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University of Oregon reexamines auto-accept GPA
University hopes this will increase diversity in applicants, on campus; Kuo doesn't think this move will affect admissions at OSU
Millie Reinhardsen
Issue date: 2/25/09 Section: News
New students applying for the University of Oregon in the year 2010 may find cause to adjust their grade point averages.
On Friday, Feb. 6, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education approved the university's revision of its GPA for automatic admissions from the current 3.25 grade point to 3.4.
Beginning in 2010, students applying to UO must obtain a GPA no lower than 3.4 to gain automatic admission, which omits the requirement of submitting an essay or other additional materials in the admission process.
However, the standard admission GPA still remains at a 3.0 grade point.
The reason for this revision is to increase the diversity on campus.
Brian Henley, the director of admissions at UO, said he hopes that by raising the GPA for automatic admissions, the amount of students being admitted into the university automatically will decrease, allowing the "comprehensive review" to take a more dominant role in the admissions process.
"We are finding that more and more automatic admissions students are filling up the classrooms," Henley said. "[This is] leaving little room for those students whose GPAs are below the automatic admissions GPA."
Last fall in 2008, nearly 70 percent of the students were admitted automatically into the university. If the GPA for automatic admissions had been at 3.4, that statistic would have been 56 percent.
However, Henley said this is a good thing; he wants the classrooms to have students with more diverse backgrounds, backgrounds that are not learned from an automatic admissions GPA.
He said he hopes in the future that students applying to UO will be considered based on not only their grade trends and high school curricula, but on their "ability to bring diversity to campus."
Henley puts "diversity" in a very broad context, including students who have faced educational, racial and ethnic obstacles, or those who are simply the first to go to college in their families.
On Friday, Feb. 6, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education approved the university's revision of its GPA for automatic admissions from the current 3.25 grade point to 3.4.
Beginning in 2010, students applying to UO must obtain a GPA no lower than 3.4 to gain automatic admission, which omits the requirement of submitting an essay or other additional materials in the admission process.
However, the standard admission GPA still remains at a 3.0 grade point.
The reason for this revision is to increase the diversity on campus.
Brian Henley, the director of admissions at UO, said he hopes that by raising the GPA for automatic admissions, the amount of students being admitted into the university automatically will decrease, allowing the "comprehensive review" to take a more dominant role in the admissions process.
"We are finding that more and more automatic admissions students are filling up the classrooms," Henley said. "[This is] leaving little room for those students whose GPAs are below the automatic admissions GPA."
Last fall in 2008, nearly 70 percent of the students were admitted automatically into the university. If the GPA for automatic admissions had been at 3.4, that statistic would have been 56 percent.
However, Henley said this is a good thing; he wants the classrooms to have students with more diverse backgrounds, backgrounds that are not learned from an automatic admissions GPA.
He said he hopes in the future that students applying to UO will be considered based on not only their grade trends and high school curricula, but on their "ability to bring diversity to campus."
Henley puts "diversity" in a very broad context, including students who have faced educational, racial and ethnic obstacles, or those who are simply the first to go to college in their families.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Jim Snyder
posted 3/03/09 @ 2:45 PM PST
How pathetic. Another left wing Obama type trying to try to subvert the college admissions process to practice discrimination, under the cover of "diversity," which would have properly been ruled illegal if not for five liberals on the Supreme Court. (Continued…)
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