A comparision of the effects of Harvard and MIT on attitudes of technically oriented students

\,ST .f TEGHSI<O

JUN 22 1960

4 RAR'( A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF HARVARD AND MIT ON

ATTITUDES OF TECHNICALLY ORIENTED STUDENTS

by

Duane Lee Christensen

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE

at the

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

1960

Signature of Author

Signature redacted

r- School gf IpduAtrial Management

Signature redacted

Certified by _A

.u t . y a Advir ,o te T e

I4ay 20, 1960

Professor Philip Franklin

Secretary of the Faculty

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge 39, Massachusetts

Dear Professor Franklin:

In accordance with the requirements for gradu-ation, I herewith submit a thesis entitled "A Comparison of the Effects of Harvard and MIT on Tecnically Oriented Students."

I would like to take this opportunity to

express my appreciation to Mr. Richard W. Willard of the MIT Admissions Office for his assistance in locating the students at Harvard and MIT on which this thesis is

based, and to Mr. David B. Gleicher for his guidance throughout the various stages of this study.

Sincerely,

Title: "A Comparison of the Effects of Harvard- and MIT on Attitudes of Technically Oriented Students" Author: Duane L. Christensen

Submitted to the School of Industrial Management on May 20, 1960 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science.

The educational philosophies and the academic envi-ronments at Harvard and MIT are quite different and thus

should influence particular students in different ways. It is the object of this study to demonstrate some of the differences-in attitudes produced by these two institu-tions in a group of students who might easily have gone to the other school but for some chance event which caused them to select either one or the other of these two school four years ago. In particular the author expected to find a difference in the depth of vocational commitment between these two groups of students.

A questionnaire was mailed to the seniors at Harvard and to the juniors as well as the seniors at MIT who originally applied and were accepted at both institutions. Thirteen students at each of these schools were selected to be interviewed, the interviews being recorded on tape. These interviews were screened so as to eliminate those who were definitely predisposed to one or the other of the schools in question. The final experimental groups to be compared thus consisted of eighteen students, nine at each school.

The data did not indicate a difference in depth of vocational commitment between the two groups. Differences were found, however, in several other attitudes. The

Har-vard students tended to date more and intended to marry earlier than the MIT students. The MIT students had a more favorable attitude toward Harvard than did the

Har-vard students for MIT. The Harvard students placed a much greater value on non-career oriented courses or

those of a non-technical nature. In general the MIT stu-dents seemed to choose as their closest friends

individ-uals more like themselves. And finally the Harvard

stu-dents tended to have a more favorable attitude toward their military obligation than did the MIT students. This latter fact may have very interesting implications with respect to a possible difference in vocational mitment between the groups in spite of the fact of com-pulsory ROTC for the MIT group.

Thesis Advisor: Mr. David B. Gleicher

Table of Contents

PAGE CHAPTER I

Introduction. ... .

CHAPTER II

The Approach to the Study. ... ..

5

CHAPTER III

Areas of Investigation ... ... 19

CHAPTER IV

Findings ... ... 29

CHAPTER V

Summary and Conclusions. ... . 53 APPENDIX .* ... . . . ... ... 57

Letter to Original Sample

Questionnaire used for First Stage of Analysis Interview used for Second Stage of Analysis

Students are influenced by the particular academic atmosphere of the institution at which they take their

high-er education. This influence can go on in diffhigh-erent

direc-tions in developing various attitudes in the students

con-cerned, depending on the philosophy of the particular school

in question. It is the author's feeling that a liberal

arts atmosphere such as exists at Harvard University exerts

a much different influence on the individual student than

does a more directed technically oriented school like MIT.

Thus there should be significant differences in some

atti-tudes held by the students who have spent a reasonable

amount of time in one or the other of these institutions.

In particulat there should be a difference in the more

gen-eral attitude of commitment or willingness to personally

identify oneself with particular ideas concerning long

range vocational objectives.

In a conversation with Dean William Speer several

months ago the author became much interested in the

differ-ent philosophies of higher education existing at Harvard

and MIT. Having been admitted to Harvard as well as to

MIT and often wondering in what ways he might be different

had the other choice been made, the author decided to carry

out a study designed to demonstrate the differing effects

Hypothesis to be Tested

In general it was felt that there should be a deeper

vocational commitment among technically oriented students

at

MIT

than among similar students at Harvard.

At MIT, students are encouraged to make a definite

choice of their particular course of study as early as

pos-sible. Some students are well advanced in their particular

areas of study early in their academic career. This

envi-ronment coupled

with

deeply committed instructors and numer-ous research personnel in almost every department seems to

put on a pressure toward early thinking in terms

of.spec-ializing in particular areas of engineering or science.

Thus it is not uncommon to find students who are very adept

in utilizing various engineering or scientific principles

relatively early in their academic experience.

At Harvard there seems to be more of a laxness in

this matter of commitment. Students are encouraged to

"broaden themselves" as far as their educational experience is concerned. Nevertheless, there are students at Harvard

who are deeply identified with particular educational

ob-jectives such that they are rapidly advancing in their

particular segment of their chosen field. In general,

though, the author feels that the depth of commitment, or

personal identification with ideas concerning long range

courses of action is less among Harvard students than among

-3-Research Methods Employed

Once the population was selected a questionnaire was

administered to the entire group. The purpose of this

ques-tionnaire was to provide general information concerning the

study and to provide information by which to select a

smaller group to be interviewed. The interviews were

re-corded on tape as much of the actual structure of the

view and points of interest evolved with successive

inter-views. These interviews were than screened in order to

discard any individuals who were definitely predisposed to

one school or the other. These experimental groups were

then compared on the basis of the material contained in

the interviews, both in an effort to demonstrate the

simi-larities between the groups at entrance and the differences

between them at present.

