Another Modest Proposal: G.P.A. University

<p>The UC's use either wholistic review (UCB and UCLA) or a comprehensive review for admissions. Both wholistic and comprehensive review take many more factors into consideration than just straight GPA. ELC involves just the top 4% of students and is based on more than just simple GPA. The only guarantee for ELC students is that they will be accepted into the UC system. For many students that means acceptance into UC Merced or UC Riverside.</p>

<p>Tokenadult, I was thinking that a variation on your scheme that might deal with the problems of different weighting schemes would be Top Ten University. At this school, only students in the top ten at high schools that rank would be eligible to apply. You would first admit valedictorians, and then if space was left sals, etc. To distinguish among people at the same level, you would go by class size--the student from the larger class would get precedence. If a school has six valedictorians, they would all be considered as No. 6 in the class.</p>

<p>Hi, Hunt, I'm glad you're grappling with the issue that G.P.A. University will surely face--there are a lot of students with straight-A grade averages, however defined. They have to be distinguished somehow if the university has a finite number of spots in its entering class.</p>

<p>is this sarcasm.</p>

<p>
[quote]
...UT had to admit about 85% of next year's class under the 10%
...
In California, if you are in the top 4% of your HS class, you will be admitted to one of the UC's. UC Merced is new and not highly competitive. My understanding is that the top 4 percent kids from poor rural schools or poor inner city schools end up told they have been accepted to Merced.

[/quote]

What'll UT do when the top 10% choosing to go to a UT of their choice exceeds the capacity - i.e. it hiits 100%?</p>

<p>In California the top 4% (it's called 'eligibility in the local context' - ELC) are guaranteed admission into one of the UCs but they don't get their choice of which one.The UCs are actually competetive within themselves due to the popularity of the campuses and number of strong applicants versus slots. It's not UC Merced though that's the only one accepting any of the ELC students. I know that within the last couple of years at least UCSB, UCR and possibly UCD and UCSC accepted anyone with ELC. UCB, UCLA, UCSD however, didn't although ELC is still a desirable metric.</p>

<p>To the OP's topic, I don't like the idea of GPAU due to the variance in GPAs due to basketweaving versus Calculus, etc. It would tend to steer students to mediocrity. I think the only similar viable institution would be SATU whereby the metric is the same for everyone. </p>

<p>Speaking of mediocrity, do med schools and law schools basically achieve the same result due to their over-emphasis on GPA - similar to the OP's proposal? It's no coincidence that many 'premed' student engineer their GPA by taking the easiest courses within a particular series (generalizing here). Maybe this should be another thread.</p>

<p>"is this sarcasm?"</p>

<p>More like satire. Click on the link in #11 for the classic example.</p>

<p>ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad you left out UCI (I believe they give admission to all ELC students). It is my understanding that UCD does not automatically admit, but they do give a substantial number of points in their review for ELC.</p>

<p>collegemom:</p>

<p>Yeah - I left out UCI but not on purpose. I think the schools that admit all ELC applicants varies from year to year and some of those that might have traditionally accepted all ELCs might sometimes not due to increased competition at some of the campuses. I was just saying that it's not all UCM and that even though the most competetive UCs don't admit all ELC applicants they say they do give them consideration because of the ELC. This seems fair to me.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Hi, Hunt, I'm glad you're grappling with the issue that G.P.A. University will surely face--there are a lot of students with straight-A grade averages, however defined. They have to be distinguished somehow if the university has a finite number of spots in its entering class.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Middle school GPA and elementary school GPA will be used for tie-breaker. Some elementary schools may not calculate GPA for students. In this case, students can provide elementary school attendance records to convert into equivalent elementary GPA. Also, GPA for students in schools that have higher number of school days per year will have higher weight. The university certainly prefers year-round schools over traditional schools that have 2 or 3 month summer break. Please note that the University will not accept home schoolers.</p>

<p>Why don't we start by standardizing high school curricula? Then within a few years most universities could be a branch of GPA University!</p>

<p>


</p>

<p>Speculation is that they will admit kids for spring semester. The law is that UT must admit all top 10% students, but it doesn't specifically say they must admit all to 10% students in the fall.</p>

<p>We like standardized tests in our house. They give our kids a chance.</p>

<p>tokenadult, should we go over to Search and Selection and start a "SSU vs. GPAU?" thread? I think SSU is obviously superior...for example, we welcome homeschoolers.</p>

<p>btw, medical schools have specific course requirements, unlike gpau, so they could get away with the sole criteria, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to be a physician-md here.</p>

<p>Hunt, homeschoolers have a GPA too. Probably a really, really high GPA, like all 10's.</p>

<p>Hunt since GPA is not important at SSU, nor should the hs a student attended, or whether a student was homeschooled. That info should not even appear on the application since it is irrelevant and could unfairly influence admission decisions...</p>

<p>There are many students for whom GPA and stats are equally as important and will probably be accepted to both GPA U and SSU.</p>

<p>Hunt and Tokenadult: have you considered collocating the two institutions and perhaps allowing cross-matriculation? On the other, if one things in terms of future TV ratings, the natural rivalry that will develop between these institutions may better served if they are in different states. I am thinking a Ohio State-Michigan kind of rivalry instead of UCLA-USC.</p>

<p>I know sports will not be important at either university but don't forget even Caltech managed to get a segment on Sports Center.</p>

<p>mathletes...</p>

<p>Midwestmom:</p>

<p>Since UT is getting close to their capacity regarding the 10% rule, are they planning to open additional campuses or significantly expand existing ones?</p>

<p>No. There are a lot of other UT Campuses that are nice and not overrun by top 10 percenters. Dallas and Arlington, for example. But Texas high school seniors mostly want to go to the flagship in Austin. It's a great school in a great town.</p>