Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!shadooby!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!pikes!udenva!isis!csm9a!fhadsell
From: fhadsell@csm9a.UUCP ( GP)
Newsgroups: comp.edu
Subject: Re: University entrance regulation
Summary: GRE, Global Campus
Keywords: What kind of regulation does your university have?
Message-ID: <2061@csm9a.UUCP>
Date: 25 Dec 89 14:36:44 GMT
References: <1432@krafla.rhi.hi.is> <10@tygra.UUCP> <1797@l.cc.purdue.edu>
Organization: Colorado School of Mines
Lines: 71

In article <1797@l.cc.purdue.edu>, cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
> In article <10@tygra.UUCP> jpp@tygra.UUCP (John Palmer) writes:
> >
> >   ....... 
> >The ad-hoc admission standards should be eliminated for the good of everyone.
> >Even when there are standards in place, there must be some overseer to make
> >sure that people can't circumvent them.
> 
> Having much experience in the matter, I disagree completely.  Purdue does not
> usually admit students without high school diplomas, but only good students
> in that category.  The problem is with students who have a high school 
> diploma which states that the student has had certain courses with certain
> grades; even this is not trustworthy, and the course contents may be almost
> non-existent.  Meaningful standards do not mean grades and credentials.
> 
> >I have personal knowledge that this occurs at Wayne State - particularily
> >in the Computer Science Department. The university bulletin states that a
> >student must have at least a 3.0 G.P.A. to be admitted to the Master's 
> >Program, but I know that there are many students (especially foreign
> >students) who have GPA's under 3.0, some of them with 1.5's and 1.6's.
> >    .........
> 
> I know much more about admissions to graduate programs, and I assure you that
> foreign students are scrutinized much more carefully than American students.
> Are you sure that you understand a foreign transcript?  Do you know what the
>     .......
> -- 
> Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907
> Phone: (317)494-6054
> hrubin@l.cc.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet, UUCP)

At Colorado School of Mines the big debate concerning admission of grad-
uate students has, for the last 30 years, been the Graduate Admission
Examination.  The majority opinion seems to be that the GRE is useful,
but not essential, for US candidates; however, it is essential for
foreign applicants.

Hard-and-fast admission requirements always seem to come back to haunt us.
Some of our best students, and admitedly some of our worst, have been those
who we wouldn't normally admit, but who had something special in their
portfolio that we thought we needed.

Academe in general and US Academe in particular is changing drastically,
probably for the better.  At CSM, and other schools that have dedicated a
major portion of their effort to mineral resources, we probably see the
change first because the change in the national economy is most directly
related to what are students are to do.  CSM, for example, must change
to survive, and it is constrained because it is a state school  Thus it
should not attempt to move directly into areas traditionally covered by
CU and CSU (football for example).

The only salvation for CSM that I see is the foreign graduate student.
We must recognize that we can no longer export oil, and much less coal,
but we can export knowledge to those who have an abundance of oil, coal,
and other minerals.  This is happening to CSM today, it will happen to
your school tomorrow, unless you recognize how the tide is flowing.

Keep your admission standards flexible to accommodate students who view
the World much differently than you.  With this flexibility maintain
high standards.  This is not easy and requires a lot of work from
departmental admission committees.  With a flexible admissions procedure
you must be prepared to make mistakes and under those circumstances you
must withhold degrees, without destroying the individual.  This requires
meaningful grades from the short-quiz to the Ph.D. comprehensive.  This
is no minor challenge when you are trying to find research monies
essential to graduate scholarships.

-- 
 INTERNET:: fhadsell@csm9a.colorado.edu  BITNET:: fhadsell@mines
 Frank Hadsell, Prof. of Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines,
 Golden, Colorado   80401     (303) 273-3456