This university made changes to several of its eight Limited Enrollment Programs this semester, reducing the number of gateway courses students must take and allowing enrolled students to repeat a course.
The provost office’s Limited Enrollment Program task force asked for all LEPs to evaluate themselves during spring 2014, in hopes that these changes will allow students to be notified sooner if they are admitted to one.
“We know that we have a number of students who are trying to get into these programs,” said Lisa Kiely, assistant dean for undergraduate studies. “The sooner they know, the more likely they can settle on in that major they got into or they can find a new major.”
Kiely said it’s important for the programs to include gateway courses to paint a picture of success for the majors. Although some limited enrollment programs have removed some courses from their entry requirements, there are separate major requirements that must be completed before graduation.
Because gateway courses are supposed to foreshadow future success in the major, ENGL101: Academic Writing was removed as a requirement across all LEPs this semester, said Katherine Russell, associate dean in the behavioral and social sciences college.
“[ENGL101] is a course everyone has to take anyway,” Russell said. “The idea with the LEP gateway courses is they really are supposed to help the students and the department predict how will the student do in that major. When looking at the data, English 101 did not provide any information about that.”
The business school, which is known for its competitive program, will accept only a certain number of students each semester. But those students now will be required to complete only three gateway courses — BMGT220: Principles of Accounting I, BMGT230: Business Statistics and either MATH220: Elementary Calculus I, MATH130: Calculus I for the Life Sciences or MATH140: Calculus I — as opposed to the usual six.
“The Smith School is very supportive of the updated LEP requirements,” business school associate dean Victor Mullins wrote in an email. “We remain committed to improving student success and simplifying the process by which students are admitted.”
Junior accounting major Yann Amokomayen said that when he was trying to get into the business school, the number of gateway courses he had to take did not matter to him as long as he knew what he was expected to do.
“As long as I can identify what the requirements are, I can give myself more time to focus on those specific classes,” he said. “I was really not stressed that much … and I was really motivated to get into the business school.”
The university also changed the LEP repeat policy. Now, only one gateway course can be repeated during a student’s time at this university. If there is more than one course that satisfies a gateway requirement and a student opts for a different course after failing another, it would count as a repeated course.
This repeat-policy change will apply to students who enter the university this spring and after.
Architecture and landscape architecture, originally LEPs, no longer limit their enrollment. The architecture department initially submitted a revision to the task force proposing to remain an LEP, but officials cut down on the required courses necessary to get into it, said Michael Ambrose, the architecture program assistant director.
Ambrose also said that because the program has fewer students enrolled than it can host, removing the LEP designation from the program will encourage more students to apply while maintaining the same academic standards through a portfolio review.
“Removing that title is going to allow more people to really seriously consider the major, and that will in turn will give us a better pool of applicants,” he said. “It’s really the drawing portfolio that is the most important metric for us.”