Major Conclusions

A deeper vocational commitment among technically

oriented students at MIT than among similar students at

Harvard was not demonstrated by this study. Neither was

such a difference shown not to be in existence. The

re-sults of several of the interviews seem to indicate that

such a difference may well exist but it will take more elab-orate research techniques to demonstrate such a difference.

Several other differences in attitudes between the two groups were indicated by the data. The MIT students tend

to think more highly of Harvard than do the Harvard students of MIT. The Harvard students date more than the MIT stu-dents and expect to marry sooner. The MIT students tend to choose as their closest friends individuals more like them-selves Vith respect to the three variables studied; that of field of interest or course of study, religious interest, and proximity. The MIT students tend to have more of their closest friends at MIT than d6 the Harvard students at Harvard. The Harvard students place a much greater value on m's-science courses than do the MIT students. Finally the Harvard group tends to have a more favorable attitude toward ROTC and the military than does the MIT group.

This latter fact may simply reflect the fact of com-pulsory ROTC

with

respect to the MIT group, but it also might indicate a possible difference in the depth of voca-tional commitment. Several of the MIT students seemed to see the military as an obstacle standing between them and their chosen career. Some had every intention of avoiding the military altogether, if at all possible, either through prolonging their schooling or accepting some critical occu-pation. Several in the Harvard group- had a much different

attitude toward the military. Rather than an obstacle it

appeared almost as a refuge to them. They seemed to look

on their military obligation as a retreat, a time to exa-mine more closely their interests, abilities, and

RAPTER

II iTa APPIOA(Ai TO TEii STUDY

The first task was that of securing the permission of the two institutions in question as to involving some of

their students in a comparative study of this sort. The

author approached Dean Frederick G. Fassett of MIT who was

quite interested in the matter and who referred him to

Professor B. Alden Thresher, the Director of Admissions.

Professor Thresher immediately granted his approval and

contacted Dean John U. Monroe at Harvard. After an

inter-view with Dean Monroe, final permission was granted with

a few restrictions as to the content of the questions to

be used.

The next task was that of securing the names of the

particular students to be invblved in this study. The

author decided to limit himself to those students who had

applied and were admitted to both Harvard and MIT but chose

one of the two schools over the other, as this particular

group seemed most likely to contain individuals of similar

interest and background such that a meaningful comparison

would be possible. From the MIT Admissions Office the

author obtained the names of 57 students at Harvard and

two at Radcliffe who were admitted to MIT in 1956 and thus

should at present be in their fourth year of study. Mr.

Richard W. Willard, the statistical analyst in MIT's

Admissions Office, then contacted a friend at Harvard to

secure the names of students at MIT who were also admitted

-U-names of

44

students falling into this category were re-ceived by mail through the Harvard Admissions Office. Of

this group 27 were admitted in 1956 and 17 in 1957. It was necessary to include the juniors at MIT as

well as the seniors to balance the two groups in total size

since approximately two out of three students admitted to

both Harvard and MIT chose Harvard. Thus the total

popu-lation came to one hundred and one students -- 57 at Har-vard and

44

at MIT. The next job was that of locating these students.

Out of this population the author actually located 72 students, 35 at MIT and 37 at Harvard. At this point the final task in the approach to this study began -- that of

selecting the experimental groups for the final comparison.

A questionnaire was designed and mailed to the 72 students

in question. The purpose of the questionnaire was to

obtain some general information concerning the study and to obtain information from which to select the two smaller

groups for the final comparison. These two groups of from

12 to 15 students were to be chosen in such a manner as to make them as similar as possible at the time of the

particu-lar students' entrance into the institutions in question.

The final step was then that of interviewing the individuals in these two experimental groups in order to compare them along the lines discussed in the next chapter.

population with which to work, administering a question-naire to screen this population, and interviewing appro-priately selected sub-samples for the final comparison.

In selecting this

method

of study several restrictions and limitations were placed on the study itself. The under-lying assumption, or hypothesis to be tested, posed a dif-ference in attitudes supposedly produced by the differing environments of the two school under consideration. The

first restriction results simply from the fact that if students are to be influenced by a particular institution, they must actually be a part of that institution for a reasonable amount of time. Thus attention is directed toward primarily the seniors which restricts the actual sample size from which to choose the individuals for a final comparison. _{The sub-sample size is further restricted by} the method of investigation in that the interviewing tech-nique is extremely time consuming. All the interviews were recorded on tape and averaged close to two hours a piece counting the time involved in locating the interviewees. Relistening to the tapes in the analysis of the data was also extremely time consuming but necessary as many of the points of real interest evolved with successive interviews. Thus the final results, though quite complete with respect to the particular individuals studied, are rather limited

as

to the actual number of individuals. Consequently the results are not conclusive and are far from being

statis- -8-tically significant. They rather point to significant facts and suggest several avenues of further study.

Also students on entrance must have been similar in the particular attitudes to be investigated in order to make a comparison at this point of time of any meaning. If the

individuals were different on entrance, differences three and a half years later would be expected. Thus the proper

choosing of the final sub-groups emerges as a very important part of the study, the very foundation on which the

struc-ture of the investigation is to be erected. There must be some assurance that the two groups of students are truly sim-ilar in background and interest and as nearly the same in general attitudes as possible.

