RECOMMENDS FLEXIBLE QUOTA FOR ADMISSION

Flexibility in the number of men admitted to the Freshman class each year is suggested by Henry Pennypacker '88 chairman of the Committee on Admissions in his annual report to the president for the year 1931-32.

"In view of the experience of the past two years," Mr. Pennypacker says, "it appears to be a fitting time to consider whether a definite fixed numerical quota, unchanging from year to year, is on the whole desirable. The class of candidates varies somewhat, the level of scholarship in the entrance tests is not a fixed quantity, and the limitations of staff and equipment are better known to the Administrative Board and to other officers of the University than to the Committee on Admission. A greater flexibility from year to year in regulating the number of first-year students to be admitted would seem to be a more expedient policy, and the Chairman believes that the time has now arrived for a careful study of that aspect of our admission practice."

Explaining the increase in the size of the Freshman class last year, Mr. Pennypacker says: "It was suggested to the Committee that in view of the continued financial depression there would be a large shrinkage in the number of candidates admitted who would find themselves unable to register on the opening day, and that it would be expedient, therefore, to admit a somewhat larger number without undue risk of exceeding the established quota. The Committee gave careful consideration to this suggestion, and while withdrawals were received during the summer as in previous years as the day of registration drew near a number of such withdrawals were canceled because the candidates had received aid from some unexpected source or because the financial burden seemed to have been lifted through gradually improving conditions in individual cases."