Remembering Grad Admission in the ’60s

I applied to graduate school at Princeton, aiming for a bridge program between psychology and mathematics. On April 1, 1965, I received two envelopes with Princeton return addresses. The first was a letter from Harold Gulliksen, professor in the psychology department and director of the psychometric program, telling me that I had been awarded an ETS Psychometric Fellowship that would cover all of my expenses in attending Princeton, conditioned, of course, on my being accepted by the University. Then I opened the second envelope that was the University telling me that I had been put on the wait list for acceptance.

I sighed and began to make plans to respond to an offer that had previously been my second choice. But for a week I did nothing. Then I received a phone call from Professor Gulliksen. He explained that I was his first choice, but if I was not going to accept the fellowship, he would like to know as soon as possible so that he could inform the first alternate. I told him that while I would very much like to have accepted, I had been wait-listed by the University. He seemed surprised and asked me to wait by the phone. I did and 15 minutes later he called back and said, “You’ve been accepted. Will you come?” I said, “Yes” and it turned out to be perhaps the best decisions I ever made. With a fortnight I received a letter from the University confirming my acceptance. It too was dated April 1, 1965.