UL Raises Standards

[NewsCopy]

  In an attempt to get what university officials are calling a higher quality of students, UL is making it a little tougher for students to get accepted.

The university will be implementing the new changes for students applying to become Cajuns for the 2011 school year both new and transfer students.

The new standards for gaining acceptance include at least a 2.6 GPA and an ACT score of 24.

The rest of the story

[CajunRed]

_ _

Half the current student body would not have gotten in.

[ulforlife]

I think this is a great move, UL is never going to be a school of 20,000+ and it's about time they begin to match the requirements to the level of education

[Bankruptcyman]

Unless he is 6'4" 250 lbs and can run a 4.3 forty.

[CajunRed]

_ I think this is a great move, UL is never going to be a school of 20,000+ and it's about time they begin to match the requirements to the level of education _

But if half of the current students don't get in... how do we manage as a university with maybe 9,000 paying students? That means student for EVERYTHING, including athletics, will come from only 9,000 instead of 17,000.

[keithj]

Academics should be priority one. Sad state when we would rather see a a man running around in tight pants catching balls on Sunday with a Cajun past, than a man in a space suit walking on the moon broadcasted all over the world with a Cajun past.

(hypothetical situation of course)

I'm all for raising the bar. As far as public universities go, we are what? Number 3? Behind LSU and La Tech, I think. Let's get our standards up to compete on a higher level of education.

[Turbine]

_ Academics should be priority one. . . . Let's get our standards up to compete on a higher level of education. _

What number of qualified students who have ever graduated from UL entered with less than a GPA of 2.6 and an ACT of less than 24?

Why deny those students a chance?

You can compare schools without raising fake standards: The standard should be on the back end and it wouldn't be hard to implement. You take a simple spread sheet and figure out how your students who entered with a GPA of 2.6 and an ACT of 24 did. As I said, it's not hard. Then compare and see how they did vs college' students of other schools who entered at the same respective level.

In reality you should only raise standards when you have 5,000 qualified students vying for 1000 openings and only then if you think you can't grow the school.

[CajunRed]

_ What number of qualified students who have ever graduated from UL entered with less than a GPA of 2.6 and an ACT of less than 24?

Why deny those students a chance?

You can compare schools without raising fake standards: The standard should be on the back end and it wouldn't be hard to implement. You take a simple spread sheet and figure out how your students who entered with a GPA of 2.6 and an ACT of 24 did. As I said, it's not hard. Then compare and see how they did vs college' students of other schools who entered at the same respective level.

In reality you should only raise standards when you have 5,000 qualified students vying for 1000 openings and only then if you think you can't grow the school. _

I agree... which was really my point for the earlier post. I guess the "powers that be" know the reason for raising the standards for admissions... but I don't follow so far.

[ragin91cajun]

_ I agree... which was really my point for the earlier post. I guess the "powers that be" know the reason for raising the standards for admissions... but I don't follow so far. _

I'm just curious. How do you know that raising the ACT score by 1 point would keep half our student body from getting in to UL?

[CAJUN_LXA685]

Not a whole lot information in the story when you click the link, but I think there is a combination of things that can happen.

if you have a 3.5 and a 22 or 23 on the ACT, I'm sure you can get in.

I think the effort is to get better well rounded students.

You could be a slacker in high school and have a lower GPA but score well on a standardized test, or get great grades but do lower on the standardized test.

I could be wrong but I thought most universities had ways of evaluating a students GPA vs. Test scores to determine if they will be accepted or not.

[billbeck451]

I beleive the admission standards are changing because the test has been changed. When I took the ACT if you scored 24+ it was a pretty good score. Now I see neices and nephews who are total lumps that can barely write a sentance score over 20. The ACT has been dummied down over the years and apparenty it now takes a mid 20 score to be true college freshman material. Implement the 2 year junior college system and then the students that need the additional help can start at a junior college get the basics out of the way and prove that they have the drive and ambition to finish school, then let them move up. We have to face it not all are ready to attend a 4 year college right out of high school and junior college is an excellent alternative for them to "get their feet wet" and prove that they are ready, and the one's that are will move on to 4 year colleges and the ones that wash out of junior college will go on to other types of jobs but they will not be wasting the time of professors and other students clogging up the 4 year system

[Cajun90]

I beleive the admission standards are changing because the test has been changed. When I took the ACT if you scored 24+ it was a pretty good score. Now I see neices and nephews who are total lumps that can barely write a sentance score over 20. The ACT has been dummied down over the years and apparenty it now takes a mid 20 score to be true college freshman material. Implement the 2 year junior college system and then the students that need the additional help can start at a junior college get the basics out of the way and prove that they have the drive and ambition to finish school, then let them move up. We have to face it not all are ready to attend a 4 year college right out of high school and junior college is an excellent alternative for them to "get their feet wet" and prove that they are ready, and the one's that are will move on to 4 year colleges and the ones that wash out of junior college will go on to other types of jobs but they will not be wasting the time of professors and other students clogging up the 4 year system

You are right. The ACT scoring system did change. I can't find it right now but under certain circumstances it was two to three points different. The biggest reason (IMHO) for the change is to get rid of the remedial work. Historically the University has used a large part of their resources in remedial classes for freshmen who simple are not ready.