Columbia's assumption of the selective function after World War I marked a major change in the way that university authorities perceived and compared their institutions. The story of admission to the University of Chicago provides an interesting and important variation on many of the themes first raised at Columbia for an institution near the head of the academic procession. The mechanical methods employed by the Chicago Admissions Office in accepting or rejecting students discouraged those who had hoped that selective admissions might yield an undergraduate student body imbued with the University Spirit. Between 1931 and 1932, enrollment at Chicago's junior colleges declined by 337 students-the largest one-year decline since their founding. Ironically, during the post-World War II years, the heyday of the Hutchins Plan, the professional orientation of the Chicago undergraduate student body peaked.