Admissions Criteria Committee FY24

Charge

The Admissions Criteria Committee has the following scope:

• Reviews admissions criteria annually and recommends changes for consideration to the VP of Enrollment Management to start the approval process with the Provost and President.
• Makes recommendations related to conditions on admissions for students who do not meet posted admissions criteria.
• Identifies and documents criteria and data used to make recommendations pertaining to admissions decisions.
• The 2023-2024 committee is charged to specifically make a formal recommendation for the permanent consideration of test-optional for new first-time in college students (FTIC). The expectation is for the committee to:
• Lead discussions with faculty, staff, administration, students, and the wider UHD community regarding test-optional.
• Conduct an analysis on the impacts of the test-optional policy for FTIC students entering the university between 2020-2023.
• Conduct research and a historical data analysis on the impact of test-optional on application numbers, admits, new enrollees, retention, and persistence. Use the historical data to predict the impact of test-optional on future FTIC classes and UHD. 
• Determine if there are other measures that UHD should use to replace standardized testing that will be predictive of FTIC student performance. If so, what is recommend for being the measure or multiple measures instead of standardized test. 
• Conduct research on peer campuses and current higher education industry best practices relative to admissions and standardized testing and the viability of alternatives other campuses are using for admissions decisions. 
• Engage and seek input from UHD faculty, ISD professionals, outside experts, and empirical experiences in standardized testing, predictors of college readiness, testing biasness, etc. to serve as the think tank on this critical matter to help UHD determine the most appropriate path forward. 
• Determine the potential impact on access and diversifying of the student body.
• At the completion of its work, the committee is expected to produce a written report to the UHD administration, Faculty Senate, and SGA, which will subsequently be available with the entire UHD community. The committee will recommend to permanently continue or discontinue test optional.
• The committee is expected to deliver the final recommendation in February 2024.

Composition

​The Admission Criteria Committee is a standing university committee that is appointed annually by the Office of the Provost. Membership includes one full time faculty member from each of the five academic colleges as sell as the Faculty Senate President of designee, UC Dean or Designee, one representative from the Office of the Provost, and three representatives recommended by the VP of Enrollment Management. The Office of the Provost will inform the committee of the expectations to maintain official documentation of all discussions and decisions and to meet deadlines for proposing any changes in criteria.

Membership