Housemasters Approve New Application System

More freshmen than ever before will probably be admitted to the House of their first choice under a new application system which will begin this year, Elliott Perkins '23, chairman of the Housemasters Council, said last night.

Housemasters will no longer be restricted to choosing only 70 percent of those who apply to their House as first choice, Perkins explained. The "70 percent" rule was designed to insure an equitable distribution of all types of students in the various Houses. "The new plan will attempt to accomplish the same result in a different way," he said.

Under the new system, each freshman will fill out his House application form in triplicate. The Houses which students have picked as first, second, and third choice will each receive on of the forms. "In this way, each Housemaster will know at a glance all those who have chosen their Houses for all three choices, whereas formerly he only knew who had chosen his House as first choice," Perkins said.

"If a Housemaster finds that a certain type of student has not picked his House as first choice, and that students of this type chose his House as second or third choice, he can contact the Master of the Houses these students preferred, and arrange to have them assigned to his House," Perkins said.

Committees Must Approve

When a tentative list of House assignments has been drawn up by the Masters, it will be submitted to an advisory committee of three Housemasters, chosen by McGeorge Bundy, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. If this committee feels that there is an inequitable distribution of students in the Houses, it will advise a committee of Dean Bundy, Dean Watson, and Dean Leighton, who will make the final decision on the placement of students.

If the freshmen's choice of Houses is evenly distributed, it is possible that all freshmen will be assigned to the House of their first choice, but Perkins said this was unlikely.