The first and most important baseline to establish is then simply whether the students in question were truly sim-ilar in interest, background, and general attitudes at the time of entrance. The results of the questionnaire do seem to indicate that the two larger groups (32 at Harvard and 30 at MIT who returned the questionnaires) were in large

part quite similar in several respects at the time of en-trance.

Their places of residence were the same in that Harvard attracted as many rural boys as did MIT.

Harvard MIT

5 4

27 26

The two groups were quite similar in the ence of residence, they attended similar seem to have come from similar families.

Change

gI

Reidgagn

in past 10 Harvard Yes 14 No 16

Becoadary

ichool Public Private Family Background Nulber, g gibsA one two three four or more matter of persah-schools, and they

years MIT 12 18 24 22 8 8 7 11 10 it 4

14

7 5

ositin wihin

Birt

Order

first 16 18

second 11 6

third or more 5 6*

(* _{four in this group had a considerable time gap} between them and the next older child)

Elac~

al

miec

Rural Urban

-9--

10-Position

withfl

XAM.,E-rj

Aar

Harvard MIT

first 25 22

second 5 6

Only MalS ChilA 19=59% 16=53%

The data concerning position within the birth order appears to indicate a possible difference. It is inter-esting to note, in this respect, that four of the six indi-viduals at MIT who are at least third in order of birth fall into a rather unusual category in that there is a considerable age gap between them and the next older bro-ther or sister -- the gap being from eight to ten years. Only one of the five at Harvard who are third or greater in the birth order falls into this category with a gap of

fourteen years. Possibly these individuals ought to be

considered more as a second child in that they probably

received more attention than does a typical third child. If so considered, the distributions agree much more closely falling more in line with the close agreement for position within the male birth order and whether or not the particu-lar student is the only male child.

There did appear to be a difference in the amount of education of the fathers of the students in these two groups. In general more of the fathers of the Harvard students had had a college education than had the fathers of the MIT

students.

Harvard MIT

Some College 22 17

No College 10 13

This fact may not be without reason. Science is a

rela-tively young, mushrooming field as far as many of the families represented by this population are concerned, and Harvard's tradition as the image of the very best in a

liberal arts education still carries much weight especially

with an older generation. Junior may be a whiz at math and science in high school but father (if a college man, most

likely a graduate of some liberal arts college) still might

think that he needs a Owell-rounded" education and would feel a little better if his son developed more of his tal-ents rather than commit himself too quickly to what appears to be a very narrow and directed training. To the-non-college father such a predisposition to a rounded

educa-tion is not as apt to exist, and the glamour of science

may make him just as eager to see his son working on a

guided missile as he would to see him analyzing

Shakes-peare or learning to appreciate "long-haired" music. In

short, college and non-college parents may have quite

dif-ferent images of Harvard and MIT with respect to their

gifted son and may influence the boy's decision in the

exists, is probably not very great in most cases as shown

in my later interviews. The father of one of the MIT

stu-dents interviewed came from a family of four boys all of

whom attended Harvard, while his mother had gone to

Rad-cliffe, This man now has four sons and would like to have

seen them all at Harvard. Instead he now has one at

Har-vard and one at MIT with two more yet to make their

deci-sions. Another MIT student gave as one of his reasons for

coming to MIT a rebellion to his father's desire for-him

to attend Harvard,. His father is also a Harvard graduate

and his sister a freshman at Radcliffe. So it looks like

this influence may possibly even work in reverse.

The religious picture also appears a bit distorted.

Reliain

Al

Entr~ang

Harvard MIT Catholic 2 5 Jewish 10 5 Protestant 13 16 Other 7 (none, agnostic,etc.)

For some reason Jewish students in this population prefer

Harvard while Catholic students seem to gravitate toward

MIT. On the surface this fact might appear a bit

perplex-ing; but a rather simple explanation put forth in one of

the interviews might help to explain things. A Jewish boy

that Jewish people in general think rather highly of the fields of medicine and law. These two accupations seem

to rank very near the top of the Jewish status system. Thus if Harvard represents pre-law and pre-med more clearly

to the Jewish mind, there may be a rather active bias toward Harvard over MIT for certain students. A brief

look at the data seems to support this observation. Of

the six pre-medical students in the population five of

them are Jewish and four of these five are at Harvard.

One of the two pre-law students is also Jewish and at Har-vard. Eliminate these six from the population and the Jewish distribution breaks rather even. Harvard gets an economics major, two mathematicians, a physicist and a musician while MIT has three engineers and a biologist.

An economics major at Harvard in another interview pointed out another factor which may, at least in part,

account for the greater percentage.of Catholics at MIT

than Harvard in this sample. This particular student

was

a very devout Catholic when he entered Harvard. Before he

entered Harvard he was warned on several occasions not to

attend Harvard being told that Harvard would make an

athe-ist out of him. His response was that he was much to firm

in his faith such that nothing could change him. Four

years have passed and this person is now only "slightly

Catholic"; so slightly so that he would prefer that his

caused the change? This particular student claims that a philosophy course and exposure to the Harvard atmosphere planted seeds of doubt which grew and fomented in his mind. His folks are now disturbed and he is confused as he can-not accept some of the basic tenets he never questioned before. The author only had the occasion to interview two Roman Catholics at Harvard and found the same thing in both cases -- a rather complete turning away from the Catholic

faith. Perhaps Catholic students tend to find in an atmos-phere such as exists at Harvard an area of incompatibility between their intellectual pursuit and Catholic dogma. If certain people feel that this may be true, there may be

influence both of a direct and possibly of an indirect nature in favor of a school like MIT over Harvard for this particular group of Catholic students. In the case of this Harvard student even some of his close friends ad-vised him against attending Harvard because of what had happened to other Catholic students in their experience.

