For the first time next fall, anyone applying to be a graduate student at UB will now have to meet a minimum GPA requirement, officials from the UB Graduate School reported to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee on Wednesday.
Bruce McCombe, vice provost for graduate education, said the changes are being made in an attempt to improve the program. Starting in 2006, students will need a 3.0 GPA or higher to be accepted into a UB department for graduate studies.
Any applicants who have studied at an international campus or a school that doesn't have a 4.0 grading scale, however, are exempt from the minimum, and students below the mark are not automatically disqualified. A written explanation explaining the student's merit can override the GPA requirement.
According to McCombe, who is also dean of the Graduate School, the change will affect about 10 percent of the applications to UB's Graduate School.
McCombe said the new admissions standards are not set in stone and could be re-evaluated in the future if necessary.
"What I can guarantee you is we will learn from our mistakes," McCombe said.
The 3.0 minimum GPA was chosen in accordance with the standards set by other universities, said Myron Thompson, associate provost and executive director of the Graduate School.
"The minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 is the level most commonly cited for admission consideration to Ph.D. programs across universities which comprise our primary peer group, the Association of American Universities," Thompson said.
Previously, no GPA requirements had been placed on the graduate programs, according to Thompson.
"Unlike most other major research universities in the United States, up to now there has not been an institution-wide minimum undergraduate GPA level required for admission to doctoral study at UB," he said.
Thompson stressed that the new rules only apply to a specific set of students.
"Note carefully that the minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA requirement we are introducing for Fall 2006 admission applies only to applicants to Ph.D. programs," Thompson said.
Scott Morrow, a graduate student working for his teacher's certification, said he doesn't even know if the new regulations go far enough.
"I think all students should have to provide a reason to be accepted into the school," Morrow said. "It shows that they want to be in the department and why."
Morrow also said he questions if grades should be the only means for judging an applicant.
"Can you definitively say a student with 2.9 GPA is more qualified than one with a 3.0?" Morrow said. "There's more to a person than grades."
Greg Boehm, another graduate student, said he had concerns about how the restrictions would affect undergraduates applying from certain schools and disciplines.
"If you want to go to graduate school here, it makes engineering less of an attractive undergraduate major," Boehm said. "It could also hurt students that go to tougher schools."
The changes may also be a comment on UB's graduate class, Boehm said.
"What they're saying is that the current crop of students is inadequate," Boehm said. "If they think it's going to improve the program to not have these people, then they should go for it."
