Is it "cruel" that schools do not have cutoff GPA's or ACT scores?

Applying to College
1

I was thinking with admissions, and lets be honest. Every school no matter what it claims has a cutoff score no matter what it likes to tell people. It doesn’t matter what background someone is from the top 10 CS schools probably aren’t going to admit someone with a 20 ACT. And even fewer a 27 ACT. Sure I understand that not having cutoffs allows them to account for people with difficult backgrounds, but I am sure there is only so far that can go.

And especially considering how many people apply to these colleges now of days I can see no reason why a school would want to receive a bunch of applications that aren’t even qualified enough to get in.

Why don’t more schools have cutoff scores?

Why aren’t more schools open with more admissions data? Especially about department-specific admissions?

2

Personally, I think there are no cut-offs so schools don’t have to justify it when they accept an athlete or a legacy whose stats are below average

3

Or other unusual situations (which are probably more likely with non-traditional student applicants).

4

“Why aren’t more schools open with more admissions data?” Do you know what a Common Data set is? Look at section C. There are no excuses.

5

McGill University in Montreal publishes minimum requirements: for Americans UW GPA and SAT/ACT scores yet they still only accept 45% of applicants. A minimum is a minimum and does not guarantee acceptance.

6

The California UC’s publish minimum UC GPA’s required to apply for in-state and OOS applicants. The Cal States also have minimum eligibility index calculations (CSU GPA and SAT or ACT scores) for in-state and OOS applicants to be considered for admission.

7

It behooves many of them not to, so they look more competitive. Keeps admissions % low.

8

If it makes you feel better, unless you have a major hook, why don’t you consider the 25%th percentile in GPA and standardized test to be that cut-off? Agree that colleges want the ability to make exceptions so don’t publish hard and fast cutoffs.

9

Uh, no. There are some schools that are automatically open to anyone, usually CCs.

10

some schools have holistic review.