FOOTBALL GETS SLIGHT CONSIDERATION IN PICKING CANDIDATES FOR ADMISSION

Prep school football is just another extra-curricular activity to the authorities who pick candidates for admission and scholarships at Harvard, according to Miss Anne MacDonald, assistant to the Chairman of the Committee on Admission, and Henry Chauncey, Assistant Dean in charge of Scholarships.

The system provides a sure-fire check lest any boy be picked to enter Harvard purely on his reputation as an athlete, especially if he is trying for a scholarship.

About 4000 boys apply for admission every year, Miss MacDonald said, but half of these are not even permitted to take their examinations for entrance because their school grades are too low.

Scholars Need No Activities

Of the 3000 who take the tests, only about 900 are finally admitted every year. A large percentage of these are taken in without any reference to their extra-curricular activities but simply on the basis of their marks in school and on the College Boards. In the border cases however, the general all-round abilities of the boy is taken into consideration.

The Board of Admission inquires very thoroughly into the headmaster's impression of the boy and puts more weight on his estimate than on the boy's record outside school work. Football, therefore, plays only the most minor of roles in determining the qualifications for entrance.

The Scholarship Committee uses the same general methods but because the range of grades and ability in studies is smaller among applicants for scholarships, more emphasis is placed on a well rounded personality which will be able to fit well into college and later life.

However, Dean Chauncey pointed out, football is not considered any more important in the record of a candidate than are work on the school paper or the school year book. And, as in the case of admissions, men with exceptionally high marks are admitted without reference to their activities outside of school work.

The holders of alumni club scholarships are picked by the Harvard Clubs throughout the country with no help from the Dean's Office except that the alumni use the same statistics on their candidates that are filed with the University.

Since the Dean's Office maintains no check on the alumni groups, it is perfectly possible that "football scholarships" might be given in some cases, but actually it does not work out that way. The Harvard Clubs are so impressed by the used of picking material which can make the Dean's List in the Freshman year that they tend to say away from activities men and toward brilliant scholars.