Radcliffe College. Admissions Office.

For most of Radcliffe's history, students were admitted by the college's own admission committee. Since 1975 because of the recommendation of the Strauch Committee, students have been admitted to Radcliffe and Harvard colleges by the joint H/R Admissions Office located in Byerly Hall. At that time, an equal access policy was initiated which removed the limit to the number of women admitted to Harvard/Radcliffe. Until ca. 1969 the size of a Radcliffe class was held by quota at 300. It increased in 1972 to 450, in 1976 to 550 and in 1982 to 654.

Admission to Radcliffe has always been by examination (see Series 2 for history of the Harvard Examinations for Women). Special or non-degree students have been admitted, since the founding of the college, by recommendation, and allowed to enroll in ordinary courses without credit.

Admissions were handled by the Secretary of the Annex (Arthur Gilman, whose correspondence with students is found in the Massachusetts Historical Society), by a committee of Harvard Professors, and the Secretary of the College. Radcliffe's Admissions Office was founded in 1934 and existed separately until 1975 when it merged with the Harvard Admissions Office.

See also Annual Reports of Radcliffe College, report of the Secretary or Dean, 1880-1933, report of the Committee of Admissions, 1934- RG V A, Dean of the College (for annual reports of the office, 1961-73); RG V B, Office of Women's Education (for Transfer student study); RG V C Forum (for study of older women undergraduates).

From the guide to the Records of the Admissions Office, 1869-1979, (Radcliffe College Archives, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)