The plan to establish a new college for women at Bennington, Vermont, is in definite response to the general need for an experiment in higher education along modern lines. Although the original proposal coincided with a period of unusual pressure of numbers for entrance to the women's colleges of the Northeast, this fact was considered only as offering a favorable opportunity for the new institution, not as a reason for establishing it. The plans for the College are a result of six years of interviews, conferences, public meetings, and surveys. Gradually these have brought to a focus the need expressed by schools, educators, and parents for a new institution such as Bennington proposes to be. The primary demand comes from the so-called progressive schoolmasters who, setting up initiative, self-expression, creative work, independent reasoning, and self-dependence as aims, and who now find themselves severely handicapped by the fact that their program can proceed only up to the point where the college establishes its formal admissions requirements. From that point on, the progressive schools have had to modify their own chosen programs in the interest of the future of their students. There is needed at least one college with ample funds and high-grade personnel which, by the nature of its entrance requirements, will leave the schools free to teach what they think best; which will, in its own program, emphasize individuality, direct experience, serious interest, creative and independent work, and adjustment to the modern world. This does not mean that such a college should limit itself to the graduates of progressive schools or that it should uncritically adopt progressive school techniques. Surprising interest and support for such a new college for women have come, also, from the heads of traditional schools who see the need for more freedom for advanced instruction and for more discriminating entrance requirements for students of specialized ability. Bennington says to its applicants: Have you serious interest or real promise in at least one of the fields of human achievement in which we offer instruction? If so, you may enter with us upon a period in which you may test that interest in the light of other interests. If your competence is proved and your interest is sustained, you may go ahead under expert guidance with work in your field of choice as widely, as deeply, and as far as possible. No traditional formal requirements or rules of residence will stand in the way of your getting the best instruction. No mere satisfaction of rules of class attendance, reading of specified books, or accumulation of course-credits will suffice. Your degree will be given on the basis of a demonstration that you have learned how to stand on your own feet and to work with skill and understanding in your chosen field. The object of the admissions system to Bennington is to discover and to admit girls of serious interest and of unusual promise in one or more of the four major fields into which the College for practical purposes divides human achievement: literature, the fine arts, the natural and physical sciences, and the social studies. A Director of Admissions will select the entrants upon the basis of the following: (1) quality of the school record; (2) score on a scholastic-aptitude test such as that now given by the College Entrance Examination Board and, where the school's standard of grading or accuracy of recommendations is unknown, an achievement test in one of the subjects in which the student has done her best work; (3) such general records, judgments, and personal history revealing indications of purpose, range and quality of interests, traits of character and personality, as can be obtained from school officials, parents, and other persons familiar with the candidate's out-of-school record, and from the candidate herself. Whenever possible a personal interview with the applicant will be held. …