43 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that of the civilization of which it forms a part, are coincident; that, 

 in terms of the ultimate test, the college ideal is a good one. 



The present study is an attempt to follow the subsequent careers of 

 high-grade college men in order to determine their evaluation by the 

 world at large. It presupposes two criteria, each of which must be 

 arbitrarily chosen, one for high grade or success in college, and the 

 other for achievement of the same character in after life. As the former 

 criterion, I have taken membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the honorary, 

 college Greek letter fraternity; as the latter, mention in '"Who's Who 

 in America' the annual biographical cyclopedia published in Chicago. 



There can be, I believe, little question as to the validity of the first 

 criterion. Election to Phi Beta Kappa is based upon marks given in 

 course, only the high-grade men (and women) being admitted, and so 

 far as I know, no complaint has ever been made as to the justice of 

 election on this basis. There are at present fifty chapters of the 

 fraternity in the colleges and universities of our country. Only 

 students matriculated for the bachelor's degree are elected and of the 

 entire membership 85 per cent, or more have received it in arts; the 

 remainder in science or philosophy. This eliminates from our study 

 the professional, technical and graduate schools and reduces it prac- 

 tically to the academic institutions of higher grade : in fact, the typical 

 American college whose raison d'etre has been more boldly questioned 

 than has almost any other part of our educational machinery. The 

 percentage of graduates elected to Phi Beta Kappa by the different 

 chapters varies, being as low as 8 per cent, for Harvard and as high as 

 33 per cent, for several other colleges, with an average of about 16 per 

 cent., or one graduate in six, for the whole. It is, then, this upper 

 stratum of college men which we are considering in this study. 



The criterion of success in after life which I have made use of is 

 perhaps not so free from valid criticism. It is possible that not all 

 would wish to accept mention in 'Who's Who' as indicative of high 

 grade in life, yet with all its shortcomings, I know of no better criterion 

 of success that can be applied to large numbers of living Americans. 

 Although the names of many men and women of eminence fail to find 

 place on its pages, it is nevertheless probably true that each who is there 

 mentioned has achieved more than an ordinary degree of success in the 

 chosen calling and is, therefore, entitled to be classed as high grade. 



The volume chosen for the purpose of the present study was that 

 for 1900, since it was contemporary with the 'Handbook and General 

 Address Catalog of Phi Beta Kappa,' compiled by the Secretary, Eev- 

 erend E. B. Parsons, of Williamstown, Mass., which is used in connection 

 with it. The volume referred to contains the names of 8,602 living 

 Americans, from every calling and profession. Of this number 3,237 

 are college graduates, with degrees from more than 200 institutions. 



