New Cooperative Ratings to Aid Possible Applicants to Big Three

Harvard, Princeton, and Yale admissions officers agreed in a recent statement to cooperate on a system of rating prospective applicants. The schools have been using separate rating methods for the past few years.

Under the new system, guidance personnel of selected secondary schools will be provided with official standardized ratings enabling them to advise interested students on their chances of acceptance at each of these colleges early in the senior year.

Candidates will be classified A, B, or C, according to a joint statement issued by the admissions officers of the three colleges. Group A students are practically assured of admission, Group B students are "considered to have a reasonable chance," and Group C students are advised to apply elsewhere.

"The groupings represent the best judgement which can be made by admissions officers as to what the final decisions of their respective admissions committees will be," Wilbur J. Bender '27, Harvard Dean of Admissions, said. He emphasized that the rating system involves a standardization of policy, rather than a change.

Harvard, Princeton, and Yale have supplied separate ratings of applicants to approximately 100 secondary schools for several years, Bender said. The standardization was made to clear up confusion caused by the three different systems.

"We are trying to lessen pressures on students and help them to apply intelligently and realistically," Bender said. Ideally, Group A students should apply to only one of the three schools, and then "forget about the college admissions rat race and make the best of their senior year," he added.