Hopefully we'll get away from using race, ethnicity, and other such factors in college admissions, and go to a straight merit-based system. Test scores, GPA, and rigor of courses taken are all good starting points. I also agree completely with the commenter who said there should be career testing done for college admissions.
G-man - 14 years ago
As long as the highschools give extra weight to honors/AP courses, then class rank makes sense to me. This should shave the cream from the top. The evaluation criteria should be objective, clear, and easy to enforce to cover most students. Otherwise, public universities will waste time and money defending their entrance policies in courts.
Mars Bonfire - 14 years ago
This poll proves that the majority of people who completed this poll don't get it. A student who takes rigorous (hint: challenging, difficult) AP courses and diploma plans (for example, distinguished vs regular) and makes a 90 is better prepared for college than a student who takes the regular path and no AP courses and makes a 94. This is why UT lobbied (yes, LOBBIED) the legislature and got the "top 10 %" rule changed, in its case, to only having to automatically admit the top 8 %.
God save us, we are dumb!
Miriam Moorman - 14 years ago
I think an actual focus on the part of the student should be the most important and I don't think most colleges and universities (who exist to make money first and they do some by offering classes) worry too much about that. Students ought to be required to interview or at least submit a paper on an actual education and career plan to gain acceptance because without that, they are simply taking a really expensive avoidence path of real world responsibility for an extra 2-4 years. There are too many students either changing majors several times or completely without a major and without that focus, the student's time and money (or that of his/her parents') are being wasted. There is a stigma associated with failing to go straight from high school to college when taking a break and testing some career interests BEFORE seeking advanced education might actually be the best thing for many of our students.
Hopefully we'll get away from using race, ethnicity, and other such factors in college admissions, and go to a straight merit-based system. Test scores, GPA, and rigor of courses taken are all good starting points. I also agree completely with the commenter who said there should be career testing done for college admissions.
As long as the highschools give extra weight to honors/AP courses, then class rank makes sense to me. This should shave the cream from the top. The evaluation criteria should be objective, clear, and easy to enforce to cover most students. Otherwise, public universities will waste time and money defending their entrance policies in courts.
This poll proves that the majority of people who completed this poll don't get it. A student who takes rigorous (hint: challenging, difficult) AP courses and diploma plans (for example, distinguished vs regular) and makes a 90 is better prepared for college than a student who takes the regular path and no AP courses and makes a 94. This is why UT lobbied (yes, LOBBIED) the legislature and got the "top 10 %" rule changed, in its case, to only having to automatically admit the top 8 %.
God save us, we are dumb!
I think an actual focus on the part of the student should be the most important and I don't think most colleges and universities (who exist to make money first and they do some by offering classes) worry too much about that. Students ought to be required to interview or at least submit a paper on an actual education and career plan to gain acceptance because without that, they are simply taking a really expensive avoidence path of real world responsibility for an extra 2-4 years. There are too many students either changing majors several times or completely without a major and without that focus, the student's time and money (or that of his/her parents') are being wasted. There is a stigma associated with failing to go straight from high school to college when taking a break and testing some career interests BEFORE seeking advanced education might actually be the best thing for many of our students.