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A SALUTARY INFLUENCE eight of which could be in language, history, or science. The faculty went to considerable lengths to describe in the catalogue the level of mastery which it expected in both required and elective fields. By 1914 geography was no longer on the required list and the number of units had been increased to fifteen. In 1942 one still needed fifteen units, including three in English and two in mathematics, for admission. In 1911 the faculty began entrusting individual admissions decisions to its entrance committee, but not until 1943 was there a dean or director of admissions to handle this work on its behalf. Requiring fourteen or fifteen units was simply one step toward a sound admissions program. The entrance (later admissions) committee had to take into consideration the quality of work which the candidate had done in earning those units and whether there were cases where exceptions should be made. Following a long practice, for some years it did admit students whose records were lacking in one way or other, imposing conditions which had to be removed by a certain time if they wished to continue with their class. Once the requirement of fifteen units was firmly established, the trend was toward flexibility in administering them. In accepting a report from the entrance committee in 1926, the faculty advised that there should be "more freedom . . . exercised in counting units and more stress . . . put on the quality of work offered."246 The U. L.C. A. survey team found that in the mid-1920s Gettysburg had the most consistently good record among nine Lutheran colleges in retaining an entering freshman class and graduating its members four years later. Of the seventy-eight freshmen in the class of 1908, 60 percent were graduated four years later.247 An additional 13 percent received degrees from Gettysburg at some other time or from some other institution. Comparable figures for the class of 1916 are 64 and 72 percent; for the class of 1925, 56 and 63 percent; for the class of 1931, 55 and 61 percent; and for the class of 1940, 55 and 59 percent. The record of B. A. candidates was much better than that of students registered for the B.S. degree. For example, 81 percent of the freshmen B. A. candidates in the class of 1908 and 85 percent of those in the class of 1925 earned degrees four years later. During the forty-one years covered by this chapter College enrollment tripled. Most of this growth occurred during the first two administrations. The number in the four College classes, which stood at a record 197 in the fall of 1904, reached 545 during the first 246In 1920 the Middle States Association declared that "in administering entrance requirements, exceptions should be few and made only for reasons of great weight." The questionnaire which Granville completed early in 1921 admitted that Gettysburg did admit students on trial, but stated that they were candidates "conditioned in one or two units if other grades are high." GCA. 247U.L.C.A. Survey, 2:158-159. 58