COLLEGE ENTRANCE REQUIRE.. MENTS. A term, among the institutions of higher learning covering the moral, physical and intellectual qualifications deemed prereq uisite for the enrolment of a student in a particular course or department. The moral requirement is generally not more than a state ment of good character from some responsible person in behalf of the candidate. The physical requirements are usually the attainment of the minimum age of 17 years (variable in different institutions, and waived often in case of excep tional students who have the intellectual requirement at an earlier age) ; and soundness of body and mind. The intellectual requirement embodies the main problem of college admission. It includes the satisfactory completion of a group of studies based on the work at a school of recognized. standing. For convenience, this academic work is divided into units, each of which expresses about one-fourth of a year's work in a preparatory school or high school. Thus the subject of plane geometry is estimated at one unit, and four books of Caesar at the same value. The number of units for entrance varies usually from 14 to 16. The subjects for admission are divided into two groups: (1) Specified subjects; (2) elective subjects. From two to three years' study of English is usually specified; algebra, ,plane geometry and a year or more of foreign language. The full quota of units is made up of electives, which include studies in history, science, mathematics, lan guage, economics, music, drawing, and the manual and industrial subjects. The admission to technical courses specified some previous scientific knowledge also. The requirements are most diverse, some institutions admitting students by examination only (such as Bryn Mawr, Columbia, Harvard, Haverford, Prince ton, Radcliffe, Stevens, Yale) ; others by pres entation of certificate from a recognized sec ondary school ; sortie on probation upon the recommendation of high school principals. A great majority of colleges admit students on certificates, a system which in many instances includes an intelligent inspection of the schools from which certificates are acceptable. Students
are usually admitted to college under one of three general classifications: (1) Regular stu dents who have fully met the requirements and are candidates for a degree; (2) conditioned students, or those who have failed by a small margin to meet the full requirements, but who are adrnitted as candidates for a degree; (3) special students or those who do not meet the regular entrance requirements, but who, usually on account of maturity of years, are deemed qualified to enter certain courses, and are not candidates for a degree. There is a general tendency at present to restrict the admission of special students, as many of these in the past have made use of this means of entering college life to enjoy its pleasures without any commensurate exertion on their part. The pur poses of making a standard for entrance are (1) to eliminate the unfit; (2) to keep the secondary schools vital and purposeful.
The history of college entrance requirements dates back to Harvard 1642, where a speaking knowledge of Latin, ability to make Latin verse and a thorough grammatical education in Greek were the only requirements. These remained unchanged until 1734, and even then were modi fied only a very little, when a knowledge of the rules of Latin prosody was substituted for a spealdng laiowledge of Latin. In 1745 Yale added common aridunetic and the other col leges soon followed its example. With the es tablishment of the academy as the dominant secondary school in place of the old Latin grammar school, there came the enlargement of the curricula of both schools and admission requirements. Geography was added in 1807; geometry, history, algebra and foreign lan guages followed in its wake. As late as 1897, however, 402 of the 432 colleges in the United States required Latin and 318 Greek. Since then the expansion has been along the lines of English and sciences. There is at present much diversity in requirements for entrance.