USU looks to raise admission standards for entering students
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles regarding Utah State University’s new plans for recruitment and admission
Many students feel admission to Utah State University is too easy and are concerned their degrees’ values are being compromised by the university’s reputation.
Joyce Kinkead, vice provost for undergraduate education, said many students have expressed their feeling that the reputation of USU as an institution of higher learning is suffering because the standards are “too easy.”
Lately, rumors about USU raising those admission standards have been circling throughout campus and the community, but in President Kermit L. Hall’s recent response to students’ concerns on raising admission standards he dismissed these reports, and said USU will simply comply with existing policies.
“We do not intend to increase the academic requirements for admission to Utah State University. What we do intend to do is to begin adhering to our own published admissions standards,” President Hall said.
Kinkead said current admission is based on an admission index which may be found in the General Catalog and on University Applications. Index numbers are given to incoming freshmen according to high school GPA and ACT scores.
According to the published standards, students with an index of 100 will be admitted; 91 to 99 indexes are likely to be admitted and 86 to 90 indexes will be admitted if space is available. Students who have an index number below 86 or who have special circumstances may go through an appeals process to gain admission, Kinkead said.
Transfer students who have 30 credit hours will be admitted if their GPA is 2.50 or above, and those who do not meet these requirements will be considered separately, Kinkead said.
While USU has been admitting some students on an individual basis who do not conform with the standards, Eric Olsen, director of Recruitment and Enrollment Services, said the university has been complying with the standards since their implementation.
The Enrollment Management Progress Report (EMPR), published in December of 2001, gives figures for a freshman study group according to their admittance indexes. According to the report, of the 2,459 students studied, 87 percent fulfill the basic admission requirements with an index score of 86 or above.
The other percent are made up of students with index scores 85 or lower, no test scores, no GPA or a combination of these factors, according to the EMPR.
President Hall said more than 200 such students were admitted last fall.
Kinkead said concerns about the current standards being elitist are unjustified, because one of the main issues is whether or not the students will fit into the academic atmosphere of USU.
She said they are looking to enroll students who will succeed.
President Hall said the index number is a good predictor of a student’s future success at USU, and said it is “unfair to admit those students who have little chance of succeeding.”
Although the university currently offers one of the highest monetary awards for National Merit Scholars in the state, Olsen said, proposals to recruit top students more aggressively are also a part of the EMPR.
“This is the first time we are being proactive in shaping the freshman class,” Kinkead said.
Proposals to raise the standards for admission are moving forward, though, Olsen said, as the required Admissions Index number will raise two points each year during the next three or four years.
There are few ramifications for current students, Kinkead said, because “once you’re in, you’re in.”
Yet, President Hall said the purpose of their enhancement focused on admissions. “The value of any student’s degree is intricately tied to the reputation of the university, he said. We are working to ensure that you will always be proud of being an Aggie.”