Statement of a Trial for Provisional Admissions/Qualified Admissions

The Provost's Office has recently expressed concern over the low number of admissions through the University Admissions and Exceptions Committee (UAEC). In response to these concerns the University Admissions and Exceptions Committee will conduct a trial of Provisional Admissions, the criteria for which is outlined here:

Provisional Admissions
All students admitted as Provisional or Qualified Admissions in this trial, will only be admitted for complete semesters, will be limited to no more than 14 credit hours, one class of which must be WSU 101 OR LASI 101, meet with an advisor to address coursework deficiencies and to determine whether a full or modified Success Plan is appropriate to promote student success, and they must maintain a 2.0 GPA. Based on past precedent from applications approved in 2015, and the provisional admissions criteria accepted in fall of 2014, we propose the following criteria:

1. Applicant is a high school senior who meets ACT College Readiness Benchmarks and is missing no more than two units of required coursework (regardless of ACT composite score, GPA or class standing).
OR
2. Applicant is a high school senior with an ACT composite score of 24 or above, or SAT equivalent, and is missing no more than two units of required coursework (regardless of ACT College Readiness Benchmarks, GPA or class standing).
OR
3. Applicant is a high school senior with an ACT of 18 or above, or SAT equivalent and a GPA over 3.0 in pre-college curricula, and missing no more than one unit of required coursework (regardless of class standing).
OR
4. Applicant is a high school senior with an ACT composite score of 21 or above, or SAT equivalent, missing no coursework and with a transfer credit over 1.5 (regardless of class standing).

OR
5. Applicant is a high school senior in the 65th percentile of his or her class and is missing no more than two units of required coursework (regardless of test scores or GPA).
OR
6. Applicant is a high school senior National Merit Finalist, a National Achievement Scholar Semi-Finalist, or has an ACT or SAT score in the top 5% nationally (regardless of GPA, class standing, or coursework).

These criteria will not be considered for further expansion until such time as there be established a student retention program specifically focused on under-prepared and at-risk students, employing faculty specializing in such instruction and covering basic study skills, reading comprehension, English composition, and skills in mathematics.


Trial Review
This trial of provisional admissions will be reviewed and assessed by the University Admissions and Exceptions Committee, by reports complied after the completion of the 2nd semester, that is beginning in January of 2017 and continuing for each semester thereafter. The Committee will review these reports and make recommendations to the Faculty Senate. Success is determined by continued enrollment and GPA. If the student success of those students admitted on a provisional basis, that is through the criteria previously outlined, is found to be unsatisfactory, the trial will cease and ALL pending and future exceptions applications for admission and qualified admission will revert to being reviewed by the University Admissions and Exceptions Committee.


Suggestions for immediate petition application for an admission by exception
Though it is beyond the purview of this Committee, we do recommend that the application for admission be combined with an application for admission by exception. That is, make them both available at the same time. More specifically, the standard application is provided, followed by a declaration of the admissions standards. Then a statement along the lines of: 鈥淚f you feel that you do not fulfill these requirements, please鈥︹ follow these instructions, (with fields to type in, copy, or attach documents electronically). By including the opportunity to submit information for both processes all at the same time, we believe that this will avoid the discomfort of denial and speed up the process of consideration for admission by exception. And when an exception justification letter and applicable information is received by the Office of Admissions, they would rightly forward this on to the appropriate college, thus avoiding a secondary set of processing.

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11/2/15, Rachel Crane
Amended 11/18/15, RC