Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1970 [PAGE 709]

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1969]

U N I V E R S I T Y OF I L L I N O I S

709

2. It provides for the approval of qualified freshman applicants in the order of the receipt of their applications, instead of in the order of their rank and test scores. The intent was to obtain a better spread among well-qualified students, rather than concentrating on a narrow band at the top of the rank-test score range. "In seeking a fair method of implementing the "first come-first served" plan, it was recognized that the heavy pressure for admission to certain colleges at the Urbana-Champaign campus could result in having highly qualified applicants outnumber spaces within a very short time after the beginning of the application period. This would place extreme pressure on students and schools to get in applications, test scores, and high school transcripts on the first day that applications are accepted (September 25 for the following fall), and would give a distinct advantage to students in schools with aggressive counseling programs and large professional staffs. The plan adopted by the Board of Trustees provided that all applications from qualified students received by a date to be established by each campus (November 1 at Urbana-Champaign) would receive equal consideration. If, by that date, there were enough spaces in a given college for all qualified applicants, all would be approved, and the remaining spaces would be filled by qualified students who applied after November 1, in the order of receipt of their applications. On the other hand, if there were more qualified applicants than spaces in a given college, the students would be selected on a random basis, in order to assure each qualified applicant an equal opportunity for admission. "The new policy, which was approved for implementation for fall 1971 freshmen, recognized that the deficiency of spaces available for highly qualified applicants in certain programs at Urbana-Champaign would probably grow more severe, as a consequence of the limit on freshman-sophomore enrollments at Urbana-Champaign by the Illinois Board of Higher Education's Master Plan. Under this Plan, no growth in freshman-sophomore enrollments beyond fall 1970 is permitted for the state's senior universities, with the exception of the Chicago Circle campus and Southern Illinois University's Edwardsville campus. Priority is directed instead to increasing spaces for junior college transfers. "The Urbana-Champaign campus, in planning for fall 1970 freshman admission, was confronted with the problem of handling an anticipated excess of qualified applicants for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences before the November 1 date. T h e previous year, all spaces in Liberal Arts and Sciences were filled by November 1, although it was not necessary to deny any qualified students who had applied by that date. F o r 1970, it was decided that, rather than selecting among the qualified applicants for Liberal Arts and Sciences on the basis of their rank and test scores, the random selection plan from the new policy would, if necessary, be applied. "Notices of this decision were sent to every high school in Illinois in August. News releases were sent to the news media in the state on November 6, and copies of the release were sent to every high school in Illinois. On November 26, a second news release was sent to the media concerning the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, describing the fact that applications from qualified students outnumbered spaces in that College, and that the random selection procedure would be followed. Fall conferences with high school counselors around the state, and the October issue of the University's "Letter to Schools and Colleges," which went to every high school in the state, also included an explanation of the plan. "By November 1, there were 1,000 more freshman applications for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences than the preceding year, with a total of 4,197 qualified applicants for the 2,333 spaces available.* A total of 3,350 students were approved, since past experience indicates that approximately one-third of those

is such that very few students at the level of the new minimum apply. For example, approximately 97 per cent of the approved group for fall 1970 admission to Liberal Arts and Sciences are above the new minimum. 2 Some additional spaces have been reserved for later admission of qualified students in certain categories, such as returning veterans, students holding grants-in-aid, Rehabilitation Center students, and qualified applicants for the Special Educational Opportunities Program.