None of the 3,200 new freshmen that come to UB next fall will have been admitted based on, or in spite of, the new writing section of the SAT, UB's admissions director told the Faculty Senate Wednesday.
The academic struggles of some of UB's student-athletes were also discussed at the meeting.
According to Pat Armstrong, UB's director of admissions, many schools are waiting to see how effective the writing section is before including it in the process of judging applications.
"We are not using the writing component in our academic decision for admittance," Armstrong said. "New Paltz is the only SUNY institution that is using the writing component as part of their applicant's review process. The writing component is still very new and UB is in the process of determining how the writing component will alter their applicant's standing."
The writing component is a mixture of multiple-choice questions, grammar and usage questions, and a student-written essay. Students will have approximately one hour to complete this portion of the SAT, which will now have an overall high score of 2400 instead of 1600.
The low score will remain at 200. Students will receive approximately three hours and 45 minutes to complete the whole SAT.
"The exam is definitely longer with the new writing component," Armstrong said. "I don't know how some students will be able to stay focused for such a long amount of time. But the rationale for the new SAT is to make the SAT even more consistent with curriculum and instructional practices in high school and college. Also, it is supposed to help colleges make better admissions and placement decisions by providing a third measure, writing skills."
Charles Fourtner, the faculty athletic representative, followed Armstrong's report at the meeting with his own observations on UB athletes' academic performance for the Fall 2004 semester.
According to Fourtner, the progress rate for the UB athletic department is based on two things - eligibility and retention.
"UB has to take a much more active part in student athletes' academic performance," he said. "We set the standards for recruiting, grading, admissions and academics. If our standards are slipping, we as part of UB are the ones who have to create drastic change."
Fourtner said UB has several teams that are at the lower end of academic eligibility.
"The university mission and degree programs offered are the problems," he said. "UB does not have a lot of undergraduate bachelors programs that other Division I schools have. This causes a lack of interest in bachelor programs that students study."
According to statistics on last semester, 44 percent of student-athletes had a GPA of at least 3.0. Nine percent of student-athletes were below a 2.0 GPA.
In comparison, 43 percent of all UB students had a 3.0 GPA or higher, and 14 percent had below a 2.0 GPA.
"I'm very impressed with our UB athletes, even the solid-C students," Fourtner said. "The student-athletes speak very highly for our university. The athletes' high motivation will continue to speak well for the university in the future, as well."
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