Way Back When College Was a Buyer's Market

Oh to be interested in attending Harvard University in the late 1860s. Harvard and other schools like Vassar and Columbia actually advertised for students in newspapers, and any required frehman entrance exams could be taken on the weekend prior to the start of classes. How times have changed. Prospective students were expected to be able to write in both Latin and Greek, and to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of Virgil and other classics in their original language. Entrance exams covered geography, history and mathematics. The big difference between then and now is the pool of potential applicants. Most students in the late 19th century ended their education after 8th grade, so the pool of qualified applicants was very small. The competitive admissions process at the elite colleges that exists today arose only in the last few decades. Prior to that, these schools lived up to their blue blood reputation. Contrast Harvard and Columbia advertising for qualified students in the 1860s with the 70,000 applications that those colleges received in this application cycle. Quite a difference.