University of Virginia Library

XIX. Department of Graduate Studies

In 1904, the University of Virginia was elected a
member of the most exclusive scholastic organization in
the United States; namely, the Association of American
Universities. Four years afterwards, there were eighteen

institutions entered upon the roll of this body, and
the University of Virginia was the only one situated in
the region lying south of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers.
No seat of learning was eligible unless engaged in
graduate work; and it was to increase the usefulness of
such work that the association was founded. Through
the weight of membership in this association, all graduate
work accomplished at the University of Virginia was
allowed credit in the most important universities of
Europe.

To be entitled to admission to the graduate department,
the candidate for the master's or the doctor's
degree must be able to show that he had already received
a baccalaureate degree either from the University of Virginia,
or from some institution of collegiate rank which
he had previously attended, or at least a certificate of
graduation in an equivalent course, should that institution
not confer such a degree. The graduate studies
in 1905–06 were open, not only to bachelors of arts
and masters of arts who were candidates for higher
honors, but also to young men in the possession of one
or the other of these degrees, who, lacking time and
money, were anxious to pursue advanced work along
special lines without regard to winning a still higher degree.
The advantages offered to an aspirant for the
doctorate of philosophy were unsatisfactory, owing to the
numerical shortness in the teaching force. "It cannot
be expected," remarked the dean of the department
during this period, "that a single professor should do
justice to B. A., M. A., and Ph. D. courses in a great
subject all at the same time." By 1906–07, graduate
studies had been introduced into every academical school.[4]

There was some doubt expressed during this year as
to whether the University of Virginia was, as yet, in a
position to do well, simultaneously, both undergraduate
and graduate work. The question that perplexed the
minds of these critics was, in their own words, "Should
that institution be made up of a college with university
tendencies, plus a graduate school with collegiate tendencies?
Or should the University of Virginia consist of
a college with lower standards than it has had up to the
present, plus a real graduate school, which has not so
far been established?" The authorities very properly
thought that a college of high standards and a genuine
graduate school could be built up at the University of
Virginia side by side; and there was constant progress
towards the consummation of these ideals as the years
passed on.

It is germane to our subject to compare the number
of students who registered in the college department
with the number that registered in the graduate department.
During the session of 1904–05, there were three
hundred and six enrolled in the former, and thirty-two
in the latter; and six sessions afterwards, at the same
date of the month (March 20), the corresponding
numbers were three hundred and fifty-two, and thirty-four.
In 1915–16, the number of first-year students in
the college department was two hundred and seventy-four,
and in the graduate department, eleven. The
total number in each respectively was five hundred and
thirty-nine, and fifty; in 1916–17, five hundred and
ninety-three, and fifty-two; in 1917–18, four hundred
and fifty-seven, and sixteen. In consequence of the
World War, the draught on the ranks of the more matured
students of the graduate department was heavier
than on the ranks of the younger men of the college

department,—the loss in the former amounted to
seventy per cent.; in the latter, to only thirty-five per
cent.

In 1907–08, twelve of the students in the graduate
department had obtained their baccalaureate degree
from the University of Virginia. Of the thirty students
enrolled in this department in 1909–10, a small minority
had received that degree from the University of Virginia,
while the majority of the remainder had received
it from other institutions situated within the State. Of
the forty-seven students registered in the department in
1914, nineteen held the baccalaureate diploma of the
University of Virginia. Harvard, Princeton, and
Michigan Universities were represented among the rest
of the institutions conferring the degree. The proportion
of bachelors from the college department of the
University of Virginia fluctuated from thirty per cent.
to fifty per cent. of the whole number enrolled in the
graduate department.

If we consider all the schools embraced in these two
departments, an examination of the records for the
Ninth Period reveals that the most numerously attended
class was the class in English literature,—during the
session of 1904–05, for example, one hundred and
seventy-four students were entered on its roll. The
School of Mathematics followed close behind with one
hundred and seventy. During this session, the average
attendance in fifteen schools was seventy-six students.
In 1907–08, the attendance in the School of English
Literature rose to one hundred and ninety-one, while
the attendance in the School of Mathematics fell to one
hundred and twenty-three. The average enrolment in
twenty-two schools was forty-nine students. In 1913–14,
the corresponding figures for the Schools of English

Literature and Mathematics were one hundred and sixty-eight,
and one hundred and forty-eight. The average
registration in twenty-six schools was now seventy-two
students. The Schools of English Literature and Mathematics
continued to be the most popular during the
session of 1914–15,—by which year, the average
attendance in twenty-seven schools had increased to
seventy-seven.