So Happy Together: Admissions Under One Roof

Familiarity, said Aesop, breeds contempt. Maybe in ancient Greece, but not at Byerly Hall, where in 1973, the Harvard and Radcliffe adminissions committees found themselves happily operating side by side under the same roof. They became so chummy that within little more than a year, they had merged into one Harvard-Radcliffe Office of Admissions and Financial Aid in order to put into effect the new equal access policy.

Students today take for granted that the single admissions committee considers applications without regard to sex, but only five years ago, Radcliffe admitted women on a strict quota system dictated by Harvard, and the two admissions committees were completely separate operations.

To achieve the pleasant combination, both college Presidents in 1973 appointed the Committee to Consider Aspects of the Harvard-Radcliffe Relationship that Affect Administrative Arrangements, Admissions, Financial Aid and Educational Policy, to do just that. Karl Strauch, Leverett Professor of Physics chaired the panel--simply called the "Strauch Committee"--composed of admissions personnel and alumni from both colleges, administrators and students. The Strauch Committee met several times between February 1974 and 1975, to draw its conclusion that because the separate admissions policies were so similar, Harvard and Radcliffe could easily combine admissions. The group noted that with the exception of the quota system both colleges should continue their admissions policies.

The report concluded that because, once admitted, students shared the same University resources, the policy of separate admissions committees was "anachronistic." Although the committee's recommendation called for equal access to be instituted "as soon as practical that is for the admission of the class of 1980," the process of combining admissions committees, in effect, began more than a year before.

During the 1973-74 academic year Harvard and Radcliffe moved their separate admissions committees into adjacent offices in Byerly Hall--Harvard occupied one side of the building and Radcliffe the other, sharing only the reception area. The committees also worked together that year to jointly-produce a pamphlet of information for prospective students, process applications from all foreign students, and visit high schools.

"In the early 1970s, our staff wouldn't have recognized their staff on the street," recalls William R. Fitzsimmons '67, director of admissions. "But after we started working together to some degree, we quickly came to the conclusion that the committees worked in similar ways--we were making the same kinds of decisions," he adds.

Although some staff members on both sides of Byerly Hall expressed fears that "particular kinds of expertise and values would be lost in a combined office," Fitzsimmons says as the staffs became more familiar with each other "the majority really looked forward to the combination with excitement over dealing with the other half of the population."

Through congeniality and cooperation in Byerly Hall, the committee became one in the fall of 1975. "Radcliffe's committee did not dissolve into Harvard's or vice versa." Fitzsimmons says. Indeed, the similarities in the operations of the separate committees led to few changes after the merger. The major difference occurred in the female applicant pool, as a larger and more diverse group of women applied.

Women applicants to the Class of '79--the last to enter under dual, non-equal access system--numbered 3382. Applications from women jumped to 3696 the following year and reached a record 4901 to the current freshman class. The number of female applicants from the Class of '79 rose 45 per cent between the class of '79 and the class of '83, while for male applicants the increase measured only seven per cent.

The female applicant pool also became more economically diverse. Nearly 25 per cent of women in the Class of '79 qualified for financial aid, compared to 42.3 per cent in this year's freshman class. By contrast, 41.7 per cent of the current freshman class qualified for aid, making the class of '83 the first in which the percentage of women qualifying for assistance surpasses that of men.

Fitzsimmons attributes the increase in number and diversity of the female applicant pool to the combined staff, Harvard alumni recruitment of qualified women, and the admissions committee's efforts to generate more publicity about equal access.

Mary Anne Schwalbe, former director of Radcliffe admissions and later associate dean of admissions and financial aid, adds another reason--greater opportunities for women. With accepted. Before the merger, the 2.5:1 ratio of men to women left only 450 places for women. With equal access, however, all 1600 places are available. Schwalbe, now director of admissions and college counseling at The Dalton School in New York, says that after equal access took effect, she found she had more "conviction" in recruiting. "It was easier to encourage women to apply because there were so many opportunities," she adds.

Some Strauch committee members voiced concern that Harvard alumni would object to reductions in the number of men and that Radcliffe alumnae would object to the combined process as just another example of the "Jonah concept"--Harvard swallowing up Radcliffe. But those objections never materialized. "I haven't heard of anyone who was upset," Charles P. Whitlock, associate dean for special projects and a member of the Strauch Committee, says.

Committee members also recognized another potential problem that never arose--displacement of staff when the committees merged. Alberta Arthurs, the former dean of Radcliffe admissions and currently president of Chathan College in Pittsburgh. willingly transferred to the newly created position of dean of undergraduate affairs. L. Fred Jewett '57, former dean of Harvard admissions, became dean of the combined office.

Schwalbe recalls that immediately following the combination "the lines of authority were not clearly defined. The Radcliffe staff wanted to report to me, and Fred's staff wanted to report to him." Despite minor problems at the outset, the committee soon began operating smoothly, she adds.

The successes the single admissions committee and the equal access policy have made since 1975 toward achieving a more balanced ratio prompted Arthurs to predict after the merger that "if there is any college that can achieve 50-50, Harvard can do it." Schwalbe recently went one step further, saying that "theoretically, women could outnumber men someday" at the college.

Maybe someday. But given the current size of Radcliffe's applicant pool and the possibility, as Schwalbe suggests, that Harvard alumni would complain vehemently if the number of men fell below 1000, that day is a long way off.