HERE COME THE WAR BABIES!: Colleges Are Ill Prepared for Their Invasion

HERE COME THE WAR BABIES!

U.S. Colleges Are Ill Prepared for Their Invasion

AS HE gives informal talks to alumni across the U.S., the dean of admissions of a famous Ivy League university likes to give the old grads a jolt. "If you were to apply for your alma mater today," he is quoted as saying, "only 20% of you would get it." In that particular ploy, the dean is not alone. Says Acting President Archibald Macintosh of Haverford College : "I have occasionally talked to alumni about getting into Haverford today and have told them, 'I sometimes doubt if I would have admitted myself.' "

Though both men are intentionally exaggerating, their words illustrate a point. Never before have so many Americans wanted to get into college—and never before has the competition been so keen. Last week the U.S. Office of Education estimated that before the school year is out, enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities will hit a record high of 3,250,000. This record comes at a time when the college-age population, which in 1955 sank to its lowest point in 25 years, is still made up mostly of Depression babies. The crisis that the U.S. campus is now bracing for is the coming invasion of war babies.

The Pattern. So far, only the big-name colleges, mostly in the East, have really felt the first impact of the great tidal wave. Though the number of high-school students who go on to college has jumped from 15% in 1940 to 40%, the nation's 1,800 institutions of higher learn ing can still keep up with the demand. But what of the years immediately ahead? By the time the present crop of first-graders is ready for college, says Dean of Admissions Arthur Howe Jr. of Yale, en rollments may soar to between 5,000,000 and 8,000,000. What the favored campuses are going through now will soon become the standard pattern for all.

Last fall Oberlin College was able to accept only one out of two of those who applied. Since the 19403, Yale's applicants have jumped from 1,500 to 4,000, Harvard's have more than trebled. For the 6,000 boys who say they want to get into Dartmouth next fall, there are only 725 openings. Says Dean Emery Walker Jr. of Brown (present freshman class: 635): "Ten years from now we might have 10,000 applicants. That will be the real problem."

Panic & Deals. Actually, the problem is all too real right now for thousands of high-school students. In their panic to get into college—and in their wild search for the best scholarship deals—today's youngsters have acquired the habit of applying to as many schools as possible. One Connecticut boy, for instance, was able to choose between Amherst, which offered him no scholarship. Bates, which offered $600, Wesleyan with a $500 offer, Holy Cross with $700, and Yale with $1,250. Another boy sent Princeton an irate letter after he was rejected, pointed out that of the 23 colleges he applied for, 22 had accepted him. What, the boy wanted to know, was wrong with Princeton?