Finally with respect to course of study it seems that here is a real difference.

Course Q.1 Stud Harvard MIT Science 16 - 52% 10 - 33% Engineering & Architecture 10 - 31 13

₄₃

Management _{-- V} Non-science 6 - 17 23

It must be remembered though, that these are the present courses of these students and thus this data is affected by the influence of the particular schools as well as by the original leanings of these students.

Perhaps even here, though, some rather simple

ex-planations could account for much of the apparent differ-ence. Take first the non-science category. These are the students that switched completely out of science -- six at Harvard and two at MIT. But how is one to consider those at MIT who decided on industrial management? This course is not completely separated from science yet it is definitely not science or engineering. Basically the humanities and possibly the economics courses at MIT are the only non-science courses MIT has to offer, while Har-vard offers great freedom in the choice of an academic pursuit, science or otherwise. Thus the students who chose management at MIT possibly should be looked on as individuals who turned away from science; most of them perhaps only to an intermediate or semi-technical course of study. One of the five at MIT, though, had made a com-plete change in that his vocational objective is now that of the ordained mitistry in the Protestant faith ev'en though his undergraduate degree will be in industrial man-agement. In this light the non-science categories balance nicely with approximately the same percentage of students at each school turning away from science and/or engineering.

-16-What is left is an almost exact reversal between the schools

in the categories of science and engineering (which includes

architecture). This fact is not surprising in that MIT is

primarily an engineering school and is looked on as such.

A technically oriented student at Harvard would seem to be

under less pressure toward committing himself to a career

in engineering than would such a student at MIT. Three

of the engineers interviewed in my final sample (see

chap-ter IV) indicated that they might well be in a different

field altogether had they gone to Harvard. Thus this dif-ference, though perhaps significant, may be due in part to

the difference between the two schools as much as to any real difference in the individuals at the time of entrance

into the particular schools. Also some of the physics,

chemistry, and mathematics majors at Harvard seem to be

heading in the same direction as far as their intended

careers are concerned as do some of the engineers at MIT.

Two of the physics majors interviewed at Harvard were

essentially electrical engineers in that they were heading

toward the same type of career in the computer field as

was one of the electrical engineers interviewed at MIT

who claims that he would be getting a degree in mathematics had he gone to Harvard.

Though it can by Ro means be demonstrated from my

data that these two groups ore similar in all respects, it

a group of students at each school who case out of similar backgrounds and who could easily have made a different

choice four years ago. This particular group is that

seg-ment of the population which could have fit equally well

into either academic environment. They were more or less

on the fence, undecided between the two schools and were

finally persuaded, perhaps by some chance happening, in

favor of one school over the other. The students in the

population as a whole were technicallly oriented or they

would not have applied and have been admitted to MIT. Thus,

the author assumed similarity between the two groups and

has made the factor of how seriously the other school was

considered and the factors influencing the student's final

decision of primary importance in the ultimate screening

of the interviews to obtain the final groups for

compari-son.

Assuming that the two groups are similar the author

focused his attention on the changes in religious

prefer-ence indicated in the results of the questionnaire.

Chances j R2L11ious Preferenc Harvard

Episcopalian to None

Episcopalian to "Confused" Episcopalian to "My secret" Congregational to None Congregational to Presbyterian Presbyterian to Baptist Lutheran to None Catholic to None Agnostic to Congregational Agnostic to Atheist Unitarian to Humanist Indifferent to Non-Christian 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 1 0 MIT 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1

-.

18-Of the seven at Harvard who indicated a change in religious preference between when they entered Harvard and the pre-sent, none of these changes was in a direction of what might be termed deeper commitment. On the other hand three of the seven changes indicated by MIT students seemed to be toward what might be a deeper sense of commitment or personal involvement, such as agnostic changing to Congre-gational and Presbyterian becoming Baptist. The only other point of difference in the effect of the two institutions as shown by the questionnaire was in the extent of parti-cipation in professionally oriented societies and organ-izations, the MIT students showing a slight edge as might be expected with the greater emphasis on specific training for particular technical careers at MIT.

In selecting the individuals to be interviewed the author also took into account the living situation and the intended vocation of each student. The students showing a change in religious preference were considered first. Then an attempt to balance these students with others who did not change but were of the same initial belief was made. _{At MIT the distribution between the fraternities,} dormitories, and those commuting was taken into account along with the religious preference and course of study of each student to assure a representative sample yet a sam-ple which focused on the particular point in question.

ChAPTER i ll

While the individuals to be interviewed were being

se-lected, the areas of investigation were further delineated.

The first point to be considered in structuring the

inAter-view was that of establishing why each individual chose the

particular school he did. The second area of

investiga-tion was that of the personal situainvestiga-tion including the

stu-dentst interests and friends. Next came the area of

reli-gion and changes in religious belief followed by a look at

the individuals* vocational goals and attitudes toward

ROTC and the military.

kkZ Particular choel Chgen

The purpose of the first section of the interview was

that of establishing why the student chose the particular

school he did. This part of the interview was also meant

to provide insight into the background of the students in

question. As it turned out the information obtained from

the questions in this category was of great value in the

study, providing the basis for further screening in

choosing the individuals for the final comparison. Four

of the thirteen individuals interviewed at each school

were eliminated from the final comparison on the basis of

a predisposition to one or the other of the two schools as

shown by their answers to the first four questions in this

category.

