45o 
Correspondence. 
j  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
I  September,  1904. 
I  am  optimistic  enough  to  believe  that  if  those  colleges  who  are 
now  requiring  a  high-school  diploma,  and  those  who  are  now  will- 
ing to  require  it,  in  three  or  four  years  would  come  together,  the 
number  would  not  be  so  small  as  some  think,  and  that  other  col- 
leges would  fall  into  line,  either  from  choice  or  necessity.  I  hope 
that  some  definite  action  will  be  taken  at  the  Kansas  City  meeting. 
Yours  very  truly, 
e.  a.  ruddiman. 
Vanderbilt  University. 
August  io,  1904. 
My  Dear  Professor: — Your  request  of  recent  date  came  during 
my  absence  from  the  city,  hence  the  delay  in  the  reply. 
I  am  heartily  in  accord  with  the  resolutions  which  Dean  Searby, 
or  Dr.  Schneider,  intend  to  introduce  for  adoption  at  the  confer- 
ence at  Kansas  City. 
This  college,  during  its  twelve  years'  existence,  has  demonstrated 
that  the  requirements  of  a  full  four-years'  high-school  training  as  a 
prerequisite  to  entrance  to  a  college  of  pharmacy,  is  feasible.  For 
the  past  six  years  our  student-body  has  been  made  up  of  more  than 
90  per  cent,  of  full  four-year  high-school  graduates.  Prior  to  that 
the  percentage  fluctuated  between  75  and  88  per  cent.  The  10  per 
cent,  that  are  not  high-school  graduates  have  nearly  all  an  academic 
training  equal  to  a  high-school  training.  A  dozen  years  ago  we 
accepted  only  about  40  per  cent,  of  the  applicants  for  admission.  I 
made  successful  efforts  to  inform  the  pharmacists  of  the  State  that 
we  would,  from  year  to  year,  increase  our  entrance  requirements  to 
a  point  where  nothing  less  than  a  full  four-year  high-school  training, 
or  its  equivalent,  would  be  accepted.  This  warning,  which  I  have 
since  kept  fresh  in  the  minds  of  pharmacists  and  prospective  stu- 
dents, has  resulted  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  pharmacy  in  this 
State,  inasmuch  as  the  percentage  of  applicants  that  had  to  be 
rejected  each  year  has  steadily  grown  less.  Of  our  seventy  students 
of  two  years  ago,  sixty-five  were  high-school  graduates,  and  of  our 
sixty  students  last  year  fifty-four  were  high-school  graduates. 
Those  that  were  not  high-school  graduates  were  required  to  enter 
upon  our  three-year  course  and  to  carry  certain  academic  studies  in 
their  first  year,  so  that  their  preliminary  training  would  equal  that 
of  the  average  of  our  students. 
This  progress  was  made  in  the  face  of  strenuous  opposition. 
