The E.J. Ourso College of Business will open admissions to freshmen next fall.
The Faculty Senate Admissions, Standards and Honors Committee passed the freshmen admissions proposal this fall, and the Faculty Senate Courses and Curricula Committee approved added curricula, including BLAW 1000, an introductory course into the business college for freshmen.
The business college will join the agricultural and music colleges as the only colleges to offer freshmen admission, according to the 2005 University course catalog.
The admissions change has been anticipated for years, said Andrea Houston, associate dean for academic programs.
“I found files from the ’90s indicating that the college wanted to do this,” Houston said.
Most students apply for admission into the business college at the end of their freshmen and sophomore years.
Robert Sumichrast, dean of the college, said he thinks the current admissions process is not fair to upperclassmen who are taking business classes, but are not in the business college.
Only students in the business college can graduate with a business degree.
There are about 1,700 undergraduate students in the business college, Houston said. The college will increase in size when admissions open to freshmen, but Houston said freshmen and upperclassmen will not compete for spots in the college.
Sumichrast said the business college will be able to give students a better education by encouraging them to enter the college as freshmen. He also said giving freshmen an entry-level course about business culture and including guest speakers from various business disciplines will direct freshmen toward their specific major in the college.
“At the same time, I recognize some students won’t know what they want to do,” Sumichrast said.
Houston said admitting freshmen into the college will increase students’ chances for scholarships.
“Donors are more willing to give four-year scholarships if students are admitted as freshmen,” Houston said.
Houston said she studied a group of 670 incoming freshmen this past year to create a formula the college admissions council could follow when admitting freshmen.
The formula considers many factors, such as the number of students who transferred to other colleges, the number of students who were accepted into the business
college and how spring testers fared during their first year.
Houston said the formula depends on high school GPAs and standardized test scores, which bases admissions only on grade performance rather than motivation.
Houston called next fall’s admissions approach the “fairest” and “most flexible” option, and she said she thinks the motivated students who are not admitted their freshmen year will be accepted into the college as upperclassmen.
Houston said the initial freshman class will have 150 students, but future classes will be larger.
“We want to start small and make sure we get things correct,” Houston said.
Contact Leslie Ziober at [email protected]