. Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan or Stanford.

"It's clear that our students are engaged in a longer educational process," Fisher said, adding "Maybe the best place to teach a liberal education is after a student crosses the hurdle to graduate school."

The report comes at a time when a group of task forces, under the direction of Dean Rosovsky, is reviewing undergraduate education at Harvard.

Francis M. Pipkin, associate dean of the Faculty for the Colleges, said yesterday, "I was surprised at the high number" of class members attending graduate school.

The report "should have an effect on the consideration of the curriculum," Pipkin said. "What I don't really know is how much [task force members] realize these things," he said, adding, "If you asked them, I think they would estimate something more like 50 per cent and not 87 per cent."

Dean Rosovsky was unavailable for comment last night.

Fisher called the high percentage of students entering law school "an astounding number," adding, "Our counseling would suggest that they would want some other kind of school, but another kind of school doesn't exist."

Albert M. Sacks, dean of the Law School, said yesterday, "It may well be that when they enter law school they're not quite clear what they want to go into, but I know at least for our graduates that when they leave they become lawyers.