IU increases admission standards

Freshmen in the fall of 2011 will have to do a little more of everything.

The Bloomington Faculty Council decided to raise admissions standards Feb. 21, 2006, for the incoming class of 2011 at IU-Bloomington in most of the key fields, such as mathematics and the physical sciences. The changes will go into effect this fall.

Both IU and Purdue University have raised admissions standards for the incoming class of 2011, giving current high school students a chance to fulfill these new requirements before they run out of time.

Transfer students should also be made aware of the changes because they can affect their admissions status.

Previously, applicants needed eight semesters of English, six semesters of math, four semesters of social science and two semesters of natural science. Applicants now need 3 1/2 years of math, three years of physical science, a now-mandatory two years of a foreign language and now-minimum of 34 high school class credits to be admitted to the college.

Most other Big Ten schools have not changed from three years of high school math needed for admission.

IU mathematics chairman and professor James Davis said he applauds the changes and the effects they will have on the students and the faculty.

“Having better-prepared students is a win-win situation,” Davis said. “The students will inspire the faculty, and the faculty will inspire the students. The increased mathematics requirements will be particularly helpful for students and faculty in math and the sciences.”

Mathematics professor Bill Wheeler, chairman of the Educational Policy Committee of the Bloomington Faculty Council at the time the changes were decided, was one of the architects of this rare change in admissions standards.

Though the changes in standards do not mean a change in classes, it might mean a shift in the enrollment of certain lower-level math and science courses. Students might have to take their precalculus and algebra classes in high school to be admitted to IU. And adding a foreign language requirement will most likely decrease the number of enrollments in introductory-level foreign language courses.

While the changes were planned well before the economic downfall of the past year, the educators of the University said they see the better-prepared students as one way to boost the quality of the workforce when they graduate.

Also, the 2011 start date for the new standards coincide with new general-education requirements for IU students.

“The students starting in the fall of 2011 will be well prepared to meet these new requirements,” Davis said.