We may now ask how far back in the academic careers of these men it is possible to predict their probable achievement in the professional schools. Have those who are awarded the professional honors already distinguished themselves from their fellows at the time of their entrance into college? The following summary of the results presented by Lowell in much more detail will help answer this question:
TABLE 22
Showing Relations between Various Academic Records (Lowell)
Men Graduating from the Law School and Receiving "Cum Laude" in Law
| Per cent | |
| Entered college "clear" | 26.4 |
| Entered college "conditioned" | 9.0 |
| Graduated from college with distinction | 31.2 |
| Graduated from college without distinction | 6.5 |
| Entrance clear and college distinction | 37.9 |
| Entrance conditioned and college with distinction | 18.1 |
| Entrance clear and college without distinction | 11.1 |
| Entrance conditioned and college without distinction | 2.9 |
Men Graduating from the Medical School and Receiving "Cum Laude" in Medicine
| Per cent | |
| Entered college "clear" | 59.1 |
| Entered college "conditioned" | 43.0 |
| Graduated from college with distinction | 80.1 |
| Graduated from college without distinction | 36.0 |
| Entrance clear and college distinction | 78.1 |
| Entrance conditioned and college distinction | 84.6 |
| Entrance clear and college without distinction | 42.4 |
| Entrance conditioned and college without distinction | 31.4 |
Here the result is clearly suggested that early merit in academic work means success in the professional schools, whether one considers entrance examinations or college records. And the most probable group for professional honors is made up of those men who combined both entrance and college distinction. This is especially striking in the case of the law school. In the case of the medical school the differences are not quite so great, although the general tendency is quite the same. This is said to be due to the lower standard required for medical honors during these years. Lowell concludes: "The men who are destined to take the highest rank in the law and medical schools are markedly better scholars, both in the preparatory schools and in college, than their fellows. In intellectual power, as in other things, the boy is father to the man."
On the whole, then, all these studies point in a consistent direction; those who are destined to achieve distinction and success begin to do so at an early age. Whether measured by achievement in academic courses, honors in professional and technical courses, salary earned after graduation, or inclusion among lists and directories of eminent men, success in later life is suggested by success in the early work of the school curriculum. In spite of frequent comments to the contrary, the school curriculum would seem to constitute a useful test in prognosticating at least the most probable quality of the individual's later work.