Radcliffe Admissions Head Reveals Early Decision Plan Will Continue

The Early Decision Plan at Radcliffe will be continued at least through next year, Margaret Habein, Dean of Admissions at Radcliffe, said yesterday.

Under this system, nearly one-third the next year's freshman class is chosen in October. Eighty successful applicants to the Class of '66 have already received notification of acceptance.

The committee which has just examined the plan decided that "there is no particular reason for abandoning it," Miss Habein said. Early decision is valuable because it enables high school seniors to "get something out of their last year at school" by relieving them from pressure.

However, Miss Habein emphasized, the plan will be under constant scrutiny and will be re-examined next fall before a permanent decision is made.

On the other hand, there is no doubt that Radcliffe will continue early admissions, a plan by which qualified high school juniors are admitted to the College without a senior year in high school. There are six early admission members of the Class of '65. Miss Habein noted that Radcliffe has been "entirely satisfied" with the performance of these students.

Radcliffe does not expect a large increase in the total number of applications this year. Although the deadline for application has been moved a month earlier--from Feb. 1 to Jan. 1--to date there are "only a handful" more applications than at this time last year. The date of decision has also been moved up a full month; applicants will now be notified in the middle of April.

Since this is Miss Habein's first year as Dean of Admissions, she says she plans to observe all procedures carefully this year, but "not to make any major changes yet."