Survey Measures Harvard's Impact On Grads' Success

The Office of Tests has mailed out questionnaires to 1964 and 1965 Harvard graduates as part of a long-term study to determine the impact of a college education.

Bruce Collier, research associate of the office, said yesterday the project, known as the Value Added Study, is designed to find out how much a college experience adds to a student's later success. Several area colleges are participating in the study.

"Harvard graduates seem successful," Collier said, "because 80 per cent of the pre-med students here get into medical schools and there's always about five Rhodes scholars. But statistics like this don't tell you how to account for their success."

"We want to find out whether Harvard contributed to their high achievement, or whether the success can be accounted for by the high caliber of Harvard's pre-selected student body," he said.

Collier said results of the study will not be available for some time.