Fred Hargadon

Frederick Anthony Hargadon was born in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, on January 4, 1934, the son of Bernard and Anna Hargadon. He had two brothers, Bernard and John, and two sisters, Anne and Judy. He attended Lower Merion High School, and worked for the post office, where he had held odd jobs since he was 14 years old, and for the Atlantic Refining Company for two years. He served in the U.S. Army for two years, and then went to Haverford College under the G. I. Bill of Rights. He graduated in 1958, and did postgraduate work at Harvard University and Cornell University. He then became a political science professor at Swarthmore College.

Fred Hargadon was the Dean of Admissions at Swarthmore College from 1964-1969, Stanford University from 1969 to 1984, and Princeton University from 1988 to 2003. He was a national leader in the field of university and college admission. In 1984 The New York Times described him as "the dean of deans".

In 1964, Hargadon became the Dean of Admissions at Swarthmore College. He set about reforming the admissions system. That year Swarthmore received a US $275,000 grant (equivalent to $2,403,000 in 2021) from the Rockefeller Foundation to improve its efforts to recruit and enrol African American students, particularly male ones. The grant was primarily intended to provide financial aid to such students. Up until 1953, Swarthmore had enrolled 7 or 8 African-American students; in the decade that followed, another 20 were enrolled. Between 1964 and 1968, Hargadon managed to enrol 61 African-American students out of a total of about 1100 enrolments in this period. Given the quality of the students, it was likely that they would have otherwise gone to college elsewhere, but Swarthmore did establish itself as a college that prospective African-American students would consider. Because women were more likely to take up an offer of a place, almost twice as many African-American women were enrolled as men, which was the opposite of what was intended. Moreover, the number of African-American students requiring financial aid was much lower than anticipated, as many had means or other scholarships.

Hargadon moved on to Stanford University in 1964. He drove around in a convertible with the license plate "ADMITS". He instituted a holistic evaluation of students under which admission was not merely based on academic credentials. One candidate who answered the question "Is there anything else you would like to tell us?" with "My test scores are low. They are accurate" was admitted and subsequently did well. "We were more likely to look for the youngster who has written a lot of term papers," he told a reporter. "I like to consider their energy level." He knew each student by name, and wrote personal, handwritten notes on their acceptance letters, which started with "Yes!" When a bag of mail containing acceptance letters for the class of 1978 went astray at the post office, he sent each an apology letter with a handwritten "Ouch!" at the top. He was a frequent guest at gatherings in dorms.

Although less than 100 years old, by 1984, Stanford had become one of the most exclusive universities in the United States, accepting only 17.1 percent of applicants, whereas the much older Harvard University accepted 18.3 percent. While Harvard refused to accept more than 50 or 60 transfers from other universities each year, Stanford admitted up to 200, one of whom was future astronaut Sally Ride. Hargadon noted that while earlier generations of students had seldom attended universities more than 200 miles (320 km) from their home, by the 1990s students were increasingly considering universities around the nation and overseas. By 1984, only 42.3 percent of Stanford's freshman class was from California.

In 1984 The New York Times described him as "the dean of deans". That year he became the senior vice president of the College Board at Princeton University. He became dean of admission there in 1988. Between 1984 and 2003 he read 207,900 applications, and sent his 'YES!' letters to 17,400 of them. In 2002, Stephen LeMenager, Princeton's associate dean of admissions, used the social security numbers of prospective Princeton students to unauthorized access to Yale University's admissions website, which required neither userids nor passwords. Hardagon accepted responsibility for what had occurred, and announced that he would retire in June 2003. LeMenager was suspended, but later given another position at Princeton.

Hargadon died at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, on January 15, 2014. He was survived by his sons, Steve and Andy. Hargadon Hall, a dormitory at Whitman College, Princeton University, was named after him. The word "YES!" is carved in stone out the front. His papers are held by Swarthmore College.