<p>I had a fascinating conversation with a gentlemen last night who recounted the story of his growing up in Massachusetts and his college choosing experience. At that time and in his high school, you could only apply to two colleges. Too much paperwork for the HS to be sending willy-nilly across the country 
One of his teachers had been to Tufts and thought he should apply there, so he did. About 20% of his school went on to Harvard, so he applied there. To visit Harvard in the spring of 1941, he walked the 6 miles from Dorchester, 20 cents for bus fare not being something to spend lightly. He went to the Widener Library, which looked like a Greek temple, all marble columns. An enormous room was filled with card catalogues and he wondered what he could look up to test the depth of the collections. He was very interested in languages, so he checked to see what their holdings were in Lithuanian grammar texts. 19 different volumes! He was enchanted, and went to Harvard that fall.</p>
<p>And I bet he didn’t lose any sleep over his college essays, SAT scores, ECs, class rank, etc. etc. !!! I wonder how much his tuition was?!!!</p>
<p>Good question! </p>
<p>He went into the Army the following year and ended up serving as a translator for interrogations of war criminals in Europe, so probably finished his degree under the GI bill, and well-earned it was too.</p>
<p>Charming story.</p>
<p>Astrophysicsmom: I agree that he probably didn’t stress over essays, SATs, etc. – but if you’re trying to be romantic about the “good old days,” remember that only a small number of people went to college in those “good old days.” (And these good old days were before penicillin, too!!)</p>
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And the vast majority of them had to have a Y chromosome.</p>
<p>“he wondered what he could look up to test the depth of the collections. He was very interested in languages, so he checked to see what their holdings were in Lithuanian grammar texts. 19 different volumes! He was enchanted”</p>
<p>I had the same feeling when I happened upon row after row of shelves in Widener devoted to bound medical journals in Norwegian. I knew that if I had ten lifetimes to read my way through Widener, I wouldn’t get to them. And that made me very happy. :)</p>
<p>My grandmother graduated from Vassar before WWI. All of her siblings (M&F)also graduated from college.</p>
<p>How about two separate collections of books about fishing? I shelved library books at Widener and they had some weird stuff in there!</p>
<p>My father went to NYU at night. My mother went to Hunter for one semester but had to drop out to go to work. (Depression-era.) My mother-in-law went to Hunter for about a year then went to work. My father-in-law joined the Air Force during WWII and then became a cutter in a dress factory.</p>
<p>My husband went to an Ivy and I went to Northwestern. </p>
<p>But Yes, I know there are families with Yale and Vassar in their heritage for generations and generations.</p>
<p>Did the Harvard library contain a copy of “Moominsummer Madness?” :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Sorry, Moominmama-- I’ve always wondered if your screen name came from those books! My sister loved them.</p>
<p>I posted this once before but it seems pertinent to this thread - </p>
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<p>I was reading the High School commencement book for my Grandmother (Salem, Mass HS - class of 1915) and came across this interesting ad that shows how times have changed a bit -</p>
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