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Open admissions, or open enrollment, is a type of unselective and noncompetitive college admissions process in the United States in which the only criterion for entrance is a
high school diploma A high school diploma (sometimes referred to as a high school degree) is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary s ...
or a certificate of attendance or General Educational Development (GED) certificate.Peterson's Guide: Glossary of terms
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Definition

This form of "inclusive" admissionsCarnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Undergraduate Profile Technical Details
/ref> is used by many
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...
s and
community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...
s and differs from the selective admission policies of most private
liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...
s and research universities in the United States, which often take into account
standardized test A standardized test is a Test (assessment), test that is administered and scored in a consistent or standard manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored ...
scores as well as other academic and character-related criteria.


History

The open admissions concept was heavily promoted in the 1960s and 1970s as a way to reduce discrimination in college admissions and to promote education of the
underprivileged Social privilege is an advantage or entitlement that benefits individuals belonging to certain groups, often to the detriment of others. Privileged groups can be advantaged based on social class, wealth, education, caste, age, height, skin colo ...
. The first major application in the United States was at the
City University of New York The City University of New York (CUNY, pronounced , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven ...
(CUNY). It later applied the policy only to two-year
community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...
s since they are better prepared for
remedial education Remedial education (also known as developmental education, basic skills education, compensatory education, preparatory education, and academic upgrading) is assigned to assist students in order to achieve expected competencies in core academic sk ...
. While the United States and other nations in the
Anglosphere The Anglosphere, also known as the Anglo-American world, is a Western-led sphere of influence among the Anglophone countries. The core group of this sphere of influence comprises five developed countries that maintain close social, cultura ...
have historically tended toward a selective model for university admissions, mainland European nations have tended toward open admissions. Pressure for a more selective admissions model has only arisen in some of these countries as late as the 1970s, largely owing to the higher
per capita ''Per capita'' is a Latin phrase literally meaning "by heads" or "for each head", and idiomatically used to mean "per person". Social statistics The term is used in a wide variety of social science, social sciences and statistical research conte ...
rate of university participation in countries with selective admissions at that time.


Controversy

CUNY's introduction of open admissions to the United States sparked controversy both in politics and academia. Critics of open admissions included Vice President
Spiro Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (; November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second of two vice presidents to resign, the first being John C. ...
and right-wing journalists Robert Novak and Irving Kristol while its supporters included noted American writing scholar Mina P. Shaughnessy. The cases for open admissions cite the movement of the population from primarily rural to primarily urban, the shifting microeconomics in the United States from primarily goods-oriented to primarily services-oriented, and the country's rapid diversification of racial, ethnic, and class identities. Other cases for open admissions focused on academia's role as a gatekeeper for privilege, characterizing open admissions as a driving force for upward
social mobility Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given socie ...
for American families. Opponents of open admissions raised concerns about credentialism and educational inflation, stating that opening colleges to anyone could potentially devalue the college diploma as an asset. They characterized the move to open admissions, not as a genuine attempt at educational reform, but as a maneuver of racial politics and the gross politicization of the educational process. Other, less prevalent criticisms include the idea that, through open admissions, CUNY was, whether purposefully or not, depriving private colleges of students through the combination of open admissions and less expensive tuition. Another criticism of CUNY's open admissions model was simply that it would not effect sufficient change for the underprivileged. This was not an indictment of open admissions in itself, but a prediction that open admissions might do nothing to an already present prestige gap between more selective and less selective schools.


Graduation rates

The graduation rates of colleges are correlated with their admissions policies. Six years after beginning a four-year program, an average of 60% of students nationwide will have graduated. However, that rate varies from 89% at colleges that accept less than a quarter of applicants to less than 36% at those with an open admissions policy.


See also

* Open university (concept) *
Open-door academic policy An open-door academic policy, or open-door policy, is a policy whereby a university enrolls students without asking for evidence of previous education, experience, or references. Usually, payment of the academic fees (or financial support) is all t ...
* Cooling out *
University and college admission University admission or college admission is the process through which students enter tertiary education at universities and colleges. Systems vary widely from country to country, and sometimes from institution to institution. In many countries, ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Open Admissions University and college admissions