Going up?

Admission standards at University on the rise, but not individualized

The daily hustle and bustle of campus between classes can be attributed to one thing: too many students.

Too many students comes from too many offers of admission.

Where do they all come from and why do they have to choose here?

They come to Happy Valley for various reasons: whether it is the football team, the cost or the aesthetic value of the campus.

"However, we believe Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and high school performance should not be the only means of assessment."

But, due to its own appeal, the University cannot satisfy the increasing number of students who would like to come to the University. This year the University said it will have to increase its standards to satisfy the increasing number of applications it receives.

These higher standards will not only rise at University Park, but at Penn State campuses throughout the commonwealth.

University officials say the University must make these standards higher due to the scarcity of housing, professors and classrooms.

However, we believe Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and high school performance should not be the only means of assessment.

Although the University currently has an optional personal statement on the application for admission, we would like to see the use of a required essay in order to distinguish whom should constitute a Penn Stater. Adding an essay to the application would make the admissions process look beyond numbers and at individual merit.

Adding a required essay will be a strain on the Undergraduate Admissions Office, but we feel that it is imperative to enroll unique individuals rather than merely students who fit a predetermined protocol.

Currently, the primary examination of a student's credentials -- based on SAT scores and high school performance -- does not allow the University to enroll a diverse group of people. Rather, increasing these impersonal aspects of a student's performance seems to produce many students with the same characteristics.

Admitting a student solely on performance may fail to enroll future student leaders and it also may inhibit the formation of a community made up of people from different cultures and education opportunities, backgrounds and heritage.

Also, essays allow the University to evaluate a student's performance more accurately. An essay shows how a candidate can organize his or her thoughts when solving an academic problem as opposed to filling in a circle on a multiple choice test.

Essays would be a step in the right direction for a University where it is all too easy to lose an individual in the shuffle of the ever-growing student population.

While we commend the University for trying to combat over-enrollment and reduce the problem of temporary housing, we feel that an essay would be the answer to determine a student's merits as opposed to the overemphasis on SAT scores and high school achievement.