The next series of questions in the first category

-20-were designed to uncover any changes in attitude toward

one or the other of the two schools in question. The in-dividuals were asked if they felt that they would have

been satisfied had they chosen the other school. Seven

of the thirteen MIT students interviewed responded in the

affirmative as opposed to five at Harvard. This point

will be examined further in the next chapter dealing with

the final comparison.

An attempt was also made to see if the MIT students

were satisfied with the breadth of their education and if

the Harvard students were content with the depth of their

vocational preparation. Next the actual contact with and

personal awareness of individuals at the other school was

determined so as to have some grounds on which to base

any differences in the changing attitudes with respect to

the opposing school. As it turned out the extent of

know-ledge of and contact with students of the other school was

quite similar between the two groups, with MIT students

seeming to be perhaps a little better adquainted with

Har-vard students than HarHar-vard students with those of MIT.

Xach group had four students with close friends at the

other school while Harvard had eight toward the other end

of the scale as opposed to six for MIT. This result is not

at all significant at this level of analysis but might

prove to be a real point of difference in a more extensive

having twelve close friends there and spending time with

them on various occasions, remarked that "the extent of

the Harvard world is Harvard Square." By this comment he

meant that the Harvard community, at least for his friends, was more the center of their college experience than is

the MIT community for MIT students. He pointed to

Memor-ial Church and the much frequented Brattle Theater as

indi-cations of the self sufficiency of the Harvard community.

The social atmosphere at MIT, to him, seemed much less

self-contained.

Finally the students were placed in an advice

situa-tion with a younger brother of similar interests facing the

same decision they enfronted four years ago. Here again the results were very similar with Harvard students showing

a bit more enthusiasm toward their Alma Mater. 77% of the

Harvard students interviewed as opposed to 62% at MIT gave

a rather quick response that they would strongly recommend

the same decision they had made if the choice was between

Harvard and MIT. None of the Harvard students would advise

MIT while one MIT student would actually go as far as to

advise a younger brother to attend Harvard over MIT.

3talue gl It--Science

Ceoursgs

There is some question as to the actual value of

non-science courses to technically oriented students. Many

during their college education. They find themselves

asking such questions as: What is all this leading to? Is there any real purpose to life? Is there more.to life than

just training for a career and a place in society? A

lib-eral arts atmosphere seems to encourage the consideration of such a philosophical bent while such questions often seem to be brushed aside in a technical institution, which

fact some believe to be the cause of serious conflict situations for certain students sometimes resulting in failure.

In an attempt to investigate this area the students were asked to construct what they might consider an ideal curriculum for the first year in college of a student of interests very much like their own. It was hoped that if the particular students felt that non-science courses of the type that dealt with some of the problems of philoso-phy and social science were of value, they would be

in-cluded in such an ideal curriculum. As it turned out the

Harvard students saw a much greater need for non-science courses than did those of

MIT.

Only three of the thirteen interviewed at.Harvard would suggest a beginning curricu-lum as heavily loaded with science and mathematics as

exists at MIT. The other ten all wanted at least two non-science courses in the four basic courses given a first year student and four wanted three of the four courses in the non-science category the first year. At MIT the only

-23-strong reaction against the present curriculum was against

chemistry. Seven of the thirteen interviewed would like

to see less required chemistry; some wanted a single term

and some felt that no chemittry at all of a required na-ture was necessary. Only five students made mention of a change in the direction

of

non-science courses and three of these were in terms of elaborating the freshman elec-tive program to include the regular humanities courses offered at MIT.

As a further point of investigation it this area the

students were asked to recall the particular courses which

stood out in their minds as the most valuable they had

ta-ken. The question was purposely left vague such that the

student could interpret value in his own way. It was

ex-pected that science courses with respect to training the individual for his particular career would dominate this answer and that if other non-science courses had met

personal psychological and philosophical needs, they would

be included as extras, perhaps in a separate category from

the science courses. This was another way of getting at

the value of non-science courses and is discussed more fully with respect to the final experimental groups in the next chapter.

situation of the individual students. The nature of his friendships

was

approached by asking the student to pic-ture his five closest friends and to tell where they were, what they were doing, and their religious preference. The results showed a similarity between the two groups with 77% of the MIT students having a majority of their closest friends at their own school as opposed to 70% for Harvard. On the surface this tendency seems to stand in opposition to the feeling that MIT students are not.as limited to the MIT community as are Harvard students to the Harvard com-munity. Other factors, though, affect the results here as close friends may be chosen on a different basis than are normal friendships as indicated by a Harvard student in one of the interviews.

Further investigation in the personal situation of the individuals interviewed centered about their intetests out-side the academic sphere. The two groups were quite sim-ilar in most respects except for the fact that seven and possibly eight of the Harvard students interviewed expected to marry within five years as opposed to only three at MIT. The dating situation was similar in that nine students in each group dated at least once a week on the average. How-ever, the distribution within these groups of nine is rather striking. Of the students who are interested in the fairer sex the ones at Harvard seem to be more interested. Possi-bly the presence of Radcliffe has a bearing on this point.

Harvard MIT

Engaged 3 0

Very frequently (twice a

week or mote) 3 1

Frequently (most every week) 3 8

It is interesting to note that six students at MIT

Indi-cated that they planned to finish their education and

military obligation before marriage as opposed to only

three at Harvard.

