photo by: Nick Krug

A bus whirs by as University of Kansas students wait along Jayhawk Boulevard on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016.

Starting this semester, the University of Kansas used a committee review process to consider applications of freshmen who didn’t meet KU’s new and tougher automatic admission standards.

Committee-reviewed applications ended up being a small slice — roughly 6 percent — of total freshmen who applied and ultimately enrolled, data requested by the Journal-World shows.

Data also shows that hundreds of underrepresented minorities were given the chance to attend KU via the new committee process.

KU received 14,560 total freshman applications for this fall, and committees considered 911 applications, said Matt Melvin, KU’s vice provost for enrollment management.

A total of 4,233 freshmen ultimately enrolled this fall, including 243 that were accepted through the committee process, Melvin said.

That means committees considered 6.2 percent of KU’s total applications, and 5.7 percent of freshmen who ultimately enrolled got in through the committee process.

photo by: Nick Krug

A bus whirs by as University of Kansas students wait along Jayhawk Boulevard on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016.

Statistics show that test scores and high school grades are predictive of success — and ultimately, graduation — in college, Melvin said.

However, the committee process gives a chance to students whose marks didn’t quite make the cut for automatic admission.

Through questionnaires asking about things such as short- and long-term goals they get a chance to show whether they have what Melvin likes to call “grit” — another, though less scientific, predictor of success.

“These are the students that might not have hit a home run on the ACT, but they’ve got this grind,” Melvin said. “They’re part of the fabric of KU.”

New benchmarks

Melvin said most of the students admitted through the new committee process would have had high enough test scores and grades to be admitted under KU’s old automatic admission standards.

KU’s new automatic admission criteria, announced in 2012, are now higher than other state universities.

In addition to completing an approved college-prep curriculum, KU students must have a 3.0 high school GPA and score 24 on the ACT (1090 on the SAT), or have a 3.25 GPA and score 21 on the ACT (980 on the SAT).

Students who don’t meet those criteria may now have their applications reviewed by a committee. The committee considers factors such as strength of high school coursework, academic potential, diversity, family circumstances and the student’s ability to benefit from support available at the university.

Previously, KU and other Kansas Board of Regents universities all automatically admitted students who scored a 21 on the ACT (980 SAT) or ranked in the top one-third of their class, or had a 2.0 GPA in the Kansas Qualified Admissions Precollege Curriculum.

The goal of KU’s new automatic admission standards and committee process was to “shave off” the bottom 5 percent or so of students, Melvin said. He said statistics show students at that ability level had only about an 8 percent likelihood of graduating.

Allowing students in to KU who aren’t ready to succeed — and statistically don’t succeed — ultimately hurts the profile of the university and doesn’t do the students a service, Melvin said.

“Our goal is never to ratchet up these standards to deny admission,” he said. “But access without success is access to nothing.”

That doesn’t mean the door is shut forever on those students.

Again, that’s where that “grit” comes in.

“What we tell people is, KU is not right for you right now,” Melvin said. He said the state’s community college system is a great place to start for many students, who can then transfer to KU when they’re better prepared.

Effect on minority enrollment

In the years since KU announced it would implement the new automatic admission standards, many have expressed concern they would cause enrollment to go down, particularly for minorities.

That didn’t happen, at least not in year one.

KU chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little, in addressing the University Senate last week, called this fall’s freshman enrollment “a banner year,” especially since most other state universities saw enrollment decline. She credited not only admissions changes, but also recruitment, marketing and financial aid efforts.

Not only did KU’s overall freshman enrollment go up, so did enrollment by minorities.

Overall, KU’s 4,233-student freshman class is 1.1 percent larger than last year, according to KU. Of new freshmen, 22.9 percent self-identified as minorities, a slight increase from 22.3 percent last year.

The committee process may have contributed to the increase in minorities, particularly underrepresented minorities.

Of the 750 students admitted to KU through the committee process, 148 (20 percent) were black and 130 (17 percent) were Hispanic, according to data requested by the Journal-World. A racial breakdown of committee-admitted minority students who went on to enroll was not readily available, however, a KU spokesman said.

This fall’s freshman class — auto- and committee-admitted combined — has 367 Hispanic students (8.7 percent) and 182 black students (4.3 percent), both higher than last year.

KU’s incoming freshmen also have an average ACT score of 25.7 and an average GPA of 3.58, both record highs for the university, according to KU.

“The University of Kansas has done a lot of work to attract more students – and more high-ability students — and today’s data confirm our efforts are working,” Gray-Little said in a Sept. 26 statement announcing enrollment numbers. “In particular, the new admissions procedures that took effect this year have clearly elevated our reputation among high-performing students.”

But Melvin is already turning attention toward what he says is the most important question: Will this year’s freshmen stay at KU and, more importantly, graduate?

He’ll be calculating the class’s GPA, credit hours completed and retention rates, amassing more data after each coming school year to find out.

Fall 2016 freshmen class

Overall:

Applications received — 14,560

Admitted — 13,526

Denied — 1,034

Enrolled — 4,233

By committee review:

Applications considered — 911

Admitted — 750

Denied — 128

Enrolled — 243

Racial breakdown of students admitted through committee process (not all enrolled):

White — 392 (52 percent)

African-American — 148 (20 percent)

Hispanic — 130 (17 percent)

Multi-ethnic — 41 (5 percent)

Asian — 26 (3 percent)

American Indian — 4 (less than 1 percent)

Hawaiian/Pacific Islander — 4 (less than 1 percent)

Not specified — 5 (less than 1 percent)

Source: KU Enrollment Management