First-year students are still failing at an alarming rate. This is an international issue that universities face and there is currently no clear indication of the cause of the problem as universities move from being elite to providing mass education. This article examines the possible correlation between students' high school performance and…

With respect to the selection of black students for college admission, traditional criteria, such as SAT scores and high school grade point average, have been shown not to be valid predictors of future college performance. Therefore, their continued use raises the question of whether this is a measurement problem or an instance of racism. (EH)

At Texas Southern University's School of Pharmacy, criteria were established for evaluating applicants and determining a relative weighting scheme. Objectivity and reliability of decisions were increased. Criteria included college GPA, GPA for science courses, race, Texas residency, letters of recommendation, PCAT scores, and ACT or SAT scores.…

Admission processes at community colleges typically use open door or "first-come, first-served" practices. This type of policy allows all applicants, regardless of prior experience or educational background, to have the same chance of admission into programs. As the number of applications increases, it becomes necessary to investigate…

The Task Force on Undergraduate Admissions undertook in 1976 to determine: (1) what steps, if any, to take to participate the results of the California Postsecondary Education Commission study of the university's eligibility pool, which may show that the pool has grown larger than 12 1/2 percent in high school graduates; (2) what recommendations…

Higher education institutions in Australia are cautioned against placing too much emphasis in admissions on previous academic performance, whose predictive validity is questioned, and too little emphasis on other important factors relating to equity in the selection process and to educational supply and demand. (MSE)

An attempt to assess the validity of the personal interview in the selection of residents for the program in internal medicine at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, is reported. The data suggest that the residency interview may be of greater value to applicants than to selection committees. (Author/MLW)

In 1965 a parliamentary commission began a review of the whole system of competency and university admission in Sweden in order to simplify it and bring it into line with other education reforms. The research projects undertaken as a basis for making reform recommendations were published in 1970, and the findings are briefly reviewed here. The…

Studies were conducted to determine whether measures of intellectual merit that are used as criteria for admission to the University of Karachi in Pakistan have predictive validity. The predictive validity of the intermediate examination score was studied with recent graduates of the pharmacy, medicine, and engineering schools. Additional studies…

The Law School at North Carolina Central University faced the dual problem of improving student performance on the bar examination while maintaining a large percentage of black students. The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) was found to be the single best predictor of student performance on the bar examination. However, if only the students…

A study of applicants, matriculating students, and transfer students of the University of Adelaide (Australia) Faculty of Law examines applicant and student characteristics and performance in specific law school courses. Other factors such as performance in elective subjects, sex differences, withdrawal from school, and socioeducational background…

This study applied probability models in a four-year case study at a selective liberal arts college. The study found that, while admissions decisions matched institutional goals for student characteristics, discrepancies between acceptance and enrollment decisions frustrated the institution's efforts to achieve diversity and highlighted the…

Three alternative strategies for college selection, their associated cost and benefits are described in this study. These include a strict meritocratic procedure, a minority quota procedure and a disadvantaged quota procedure. The strict meritocratic procedure was operationalized in terms of predicted probability of success; the minority quota…

The validity of seven criteria utilized in conjunction with personal interviews and School and College Ability Test scores in the selection of applicants for admission to four Allied Health programs was investigated. The independent predictor variables studied were high school grade point average (GPA), the number of high school natural science…