Admission via Interview in the 1960s

The Princeton admission office sent someone to my high school, who interviewed me and said Princeton would admit me if I agreed by letter. No application form that I remember. No essay either.

Harvard and Yale did the same thing but refused to skip the application form.

My father said agree by letter with Princeton because though located in the East — uggh — Princeton had the fewest crazy Easterners because they took a lot of Southerners. 

After going to Harvard Law School, I think he was largely correct.

I did have to be interviewed by an alumnus, a lawyer in an imposing office in downtown Cincinnati. I can’t remember his name, but I remember being very awed and nervous until I discovered he was not a snob.