SVSU's high acceptance rate product of trust in school's graduation rate

April 28, 2008 —

With an ever-increasing student population and a group of more than 900 students preparing to walk across the stage for graduation, SVSU's admission standards are among the more accepting in the country.

The standard requirement to be considered for acceptance at SVSU is a 2.5 high school GPA, and a score of 17 on the ACT, though higher ACT scores can offset lower GPAs, and vice-versa.

According to Jim Dwyer, assistant vice president of Student Services, the focus is on getting students through college, not just through the door.

"The reality of the situation," Dwyer said, "is that the philosophy of people like myself and President Gilbertson is that it should be easy to get in, but hard to get out. The bigger issue is maturation and commitment. We accept students with everything from a 33 and a 4.0, to a 2.5 and a 17, and everything in between."

In 2005, the last year comparative numbers were released, SVSU accepted 3,082 of the 3,442 applications received, while Grand Valley accepted 9,134 of the 11,934 it received, with an acceptance rate of 76.5 percent.

Using the figures above, SVSU's admissions policy is on par with the size of the campus. The larger the campus grows, the larger the student population grows. Since 2005, the size of the class has grown 23 percent, with a 20 percent increase in applications since last year.

"We have to make sure that there are enough classes available for students, and enough housing," Dwyer said. "We need to control growth, and as a result, the administration will have an open dialogue all through the year to work on controlling that."

Based on a national study, 82.5 percent of the colleges surveyed let in more than half of the applicants. SVSU ranks near the top of the list with an acceptance rate of 89.5 percent of the student applications.

Because of competition and a growing reputation, Jim Dwyer says that SVSU is seeing more qualified applications in recent years, as well as an increase in the number of students coming from outside the tri-county area.

Unlike many colleges which put a premium on academic excellence in high school, the policy SVSU started with seems to still work today, said Dwyer.

"We provide opportunities for kids from all walks of life. The good news is if a person takes advantage of what the University offers, they will succeed."