Law School May Change Policy On Admissions

The Law School may finally abandon its traditional "rolling admissions" policy for a modified form of the College's one-date procedure.

Louis A. Toepfer, director of admissions, has recommended that acceptances and rejections next year be mailed on three "report days" between December and May instead of in the present steady stream.

Toepfer also said last week that the admissions staff has been "kinder" to the College this year and accepted 54 per cent of the 232 Harvard applicants. Last year 47 per cent gained admission. This makes Harvard's percentage highest of any college with a substantial number of candidates.

Using the "rolling" policy the committee has accepted 614 applicants to date, expecting about 460 of these to come to Harvard. Next month the committee will review 500 late and 175 deferred applications to fill 75 vacancies and bring the class to its limit of 535.

The huge number of applications--expected by the deadline to surpass last year's total of 2700 by 400--is making early decisions on candidates increasingly difficult, Toepfer explained. "We are haunted by the problem of filling too many places early in the year and then having to reject more-qualified people merely because of late application," he said.

Although Toepfer does not favor adopting the College's one-day "cliff-hanging" announcement of acceptances and rejections, he "feels so boxed-in by applications and decisions and rejected students who jet in from Los Angeles to find out how we could have made the mistake" that he is willing to experiment with the "three decision-dates" alternative