BACON PROVES SUCCESS OF FIRST SEVENTH RULE

That the plan of admission on the "first seventh" rule has proved a distinct success and will probably be continued as a permanent policy by the Committee on Admission is revealed in the report of Dean R. E. Bacon '17, in charge of the class of 1927 which was the first class to which this rule applied. The Sophomore class is, moreover, the first class which has been put to the test of the extra "C" standard and according to Dean Bacon it has met it with remarkable fortitude.

"It will be seen from the figures below," says Dean Bacon, "that the group of men admitted without exams made a very creditable showing in comparison with the average of the Class (as of course, it should have done); for, whereas the group of new Freshmen had less than 17 per cent on the Dean's List, 26.7 per cent of the men admitted without examination attained this distinction. With respect to unsatisfactory records, the contrast is even more striking, for only 10 per cent of the men admitted without examination had unsatisfactory records either when they left College or at the end of the year, as compared, with 22 per cent for the whole group of new Freshmen."

Adjusted Slowly

Also, Dean Bacon points out that the showing of this group of men improved steadily throughout the year. "In other words," he says, "this group required time to adjust itself to Harvard conditions, but did adjust itself, and perhaps may be expected this year to make a still better showing as compared with the average of the class."

In respect to the increased minimum requirement which applied to his class. Dean Bacon points out that there was no drastic drop in the scholastic standard as might have been expected with the higher specifications to stay off Probation. The number of men who were placed on the Dean's List was practically the same as that of the preceding class and only about four per cent more than in the class of 1926 were dropped out of college before the end of the year. This increased mortality list is the only respect in which last year's Freshmen failed to live up to the standards of their predecessors.

With regard to the relative value of a public school, private school, or tu- toring school education as shown by the college records of the men of his class, Dean Bacon offers some very enlightening statistics. "Unsatisfactory final records", 'he says, "appear in the case of 15.5 per cent of men from public schools, 24.6 per cent of men from private schools, and 66.6 per cent of men prepared by private tutors. Connections were severed in the case of 9.6 per cent of men from public schools, 14.6 per cent of men from private schools, and 47.6 per cent where the preparation was by tutors. Of the men from public schools 24 per cent attained the Dean's List: of the men from private schools, 11.5 per cent: of the men prepared by tutors and tutoring schools not one attained the Dean's list.