Number of Applicants For AP Levels Off, Wilcox Maintains

The number of freshmen applying for advanced placement has remained virtually constant for the second straight year, according to figures released yesterday by Edward T. Wilcox, director of advanced standing.

Wilcox said that the trend which saw applications rise almost four-fold in the five-year period 1955-60 is "clearly leveling off."

Five hundred fifty-two incoming freshmen applied for advanced placement in one or more subjects this year, compared with 540 last year and 530 in 1960. Of the 552, 480 were given advanced placement--28 more than last year.

In the figures on sophomore standing, the story was much the same. One hundred thirty-four students--exactly the same number as last year--were eligible for sophomore standing this Fall, having passed the necessary three advanced placement exams. Of these, 101 decided to begin college as sophomores, a drop of two from last year.

For the second straight year, Wilcox said, he made a serious effort to steer certain students away from accepting sophomore standing. Those that he advised to begin as freshmen were students who were completely undecided about their field of concentration, or students who wanted to major in a field for which they had received no A.P. credit.

Before Wilcox began his intensive couseling last year, over 90 per cent of those eligible for sophomore standing had accepted it.