Freshman Concentration Tally: Economics, Bio Stay on Top

The Class of 1986 will concentrate in fields more widely distributed in the social sciences and humanities than in the past, and the distribution of Division of Applied Sciences concentrators within the division will change, according to statistics released this week by the Registrar's office.

Economics remains the most popular field, with 151 concentrators--down five from last year--and History attracted 115 students, compared to 89 for 1981-82.

The new Computer Science concentration attracted 20 freshmen, while the number of Applied Science concentrators dropped from 56 last year to 37, about what it drew in 1980-81.

English and American Literature and Languages had the largest increase, from 65 to 100, a change which Head Tutor Elizabeth McKinsey attributed to a department decision earlier this year "to remove almost all of our special course requirements." She speculated that the shift also came from "a growing number of students who are not making their concentration decision on preprofessional grounds as they did a few years ago."

The number of Biochemical Sciences concentrators rose from 66 to 82, a figure which a spokesman for the department said came from the large number of Advanced Standing freshmen who were included in the concentration figures this year for the first time.

The largest "elite" concentrations, Social Studies and History and Literature-- at 83 and 86--stayed at about the same level as last year, reflecting the departments' stated objectives not to grow any larger than they had by the end of last year, after several years of relaxed entrance requirements.

The number of Sociology concentrators increased three from last year's 14, but is still significantly lower than the previous year's 49. Several students joined the department over the summer last year, and Stephen E. Cornell, assistant professor of sociology, said he expected more to join this summer.

In the traditionally smaller fields, Afro-American Studies drew no concentrators, but Statistics and Linguistics, which have no sophomore concentrators this year, attracted six and four students, respectively.

And Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, which had one declared concentrator last year, drew 11. Aside from their relative abundance, the 11 are also unusual because they are studying medieval fields rather than modern ones, Head Tutor Wheeler M. Thackston, Jr., said yesterday.

Thackston echoed McKinsey in saying of the students, "Perhaps they're a little less concerned now with majoring in something that will take them directly to professional schools," but when asked about the reason for the increased interest, he added, "I don't have the vaguest idea--I'm as amazed as anyone else."