Dumbing Down the UW System

The University System is de-emphasizing academic prowess and achievement for its admission standards.

Until now, all campuses with the exception of UW-Madison have used set academic requirements such as grade point averages and test scores to make the majority of admissions decisions. The change means no student will be guaranteed admission to the system no matter how good his or her grade point average, test scores or class rank - although these measures will continue to carry the most weight. "There will be no automatic admission, even for top students," said Larry Rubin, the system's assistant vice president for academic and student services.

The holistic review of first-year applicants, to be implemented in 2007, is already being employed at UW-Madison and other selective universities across the country.

There is a growing belief in the admissions world that GPAs, test scores and class rank are an imprecise measure of a student's likely success. A student who enrolled in rigorous classes in high school, for example, may have a lower GPA than a student who took easier coursework.

But it's not just a matter of fairness. A comprehensive review of applicants is required if colleges and universities want to consider race in their admissions.

This will increase the cost of education for all UW System students as more remedial education courses will need to be offered to meet the demand.

Kevin nails it.

Smart, Rich, White Kids Need Not Apply
Where do all the deserving kids who worked their asses off in high school, got good grades, had the extra-curricular activities, prepared themselves for college get to go to complain? I'd say former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, but blaming her would be too easy.

The Regents are only using Michigan as an excuse to do this. Sadly, Diversity is being used nationwide in Academia as a cover-all to focus more on a campus that ‘looks like America’ not ‘thinks like America’ or even ‘respects America.’

Rick argues this is nothing new for the UW.

UW was apparently dropping out minorities and considering them separately where necessary. That's too transparent. They need to be opaque. That's what this is about. I am fairly sure that UW has been trying to get the "best" minority numbers that it could all along and that it will continue to do so. I am not sure you're going to see much change in who gets in and who does not.

Owen's take:

It is outrageous that our university system is going to systematically discriminate against kids for things that are completely outside of their control. And for what? So liberal white guilt can be appeased and university officials can feel good about themselves at night when they go to bed in their ivory towers.