The Academic Plan set into motion by former Ohio State president William “Brit” Kirwan calls for making admission to OSU selective throughout the year for new freshmen and transfer students.

The proposal is expected to be presented to the Board of Trustees for final approval this fall, said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and First Year Experience.

If the proposal is passed, OSU will no longer have open enrollment for transfer students or for freshmen spring quarter, as is the case now. Fall, winter and summer quarters already have selective admissions for incoming freshmen.

Admission into OSU’s regional campuses will remain open all quarters, Freeman said.

Under selective admission a student is admitted based on SAT or ACT scores, class rank and high school rank along with several other criteria.

Elsewhere, selective admission has had a negative impact on minority enrollment.

Since the passage of a ballot measure in California that banned Affirmative Action, the University of California has had to rely more on SAT scores for admission requirements, according to a July report by the Chronicle of Higher Education. “Since then the state’s public universities have had a hard time keeping an SAT requirement and maintaining the racial and ethnic diversity they want,” according to the report.

“Admission based solely on GPA and SAT-I scores substantially reduced minority representation at the University of California,” said Daniel Koretz in “Testing and Diversity in Post-secondary Education: The Case of California,” published in January.

OSU is concerned about maintaining minority enrollment, Freeman said.

“We never use just test scores and (grade point average) for admissions, Freeman said. “We look at 11 different criteria. First, OSU considers whether the student pursued a college preparatory program in high school and how successful the student was in the college prep program. Second, OSU looks at the student’s class rank and the rank of the high school the student attended. Third, OSU looks at SAT and ACT scores,” she said.

“We also consider the student’s cultural background, social economic background and leadership activities,” Freeman said.

“First, OSU looks at the first three criteria. If a student does not meet the standard for those criteria, OSU looks to see if the student might have done better if they had been given the advantages of a different school system,” she said.

In high school, not every student has the same opportunities, Freeman said. “A lot of suburban students take SAT and ACT preparation classes. Other students can’t afford the classes.”

The university gets more than 20,000 applications but only has space for about 5,800 students.

“Because of increasing interest in Ohio State the number of applications has increased,” said Jim Mager, associate vice president for the Office of Enrollment Services. “We had to do something to manage enrollment. However, the issue of educational opportunities to minority and low-income students is a very important issue and one OSU is very concerned about.”

Mager said, “African American enrollment has increased significantly from 8.5 percent (of the student population) in 1995 to 9.9 percent last year.”

During the same time period, Hispanic enrollment increased from 1.9 percent of the student population to 2.8 percent.

“We continue to try to recruit minority students through our outreach programs,” Mager said.

Selective enrollment began in 1987 under Edward Jennings’ presidency.

“We had to decide should this university be a national research and academic university or should it be an everyman’s university,” said Jennings, interim president. “In the 1980s OSU was an everyman’s university but we can’t be big enough to continue that, Jennings said. “We’d have 100,000 students or more.

“In 1900 to get a college education in Ohio you had to come to Ohio State,” Jennings said. “It’s not like that anymore. Now a person can get a very fine college education at a Bowling Green or Ohio University.

“I would be the first one to be opposed to the entire Ohio college system being elite, but today we need an academically elite institution in Ohio. Economics require it. We have to prepare people for a changing economy, a high tech economy, a service economy.” Jennings said.

Mager said, “students not admitted to the Columbus campus can still attend one of OSU’s regional campuses or attend a community college.”

Freeman wants students to be successful through their college experience.

“The ultimate goal is for students to graduate and be successful,” Freeman said.

“We are trying to make our best decision as to who will be successful and contribute to the university,” Freeman said. “It’s not a perfect system but we try to be fair. OSU is committed to Affirmative Action and diversity because we believe everyone at OSU benefits from being around those not like ourselves.”