Applicants for both schools must meet two basic requirements: good college grades, and a fair (around 600) score on the legal aptitude exam, Yale asks, above and beyond this, at least two letters of recommendation to use as secondary criteria in selection.

Since the late thirties, when this system went into operation, Harvard has correlated undergraduate grades of men from different colleges with their law school records. It can thus determine what grades an applicant should have made in his college to have a fifty-fifty chance of passing at the law school. Since these "norm grades" or "deadlines" vary from year to year, they are constantly rechecked.

Since information about extra-curricula activities cannot be used for charting or comparison. Harvard does not ask for it, although the Admissions Office may use it in borderline cases when it is volunteered.

Yale uses a system much like Harvard's correlating undergraduate grades with subsequent law school records of men from various colleges. But it uses the aptitude test more as a check against college grades than as a factor weighted equally with the marks as at Harvard. Yale is also inclined to rate secondary criteria--college activities and recommendations--little higher than does its sister school.

Neither school uses a quota system, geographical or other, but both seem to wind up with good representation and with a national student body. Of course, the relative size of the student bodies directly affects a student's chances for admission. On the average, Yale admits at out a sixth of those applying while Harvard takes between a third and a half.

On the other hand, this factor has made it easier, for a student to get a scholarship at Yale. In 1949 25 percent of Yale men were getting financial help compared to seven percent at Harvard. In awarding its national scholarships, Harvard does consider place of residence, taking it harder for an easterner to get this aid.

Both Dean Erwin N. Griswold of Harvard, and Dean Wesley A. Sturges of Yale hope to have smaller student bodies because of the abnormally huge demand in the future. They kept admissions high for lawyers right after the last war and because of the large number of veterans applying. And Sturges points to financial troubles in the last few years as a reason for keeping his school large. "...We must depend on box office receipts," he states. If each dean has his way, Harvard will eventually have 1400 students and Yale 450-some day.

Once he is admitted, the student is in for a shock, whether he is attending Harvard or Yale. He will be subjected to new pressures and will probably have to learn a way of thinking quite different from the method he used to get through college.

Students must master precise legal thinking, as just retired Harvard professor Edmund M. Morgan puts it, "learn to think things through, not just accept generalizations--when you study a case, details make the difference." Professor Austin W. Scott of Harvard points out that the law student can no longer rely solely on a good memory; he must understanding, Scott adds, comes slowly to many students.

There is no college curriculum that specifically prepares all men for law school, Harvard and Yale agree. Many professors, however, advise courses in mathematics, philosophy, and other disciplines which require an ability to think about problems in concrete terms. Morgan says wryly, however, that he would be well satisfied if his students could all read the English language accurately.

Greater Pressure Here

The pressure is greater on the first year man at Harvard than it is on his brother at Yale. He usually must carry a heavier work load; putting in over twenty hours a week outside of class, as compared to just over ten hours for the Yale student. And, of course, there, is always the strong possibility of flunking out at Harvard, while Yale seldom fails a student.

At Harvard also, examinations do not come until the end of the year, while Yale has mid-year finals which provide a more regular check for the student, and which lessen the amount of review work he must do in preparation. Grades are more important at Harvard than at Yale too. Only a relatively small percentage of the class is eligible for the Law Review, the Board of Student Advisers, and the Legal Aid Bureau-the most important extra-curricular activities.

To help orient and instruct first-year students. Harvard has instituted the successful Teaching Fellow Program. Under this plan, about 18 men meet with a teaching fellow once a week to study problems presented in courses, and to take "dry-run" mid-year exams.

Supposed differences in education philosophy have created a great deal of discussion at both schools. Actually, these differences are not very great. But there is a difference of emphasis, certainly. Courses of very similar content, for example, will be described in more "conservative" terms in the Yale catalogue, more conservative terms by the Harvard book.