Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech?s rival university made an impacting announcement last week. The University of Virginia stated that it would follow a new admissions policy, which allows all qualified students from the state?s community colleges to have guaranteed entrance into to the College of Arts and Sciences.

The College of Arts and Sciences at UVa exists as the university?s largest school. This plan is supposed to give a wider variety of students the opportunity to attend UVa.

However, when students come from one of the 23 community colleges that are included in this policy, they must fulfill certain requirements.

According to the The Chronicle of Higher Education, a student must have earned an associate degree from a Virginia community college within two years of applying to the university. The student must have also had at least a cumulative grade-point average of a 3.4. They must have also earned at least a C in every course with the exception of introductory English courses with a B. Along with this comes the fulfillment of certain area requirements for the college.

When first hearing this news, many may be shocked that a school that prides itself in higher standards would guarantee admission to these students. However, this idea allows for many other opportunities as well.

This can be seen as a recruiting strategy to allow more students from diverse backgrounds to attend UVa. For example, those students who may have not done so well in high school or were not ready for college right after graduation due to financial issues or other factors, now have the chance to attend a well-recognized university in the state of Virginia.

Tech already provides admissions to a large number of transfer students each semester. While Virginia Tech does not guarantee admission, opportunities are still there for someone who has worked hard in a community college or other university to gain admissions to Tech.

The reasons for choosing this method for only the College of Arts and Sciences could be that, as with many liberal art colleges at different universities, there are many majors to pick from and courses to take.

Other programs like engineering or business follow stricter curriculums, that set out which courses a student must take each semester in a four-year program.

By choosing to do this with the liberal arts school at UVa, more transfer credits can be accepted and students can still graduate on time. Community college students also may have a better idea of what they want to do with their careers as they enter the university having already been in programs two years before they apply.

Each state, such as Virginia and Florida who have a large amount of public universities, must hold a place for each high school graduate every year. Virginia is fortunate to have so many nationally recognized universities and this program enables more students to have the motivation, even after high school, to attend one of them.

Some may see this as a downfall and think that it could lead to accepting unqualified students, however, the program may end up being a great way to attract motivated and mature students who have proven they are willing to work for an education.