That was the idea, or at least one of them, behind the push for more Tier 1 schools – to take some pressure off of UT and A&M by providing more places for kids in the top ten percent of their graduating classes to go.
The new standards would limit automatic admission to students graduating in the top 10 percent of their high school class — that’s required by Texas law, but UH now automatically admits those in the top 20 percent — and set higher minimum scores on the SAT and ACT admissions tests for everyone else. They must be approved by regents next week and would take effect in the fall of 2011.
Students who don’t meet the standards will be referred to UH-Downtown, an option [Provost John] Antel said would fulfill the university’s traditional mission of educating the city’s working class. UH-Downtown is open admission, meaning anyone with a high school diploma or GED can enroll.
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Students were concerned that higher standards will hurt diversity, said Kenneth Fomunung, president of the student government association.
Antel said ethnicity and race will be considered during individual admission reviews of students who don’t otherwise qualify, which helped sway Fomunung.
“Without that, I would have been very, very reserved,” he said.
That is a big concern, as it has been at UT and A&M. I think as long as UH can continue to maintain its diversity, everyone will be happy with the transition it’s about to embark on. Stace has more.
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