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If there is any sure formula for college preparation, suggests President Frank Bowles of the College Entrance Examination Board, it is four years of English, three of math and a foreign language, two of science and history—and good grades. This agenda is impossible in many U.S. schools. Even so, there is no reason for panic. Admissions men give as much weight to motivation ("force, direction, character") as to solid achievement. Says Amherst's Dean Wilson: "Stop worrying about whether you can get into this college or that, and start showing the kind of dedication to learning that will make colleges want you."
IMPROVE OR PERISH
The fact is that there is still room at many inns—at least until 1964. No one should assume that there will be no room after that. New dormitories are rising, new forms of education are on the way. Actually, the country's 1,900 colleges and universities had room last fall for perhaps 10% more freshmen than the 820,000 they took. What the Ivy League pile-up means is that there are simply not enough big-name colleges to go around—for those who seek big-name colleges. To colleges just below the big-name level, this fact brings joy. They get the good students that favored campuses cannot handle, and so raise their standards. In turn, lesser colleges must improve or perish. None of this is likely to hurt U.S. higher education—or students who really want some.
"You can educate yourself almost anywhere," says M.I.T.'s Director Thresher. As Poet Robert Frost once put it: "College is mainly a second chance to read the books you should have read in high school." But good teachers help, and quality colleges get them.
What is a quality college? One that selects quality students. The method may be that of Harvard, which picks so carefully that it has only a 2% to 3% freshman drop-out rate, and graduates 75%-80% of its students. It may be that of a "lenient" state school, which is obliged by law to accept poor students and then flunks 50% of them in June (a tragedy to those who thought that easy-in meant staying-in). Examples: highly competitive Columbia had a 1%-2% freshman drop-out rate last year, graduated at least 75% of its students; the University of Georgia accepted any high-school graduate in the top half of his class, dropped 35% of its freshmen. Whatever the method, highly select colleges span the nation—at least 50 are close to par with the 100 big-name schools, and more are moving up every year.
Choosing the right one goes beyond making sure that a department is topnotch, and that the school's diploma is welcome in graduate school. At today's prices, the best college is bad if a freshman feels miserable and drops out. Every prospective campus should be visited, even if it takes a cross-country plane trip. Are the professors alive and well paid? Are the students beer drinkers or book readers? Is the intellectual climate exciting? No college catalogue answers these questions.
Actually, choosing a college is as educational as anything a high school student is likely to undergo. To make the right decision, he has to analyze his own abilities, temperament and aims. He has to find a campus that makes him feel at home, socially as well as academically.