Cal State University poised to drop plan for tougher math admissions requirement
Cal State University on Friday said it is unlikely to be the only university to adopt a tougher math requirement for prospective and current students as public schools in the state push for an end to using the old “maths cutoff” to determine which applicants pass.
The campus community must meet for four hours weekly for the next two months to determine if it can do so.
The announcement followed Cal State and University of California administrators’ decision to drop the plans, which they said would create “a chaotic, disjointed” environment.
“It creates a very high expectation for students,” said Dr. Joseph M. Rees, president of the 1.3 million-member Cal State system. “It sends the wrong message to students.”
Cal State will not be the first university in the state to announce a change in admissions policy. But the announcement Friday is the first step in a campaign that U.C. campuses are pursuing.
The University of California, Berkeley, has said it will use the old math cutoff if no other university in the state follows suit. UCLA is the only public school so far to announce a similar change.
The University of California is expected to release an official statement on the calculus admissions policy change later Friday.
Cal State and U.C. are also both pushing for the U.S. Department of Education to adopt a policy requiring all colleges to use the old cutoff. The administration of President Barack Obama has said it will consider requiring the use of the old cutoff when considering the issue this summer but has not indicated whether it will make such a change.
Cal State and U.C. students would be required to have a 3.5 out of 4.0 grade point average, or GPA, to be accepted to the most selective colleges. Students with a 4.0 or higher would have an option to apply to U.C. and Cal State, but all of Cal State’s campuses are already required by the state to require 3.3 or higher GPA. Students must be able to afford the high cost of graduate school to be eligible for either university.
Cal State’s requirement to maintain a 3.3 GPA and U.C.’s requirement to maintain a 3.4 GPA are in addition to the 2.5 GPA required for community college students. Cal State also offers two programs for at-risk students and students with special needs, and one program
