Magnet schools have been a main tool or innovation in urban education settings in the United States, originating in the early 1970's and expanding into most large urban districts today (Blank, 1989). While some magnet schools do not rely on a specific criterion to determine entry, many do. This study focuses on such a setting where students must…

Recent studies have revealed how large shares of college-ready students "undermatch", or enroll in colleges with less competitive admissions processes than they are eligible to attend. Undermatch sits at the nexus of both college access and completion agendas, as undermatching to a less selective institution results in a decreased…

Secondary education in Fiji ends with the Form 7 examination. Predictive validity for academic success of Form 7 scores which form the basis for admission into the Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery programme of the Fiji School of Medicine was examined via a cohort of 129 students. Success rates for year 1 in 2008, 2009, and 2010 were 90.7…

The choice of tools with which to select medical students is complex and controversial. This study aimed to identify the extent to which scores on each of three admission tools (Admission GPA, UMAT and structured interview) predicted the outcomes of the first major clinical year (Y4) of a 6 year medical programme. Data from three student cohorts…

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…

The current study examined the validity of the selection process used for the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) to identify scholarship winners. Namely, this study examined whether students who advanced to higher NMSP recognition levels (Commended Students, Semifinalists, and various levels of award winners) had higher college performance,…

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.…

The available objective evidence suggests that the accuracy of predicting which students will succeed in a particular graduate school is often no better than modest, especially if such predictions are based only upon a test or a grade record. Taken together these two types of predictors do a reasonably good job, considering the restricted range of…

This study provides initial evidence for the criterion-related validity of tacit knowledge (TK) as an alternative measure for selecting psychology graduate students and adds insight to the construct of TK by evaluating its factor structure, assessing convergent relationships with other variables, and exploring alternative reasons for why TK…

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…

A review of current procedures for selecting students for graduate programs in psychology reveals a number of problems due to predictor, criterion, and methodological variables. The idea is advanced that with the multiplicity of procedures used, plus the number of students applying to graduate programs in psychology, the effort on the part of…

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)

Little information exists as to the efficacy of using the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as a predictor of success for nontraditional students' graduate studies. Since many students in doctoral education programs are nontraditional matriculants, an investigation of the relationship between GRE scores and student success in one such program is…