1,606 First Years to Register Today

On the eve of a battery of placement tests and first-year events, 1,606 members of the Class of 1997 will register today in Memorial Hall.

After the first-years receive their packets full of information about College life, a horde of eager organizations will and await them under a yellow and white striped tent outside, hoping to snare them early.

First-year registration will begin the whirl of social, academic and extracurricular activities planned by the College to introduce the students to Harvard before the grind of classes begins.

Because of the timing of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which falls this Thursday and Friday, the traditional Freshman Week has been extended into shopping period and enlarged to include faculty-led trips to historic Boston sites and drop-in advising hours at concentration departments.

Members of the Class of 1997 will also undergo hours of placement tests, including the mandatory Expository Writing, mathematics and Quantitative Reasoning Requirement examinations.

Students may also take tests in other subjects, ranging from chemistry to Arabic, for class placement and requirement exemption purposes.

A bevy of top University officials greeted the new class yesterday at the opening exercises in Tercentenary Theatre. Speakers included President Neil L. Rudenstine, Radcliffe President Linda S. Wilson and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Jeremy R. Knowles.

Wilson told an audience of about 400 first year students and parents that yesterday's opening exercises "catapulted" her back to when she was a first year student.

She compared the Harvard experience to an arrow and a spiral. Some students, Wilson said, will follow a straight career path like an arrow while others will have many stops and detours like a spiral.