2008 Woodie Awards
Writing to levy more weight in Univ. admissions
JULIA SEVY
Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News
The writing portion of the SAT or ACT may become a larger component in admitting new freshmen, members of the faculty admissions committee said Friday.
The committee discussed the size of the new freshman class and a proposal to separate race and ethnicity on applications.
Years ago, the writing section from either the SAT or ACT became required for admission, Nancy McDuff, associate vice president of admissions, said.
But, she said, the University eventually wants to use the writing score as one of the major components for admission, along with high school grade point average, the critical reading score and the math score.
"We will be working with the College Board," McDuff said. "Writing is going to help predict students' success at Georgia."
The committee agreed the increased importance of the writing section score will encourage high school teachers to emphasize writing in classrooms.
McDuff said the University received 3,276 commitment deposits from incoming freshmen, which will compose about 68 percent of the class. This year 9,400 freshman applicants were offered admission, and 1,300 remain on the waiting list.
Patrick Winter, senior associate director of admissions, said the economic downturn may cause the class size to increase because more Georgians will take advantage of the HOPE scholarship and in-state tuition.
McDuff said she thinks the number of out-of-state students also will decrease.
Denise Gardner, director of the Office of Institutional Research, presented the proposal of reclassification of race and ethnicity for incoming and existing students.
The proposal includes separating ethnicity and race on application forms.
According to the proposal, the first question would ask if the person is Hispanic or Latino, then if he considers himself white, black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska native, or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.
Gardner said the system will make it easier to separate ethnicity and race and identify students of multiple races.
The committee discussed the size of the new freshman class and a proposal to separate race and ethnicity on applications.
Years ago, the writing section from either the SAT or ACT became required for admission, Nancy McDuff, associate vice president of admissions, said.
But, she said, the University eventually wants to use the writing score as one of the major components for admission, along with high school grade point average, the critical reading score and the math score.
"We will be working with the College Board," McDuff said. "Writing is going to help predict students' success at Georgia."
The committee agreed the increased importance of the writing section score will encourage high school teachers to emphasize writing in classrooms.
McDuff said the University received 3,276 commitment deposits from incoming freshmen, which will compose about 68 percent of the class. This year 9,400 freshman applicants were offered admission, and 1,300 remain on the waiting list.
Patrick Winter, senior associate director of admissions, said the economic downturn may cause the class size to increase because more Georgians will take advantage of the HOPE scholarship and in-state tuition.
McDuff said she thinks the number of out-of-state students also will decrease.
Denise Gardner, director of the Office of Institutional Research, presented the proposal of reclassification of race and ethnicity for incoming and existing students.
The proposal includes separating ethnicity and race on application forms.
According to the proposal, the first question would ask if the person is Hispanic or Latino, then if he considers himself white, black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska native, or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.
Gardner said the system will make it easier to separate ethnicity and race and identify students of multiple races.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
NM
posted 4/22/08 @ 2:14 AM EST
"McDuff said the University received 3,276 commitment deposits from incoming freshmen, which will compose about 68 percent of the class. This year 9,400 freshman applicants were offered admission, and 1,300 remain on the waiting list. (Continued…)
A reader
posted 4/22/08 @ 9:23 AM EST
They are waiting to hear from the other admits who have not yet returned their commitment deposit before they begin accepting those off the waiting list. (Continued…)
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