Life — September 29, 1927 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Life Magazine: "Freshman Number - Entrance Examinations" This is the cover of Life's "Freshman Number," a special issue about college entrance exams. The satire depicts two adult women (likely representing college admissions officials or examiners) observing two small children with large heads taking entrance examinations—one child carries a suitcase and musical instrument, the other carries a briefcase. The joke critiques the absurdity of rigorous college entrance requirements by showing them applied to impossibly young applicants. The exaggerated head sizes suggest either intellectual pretension or the children's unreadiness for such scrutiny. This satirizes the competitive, merit-based entrance examination system that was becoming increasingly standardized in American higher education during the early 20th century, mocking both the system's intensity and parents' ambitious expectations for their children.