Marriag Expectations

Harvard MIT

Within near future 3 0

Within five years it 3

Whenever right girl comes 1 0 along

Not before age 25 3 6

No plans whatsoever but

intend to marry 1 1

Apathetic, probably

marry sometime 0 1

May never get married 0 2

The results of the original questionnaire pointed to

change in religious commitment as an important factor in

this study. The first question in the religious category

of the interview was thus designed to establish a baseline

-26-students were at the time of entrance. Next any actual change in religious conviction since entrance was inves-tigated. The data are as follows:

Reliaious Commi&Ment .Al Entrangg Harvard - MIT

Quite committed 2 5

Interested but not deeply involved

personally 8 6

Indifferent or Apathetic 2 1

Antagonistic 1

1

Change "a

R

liaions Com~

mitAm

No significant change 3

3

Increased commitment 4 3

Decreased commitment

to specific faith

but deepened reli-gious interest and

belief 2 2

Decreased commitment 4

5

As the above data indicate the results at this point

were disappointing in that there was a striking similarity between the two groups. The one point of interest is that

only two of the seven who were quite committed to their

religious belief at time of entrance chose Harvard.

Per-haps some of the others were afraid of the liberalizing

influence of the Harvard environment and felt more secure

in choosing MIT.

indi-viduals into a particulgr slot as to the effect of the

particular school on the depth of the individual's

re-ligious commitment. The results were not always clear and are discussed more fully with respect to the

compari-son of the experimental groups later.

Wher2 Headed

The fifth area of inquiry was that of trying to find

out how clear the-students' ideas were as to where they

were headed vocationally. The two groups were nearly

iden-tical in the clarity of their ideas with respect to

expec-ted position. ExiectId Position Harvard MIT Definite objectives 7 8 Diffuse objectives

5

3

No idea

1

2

With expected income there appeared to be a slight

difference in that the Harvard students tended to have

more definite ideas as to how much money they expect to

be earning.

Exvegted Income

Definite ideas 8 6

Diffuse ideas 5 3

The answers to the remaining questions concerning industry and particularly research within industry were almost iden-tical between the two groups. Both groups seemed to have the same leanings toward administrative positions and

toward industry.

ROTC -- Ija Military

The final area of investigation was thrown in largely for sake of curiosity. It was felt from previous experi-ence with Harvard students that the prevailing attitude was anti-military, perhaps even more so than at MIT. In dealing with a group of students supposedly very similar at the time of entrance it would be interesting to note any differences produced in these groups in this particu-lar area.

CLAPTi IV FIliDINGS

The findings of this study are grouped into two sec-tions; the first concerning similarities between the ex-perimental groups at entrance and the second concerning differences between the groups at present. In approaching a final comparison the two groups interviewed were care-fully screened. As much as was possible the author wished

to deal with students who could just as easily have gone to either school but decided in favor of one or the other

because of some chance event.

C4cerning SimilaritY g E2;er imental Groups j Entrangl

In all, eight students were rejected from the final

comparison -- four at each school. Of these eight, six

had made up their minds in favor of one school or the

other as early, if not earlier than, the beginning of

their senior year in high school. In several cases

apply-ing to more than one school merely seemed to be the thapply-ing

to do and both schools were highly esteemed. The other

two individuals were undecided until they learned more

about the two schools, either through the catalogues or

through a personal visit to the schools, later in their

senior year. They then made up their minds quite rapidly

becoming strongly in favor of the particular school chosen.

Of the other eighteen who remained in the final

popu-lation eight mentioned difference in scholarship offered

decision. Two MIT students mentioned that Harvard had

offered essentially an equivalent scholarship but that they would have had to work part time at Harvard. To one of

these students the idea of mopping floors to earn his way

through college was taken as an insult. Yet this same

in-dividual at this point in time would advise a younger

bro-ther of like interests to attend Harvard. One of the Harvard students had an XROTC scholarship which could not

be used at MIT. Five others, three at MIT and two at

Har-vard, mentioned external influence of one nature or

an-other as a primary factor. Friends with whom they were

working, teachers, or parents were cited as major sources

of influence in that they had advised one school over the

other. The other five students eventually decided on the

basis of an inner struggle as to what they really wanted

either with respect to a career or with respect to a

col-lege education in itself. With two of them a decision

in favor of engineering was also a decision in favor of

MIT. It is interesting to note that one of these two

stu-dents later switched out of engineering into physics.

It was thus felt that at least in respect to how

seriously these particular students had been considering

the other school from the one they actually chose, the two

groups were quite similar. A check against the data

con-cerning the background of these students adds further

sup-port to a general similarity between these two groups at

3o-entrance.*

With respect to place of residence the distribution was essentially the same.

Plgca gj Rgsidn

Harvard MIT

Rural 1 2

Urban or suburban 8 7

A difference did appear in the matter of permancy of

resi-dence.

Chfinge gk AeideMn within pAistLn Iars

Yes 3

No 6

4

A further check, however, revealed that of the eight who

had changed residence only four had moved around to the

extent of involving grossly different geographical

loca-tions -- two in each group. Three of the other changes in

residence were merely to other residences within the same

city. All of these three were in the MIT group. Thus

even in this area there is considerable similarity as to

the permancy of residence if the locality rather than the

specific residence is considered.

As to the nature of the secondary school attended the

Secondary School

Harvard MIT

Public 8 8

Private 1 2*

(*

One

student at MIT had attended both)

With respect to family background there again appeared

to be a difference. Numb er X " Za one 3 1 two 2

4

three 2 1 four or more 2

3

The group at Harvard semed to be spread more evenly

through-out the spectrum of an only child to one of four or more

children. A closer look at the MIT students in the two

children families seems to at least partially explain this

difference. One MIT student has a two year old half

bro-ther such that essentially he should be considered an only

child. Another has a sister eight years older than himself

and thus also is not exactly in the same category as the

typical child in a family of two. No such abnormal

situa-tions appeared in the Harvard group.

