September 29, 2011
Impetus for the
proposal. The
percentage of jobs requiring postsecondary education continues to rise and is
expected to reach 63% by 2018. Only 36% of Wyoming residents hold an associates
degree or higher, and Wyoming's population is projected to continue to lag the
nation in proportion of adults with postsecondary education. We must change
this trend.
Wyoming faces two challenges in preparing its young people
for an increasingly knowledge-based economy. First, more K-12 students need to
prepare for and enter college. Second, students who enter Wyoming's colleges
and university need to persist and graduate.
The University of Wyoming is committed to improving college
readiness and completion in our state. Our current initiative is focused on
UW's admission standards. Our purpose is to:
-
Set
admission standards that ensure student readiness, and that effectively
communicate to Wyoming families the courses that their students should take to
succeed in college; and
-
Provide
"admission with support" for those students whose high school transcripts, GPA
and ACT scores suggest that they may require additional support to succeed in
college.
Current
UW admission standards.
At present UW has two categories of admission:
-
Assured
admission. Minimum
4 years of English, 3 years of Math, Science, and Social Studies, and a high
school GPA of 3.0 (or 2.75 with ACT of 20) for non-residents or 2.75 for
Wyoming residents.
-
Conditional
admission.
Minimum high school GPA of 2.25 and ACT score of 20; high school curriculum can
vary.
Proposed UW
admission standards (starting
fall 2013):
-
Assured
admission.
Minimum 4 years of English, Math and Science, 3 years of Social Studies, 2
years of the same foreign language, high school GPA of 3.0, and ACT score of 21.
-
Admission
with support.
Minimum high school GPA of 2.25 and ACT score of 20; high school curriculum can
vary. Students admitted with support will participate in our Synergy program or
other academic transition programs.
All students who
would be admitted under the current standards will continue to be admitted
under the proposed standards. The change is that UW will identify those students who
will benefit from additional support and provide it to them. This should
improve our retention and graduation rates. We also anticipate that our new admission
standards will guide Wyoming K-12 students to prepare themselves better in high
school so that they succeed in college, whether at UW, a community college, or
elsewhere.
Background and data that led to the definition of proposed
admission standards is available at:
https://www.uwyo.edu/acadaffairs/resources/index.html
under "College readiness and completion."
