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There is no better way to ascertain in what favor Harvard is held by young men preparing for college in the different localities of this country than by a comparison of the statistics of the various freshman classes. It has been the custom of the CRIMSON for several years to collect these statistics in order to find out the rise or decline of Harvard influence in the different states, cities and above all, the large preparatory schools of the United States. To begin with, below will be found a list of the number of the men who have entered the class of '91 from the larger states, compared with the number entering in previous years. All special students and dropped '90 men have been excluded. The total number of bona fide freshmen who have so far registered is 267, but it is probable that a few more freshmen who took the fall examinations have registered since the list was made.
Freshmen. '88 '89 '90 '91
Massachusetts, 148 149 158 153
New York, 31 39 34 40
Pennsylvania, 17 7 13 7
Illinois, 6 11 6 14
Ohio, 9 7 6 4
California, 5 7 9 5
New Hampshire, 4 4 7 6
New Jersey, 8 2 2 3
Other States, 23 31 34 31
Foreign Countries 0 2 1 0
It is very encouraging to note the steady increase of men from New York, especially when that state has two very large colleges, Columbia and Cornell, besides a host of smaller ones. Illinois is showing up extremely well, and Colorado, which is not on the list, has contributed this year as many freshmen as California. The Southern states are very backward in sending men here, none of them contributing more than two. In the West, however, Harvard seems to be popular.
We will now pass on to the large cities, but unfortunately, no records have been kept in this respect with the classes of '88 and '89, so we shall only be able to compare last year's freshman class with '91.
Freshmen. '90 '91
Boston, 43 51
New York, 18 23
Philadelphia, 9 3
San Francisco, 5 4
Uhicago, 4 11
Cincinnati, 4 2
St. Louis, 2 2
In spite of the fact that Columbia College is situated in the very heart of New York city, the delegation from there is exceptionally large. The number of men from Chicago has been largely augmented, but Philadelphia shows signs of weakness, perhaps from the fact that the University of Pennsylvania has sprung into such prominence during the past few years. With the exception of Chicago, the western cities have not quite come up to the mark.
In the case of the large boarding schools, notably Exeter and Andover, athletics play a large part in inducing students who have not quite made up their minds which college to choose, to go to the one or the other. There is also another important influence brought to bear on students at school, and that is the gratuitous advice given by the principal or members of the faculty as to which college a man ought to select. This often makes the influence of one college predominate over another, for if a student sees the mass of his classmates going to a certain college he very naturally joins in with them, although at first he preferred some other place, The following is a list of the number of men coming from the large preparatory schools :-
87 '88 '89 '80 '91
Boston Latin, 20 21 17 30 30
Hopkinson's, 14 18 10 20 21
Phillips, Exeter, 25 25 29 18 81
Phillips, Andover, 11 8 8 14 4
Roxbury Latin, 7 12 15 11 18
Noble's, 9 13 10 10 6
Cambridge High, 8 5 11 12 7
St. Marks, 4 1 1 6 4
Adams Academy, 19 11 1 4 11
Somerville High, 6 2 3 4 6
St. Paul's, 9 7 2 3 11
The greatest loss in the number of men sent here is at Andover; and Exeter, although it sends more here this year than it did last, ought to do far better and exceed the number who entered with '89.
Hopkinson's, Roxbury Latin and St. Paul's show material gains and rather more than make up for some of the losses of the other schools. Adams Academy has taken a decided brace and may once again be among Harvard's largest feeders. Below are the tables of the youngest and oldest men entering the classes of '87, '88, '89 and '90 :-
1883-16 entered between 16 and 17 years of age; 1 between 24 and 25.
1884-1 entered between 14 and 15; 4 between 24 and 25.
1885-1 entered between 15 and 16; 1 between 25 and 26.
1886-Youngest, 15 years, 21/2 months; oldest, 27 years, 5 months.
1887-Youngest, 15 years, 4 months. There were no strikingly old men, the oldest being about 23.
This rather curious fact can easily be explained. Since the special students enjoy advantages as members of the University in regular standing, the older men prefer to enter as specials. There was a remarkable regularity in the ages of those entering this year, the average being about 19.
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