The assumed similarity in family background is

fur-ther borne out in the individuals' place in the birth order

Poitin

Withiln

Ili ji Oxr

Harvard MIT

first 7

second 3 2

third or more 1 0

Positi A

WithiMln

l& Birthz

Qi2

first 7 8

second 1 1

third or more 1 0

One individual at Harvard was in a category all by himself

being the ninth child in a family of fourteen.

As to the education of the parents the trend was in

opposition to that of the larger population as revealed

by the questionnaire and discussed in chapter II. The

fathers and mothers of the MIT students on the whole seem

to have reached a higher level of education.

Harvard MIT Father Some College 7 8 No College 2 1 Mother Some College 4 7 No College 5 2

Three of the fathers of the Harvard students were in

a somewhat different category from the others which might

mothers of these students. The father of one of the Har-vard students was an immigrant from Estonia who married a Gymnasium graduate which is not abnormal in Estonia, even though this man was a college graduat% since fewer women go on to further study there than in America. Another had attended Boston University night school and

thus more than likely had more contact with non-college girls than with college girls. A third had only some college education not having graduated from college. Thus though these three individuals fall into the cate-gory of having had some college education it was of a nature such that they were more apt to meet and marry a non-college girl than were the other men.

It is interesting to note in this respect that when one of the Harvard students was asked if a college edu-cation was an important factor to consider in the choosing of the girl he might marry, he replied that it wasn't im-portant but he couldn't imagine himself not marrying a college girl. _{Where would he be apt to find an} intelli-gentcompatible girl who was not a college girl?

A difference in the religious spectra between the two groups

might

_{be expected as the question of the effect of} the two school on depth of religious commitment was the focal point in choosing the individuals to be interviewed.

-3.5-R eligaou Permel.a=~ &aI Ent r ance

Harvard MIT

Catholic 2 0

Jewish 0 1

Protestant

₅

8

None, agnostic 2 0

All eighteen students were technically oriented at

entrance, seven of the nine at Harvard actually starting out in physics. Thus in interest as well as in background the groups seem to have been similar at entrance.

One further point of comparison shows a possible similarity in general attitude between the two groups. In an attempt to examine the administrative aptitude of the

students those interviewed were asked if they thought they would have people working under them at age

45.

This attitude is one which probably would not be much affected by either institution since some people are inclined to

work with people in an administrative capacity while other technically oriented individuals, because of a fundamental difference in personality, seem to prefer a life free from any administrative responsibilities whatsoever. As it

turned out the distribution between the two groups was

al-most

identical, adding further support to the essential similarity between these two groups of students.

Administrative Tendencies -- expect to have people working under them

Harvard MIT

Yes 7 7

Not sure, 2 1

No 0 1

Thus in nearly all aspects investigated the two

experimental groups were found to be similar with respect

to background, interests, and general attitudes at time

of entrance. The rest of the investigation is an attempt

to demonstrate any differences between the two groups

which have developed over the course of the last four years.

Cgncerning Differences Between Exuerimental Grou

s

" PreantA

The areas of investigation as to differences in

atti-tudes between the two experimental groups are grouped

un-der five headings. The first to be considered is that of

attitudes with respect to the other school; the second,

personal attitudes in regards to dating, marriage,

friend-ships, and personal goals; the third area of consideration

is the attitudes toward non-science courses; the fourth,

religious attitudes; and finally attitudes toward ROTC

and the military.

been satisfied had they chosen the other school. No one in either group replied that he would not be satisfied

had he made a different choice. On the other hand it is

interesting to note that seven of the eight who were

rejected from this final comparison on the basis of

pre-disposition to one or the other of the two schools felt

that they would not be satisfied had they made a

differ-ent choice, the eighth was not sure.

Satisfied

JaA Od&x School b..

Chogen

Harvard MIT

Yes 7

Don't know

5

2

The trend within the two groups between an affirmative

reply and the in between position of I don't know was quite

different. More MIT students seemed to be convinced that

they would have been just as satisfied now had they made a different choice four years ago than Harvard students. Though the MIT students seemed on the whole to be quite

satisfied with the education and training they had received,

there still seemed to be a more favorable attitude toward

Harvard than existed among Harvard students toward

MIT.

This same fact is reflected again in the answers to the

question concerning how their picture of the other school

had changed over the past four years. For some reason the

been affected differently in the two groups.

C

jPict re .g Qfjer School

Harvard

MIT

Positive, think more of 3

5

No change 3

4

Negative, think less of 3 0

In an attempt to find some reason for this

differ-ence in attitude the author went to the tapes of the interviews to correlate the answer to another question not

specifically asked in the interview: Does the person think

he probably would be in a different field had he gone to

the other school? The data are as follows:

,U

Something

Different

11 Other

Schoo1

Yes, probably 3

5

Don't know 2

1

No 4 3

On the surface there does not seem to be much here as the

trend is rather slight, yet a deeper look into the seven

individuals in the "No" category is somewhat revealing.

