Class of '53's Size Sliced to Pre-war Level

Harvard will admit its first normal-sized class in seven years when 1100 freshman enter the College this fall, Dean Bender said yesterday.

The Committee on Admissions, which held its first screening meeting Saturday, will aim at an 1100 man figure for the incoming class in order to meet the Corporation's request for a peace-time College population of 4300. Future freshman classes will remain at this size, Bender said.

How Much Will it Shrink

Difficulty in estimating the shrinkage may make the Class of 1953 as low as 1050 or as high as 1150. The Committee will actually send letters of acceptance to about 1375 boys, and count on the customary 20 percent to drop out.

Shrinkage comes mainly from boys who prefer another college or who can't afford Harvard without a scholarship, Bender said. Last year the Committee made a bad guess on how much shrinkage the draft would cause, and wound up with a class of 1300.

More Trouble

This year the Committee will have a tougher estimate to make than usual. The College Entrance Examination Board has changed its preference-listing system, so that now a high-school student can list up to three colleges as his first choice.

Before the war, the largest class was 1045 students in 1932; the average enrollment for the five years before Pearl Harbor was 937. The Class of 1952 is the biggest peacetime group in the College's history.