Although Grand Valley State University looks to compete with other Michigan institutions for some of the state’s top students, some administrators said the university will not raise its minimum admissions requirements to meet or exceed those of other universities.

“I don’t think at the present we are in a position to change in either direction,” said Lynn “Chick” Blue, vice provost and dean of GVSU’s academic services. “I think we know the student we’re looking for.”

Blue said she does not think GVSU will make the admissions process for a student more difficult.

Jodi Chycinski, director of admissions at GVSU, said the university’s admissions process is already somewhat exclusive.

“Our admissions process at the university could be termed selective,” she said. “Grand Valley grants admission to students who are prepared to meet the challenges of a rigorous university curriculum. We do evaluate each applicant looking for factors in their application that would help us determine if they have the academic credentials to be successful at GVSU.”

The admissions website reported that the university selects its students based on high school courses completed, standardized test scores, cumulative grade point average, grade point trend and rank in the graduating class.

The site does not tell of any minimum requirements for prospective students, but specifies that applicants need four years of English, three years of science, math and social sciences and two years of a foreign language.

“We look at the whole student, and what courses they took (in high school) and how well they did,” Blue said.

She added that she considers GVSU selective in the sense that the people in admissions know who they are looking for, but the college is not considered highly selective when compared to some schools like the University of Michigan.

Philip Batty of Institutional Analysis said GVSU received 17,005 applicants this year for incoming freshmen and admitted 11,902, or about 70 percent.

However, these rates show a high overall inclusiveness compared to other in-state institutions such as the University of Michigan, which claims to have accepted only 40 percent of its applicants.

Collegeboard.com reported that the middle 50 percent of GVSU’s incoming freshmen earned a 22 to 26 on their ACT, while Michigan State University students scored between 23 and 28 and U of M students scored between 27 and 31. Despite the discrepancy, Chycinski said GVSU accepts strong applicants.

“Grand Valley attracts a very well qualified student to the university, as our profile indicates,” she said.

While Blue said the university will not become more exclusive in its admission of undergraduate students, she added that the admissions department is focusing more on increasing the diversity of the student body.

“As the population changes, so do all institutions,” she said, adding that universities must adjust to the flux of diversity in the U.S. population.

Blue said GVSU is up to par with diversity requirements, and Chycinski agreed that diversity within incoming students is steadily improving.

“Our minority enrollment this fall rose to 13.6 percent of total enrollment compared to 12.8 percent in Fall 2010 and 11.8 percent in Fall 2009,” she said. “We have made wonderful increases in minority enrollment. The Admissions Office continues to make diversity an important component of all our recruitment efforts.”

For more information about GVSU admissions, visit the website at www.gvsu.edu/admissions.

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