Of the seven in this category four had the clearest ideas

as to where they were going of any of the individuals

interviewed. They evidently knew relatively early in

their academic career what they wanted vocationally and

Perhaps these students should be eliminated from

consider-ation as to whether or not they might be in something

dif-ferent under the influence of the other school, as the

school itself seems to have had little to do with causing

them to make their particular decisions with respect to a

career. Two of these stwdents are at each school; and if they are not considered along with the rest, the trend of

the data is quite clear. The MIT students seem to have

more of a feeling that they might be in some different

ooenrse of study altogether had they attended the other

school than do the Harvard students. The MIT students

seemed to express a feeling of almost being forced to

com-mit themselves early to a career, closing some doors which

really were so completely unfamiliar that there seems to

be an uneasiness as to whether or not the doors should

have been closed so early and so completely. This

parti-cular point was brought out clearly in my last interview.

with an MIT student who is quite undecided as to what he

wants to do vocationally though graduating as an electri-cal engineer in a few weeks. Perhaps herein lies a reason

for the difference in attitude toward the other school

between these two groups. Some of the MIT students may be

reacting to a sense of being pressed into a:mold with no way to get out gracefully. Consciously or otherwise they

may wish there was more choice in the matter and hence they

lib- -40-eral arts approach.

The Harvard students

were

also asked if they felt that their vocational preparation was as adequate as it

might have been had they gone to MIT while the MIT students

were asked a similar question about the completeness of

their education with respect to Harvard. Three Harvard

students felt that their vocational preparation was as

adequate as it would have been at MIT while no MIT student

felt that his education wds as "complete" as it would have

been at Harvard. The majority of the MIT students felt

that their education in a broad sense was more than

ade-quate for their chosen profession, yet they expressed a

lack of depth in the humanities. Most of the MIT students

did not seem to think that this lack, if present, was of

any great importance. One MIT student had actually taken

only four humanities courses altogether, all his first two

years. He had gained credit for all the others he needed

through advance standing examinations. Evidently he did

not see the humanities, as far as clisses are concerned,

as very important with respect to his life's work.

Persoal Attitudes

There seemed to be a difference between the two groups

in the related areas of dating and marriage expectations.

At MIT the students studied tended to date less and

in-tended to put off marriage longer than did the students

In analyzing the dating situation each student was

rated on a six point scale ranging from one for engaged

to six for the person who never dates. The intermediate

points in order of increasing numerical value were: dates

very frequently, frequently, occasionally, and seldom.

MIT's score, the average for the group, was 3.4 as opposed

to 2.8 for Harvard. According to the scale used this

indi-cates that the average for the MIT students was in the

occasionally to frequent range while for Harvard the

aver-age was in the frequent to very frequent range.

JLU Ote Tnn h Date

Harvard MIT 1 - engaged 2 0 2-= very frequent 2 1 3 = frequent 2 6 - = occasional 2 0 - seldom 1 1

6

n never 0 1

In analyzing the category of how soon the students

intend to marry a six point scale was again used ranging

from the near future to may never get married. The results

were again averaged with Harvard's score of 2.4 falling

in the within five years to after I finish school

cate-gory while MIT's score of 3.5 falls well in the after I

marri ed.

JUU

iggn Ikhz

Intgnd

2

Ma

Harvard MIT

1 - near future 2 0

2 = within five years 2 3 3 n finish school and/or 2 ,ii" .- military first

='

- no plans whatsoever but 1 0 intend to marry

5 - apathetic 0 1

6

- may never marry 0 2 one person given a rating of 2.5 as the situation was not clearly deter-mined)

One student at MIT was very much undecided as to what

he wanted to do vocationally and at the time was

consider-ing a religious vocation and celibacy although he dates

rather frequently at present. Even if he is discounted,

as far as computing an average marriage expectation score,

MIT's average is still 3.2, a pretty good distance from

Harvard's score of 2.4.

The presence of Radcliffe and the resulting

co-educa-tional environment may influence this particular result

considerably. Also the extreme anti-dating and

anti-mar-riage attitude of two of the MIT students, who incidentally

are very close friends and are rooming right next to each

other, perhaps augments the difference between the groups

more than is the actual case.

revealing in a direction which might be expected. The

MIT students tended to choose for their close friends

indi-viduals more like themselves than did the students at

Har-vard. Harvard possibly has had somewhat of a liberalizing

effect on the students attitudes such that they are more

willing to enter into a deep friendship relation with

someone of a different outlook.

The students were asked to picture their five closest

friends and then to categorize them with respect to three

variables;

where

they are, what they are doing, and their religious belief. The results were as follows:

Whe42. Closgst Friendas Lgcated

Harvard MIT

*

Majority at same school 5 9

No pattern 2 0

Majority not at same school 1 0

(* one student not categorized in this section)

The MIT students seem to be more identified -personally

with their academic commubity in the extent of their

per-sonal

friendships.

The second point of investigation in respect to

close friends was that of field of interest of the friends

in question. At Harvard the scale ran from having most of

the friends mentioned in the same field, science or

MIT the comparison was between having most of the friends mentioned in the same course to most in any combination of

the other courses.

What

Zield

Friends

l

Harvard MIT

Majority in same field 3 2

No pattern 2 7

Majority in different 3 0 field(s)

There seems to be a trend at MIT toward the developing of

close friends within the same course of study more than

for Harvard students to favor science majors over non-science majors. At Harvard as many students tended to

de-velop most of their close friendships with non-science majors as with science majors while at MIT no one inter-viewed tended to have most of his close friends at MIT in courses different from his own.

Finally with respect to religious belief the two

groups again show a difference in the same direction. At

MIT the students interviewed tend to have among their

closest friends individuals more like themselves in reli-gious belief than .was indicated at Harvard. No student

interviewed at Harvard had all his friends mentioned, in

the same religious category as opposed to two students at

MIT in this category. It should be mentioned at this