Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Keywords

University of Northern Iowa--Students; University of Northern Iowa--Entrance requirements; University of Northern Iowa; Entrance requirements (Education); Students;

Abstract

This study was undertaken to compare the level of academic success of two groups of students as they were affected by admission policies and practices at the University of Northern Iowa. Students in both groups ranked in the lower half of their respective graduating classes. Students in Group I were denied admission, and students in Group II were admitted to the fall semester 1964.

High school counselors and college registrars at 232 schools were asked to provide transcripts of records and/or completed reporting forms for each of the 185 students in Group 1 who had previously attended their institutions. This information along with the information for the 61 students in Group II, compiled from materials on file in the University of Northern Iowa Registrar's Office, served as the basic data for this study.

Although there has been considerable variance in the rigidity in which they were applied, admission policies at the University of Northern Iowa have always reflected some degree of selectivity.

A combination of rank in the high school graduating class and scores earned on the ACT and/or the ITED was superior to either test scores or rank in class as a predictor of performance in college for both groups of students.

Of the 185 students in Group I, 25 per cent did not enter another educational institution of any type, 6 per cent entered a technical or trade school, 18 per cent entered a two year college, and 51 per cent entered a four-year college. Twenty-eight per cent of the 130 students who entered a two- or four-year college earned a bachelor's degree within seven years, and an additional 21 per cent were still enrolled in the spring of 1971 or had withdrawn with grade-point indexes of 2.00 or above. Thirty-three per cent of the 94 students who first entered a four-year college, and 21 per cent of the 34 students who first entered a two-year college earned a bachelor's degree.

Of the 61 students in Group II, 20 per cent were graduated and an additional 11 per cent were still enrolled in the spring of 1971 or had withdrawn with grade-point indexes of at least 2.00.

Students with marginal records appeared to improve their chances of earning degrees and/or higher grade-point indexes by attending collegiate institutions other than the University of Northern Iowa.

Students deciding to abandon their plans for collegiate programs, upon receipt of notices denying them admission, were as qualified academically as their peers who entered other collegiate institutions.

The counselor's appraisal appeared to have predictive value only when the counselor felt strongly enough about his opinion to submit a negative appraisal.

A greater percentage of students in both groups switched from an academic major to a skill major than vice versa.

Students with marginal records were successful often enough, and the loss of potential for those who abandoned college plans entirely was great enough, to support a policy of less rigidity in admission.

Year of Submission

1972

Degree Name

Specialist in Education

Department

Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary Education

Department

Department of School Administration and Personnel Services

First Advisor

Jack Kimball

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

1972

Object Description

1 PDF file (116 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Download

Comments?

Share

COinS