We are also discussing this. We currently have a moratorium on internal
transfers to Psychology because our 500+ majors are really taxing us. We
just passed a rule that to transfer into psychology the students need to
have passed psych courses in two different categories with grades of C or
better. For various reasons we're not permitted to use a GPA criterion even
though education can (because of certification issues).
FWIW, I have always fought against arbitrarily high entrance criteria for
the major. The fact is that we are a liberal arts school and require that
our students major in SOMETHING. If all Depts. adopted a 2.5 GPA for new
majors it would make a mockery of the notion that a 2.0 is passing and would
represent fraud toward students who were told that they could major in
psychology and are now told they can't. Let's face it, the marginally
competent student needs a major. If you won't let them have one, then don't
admit them!
That being said, I see nothing inherently wrong with making the PSY major
more rigorous. Such a move is (to me) inherently more fair than an
arbitrary GPA requirement. It also lets students see (up front) what the
requirements are. If your fear is that the Psych major is becoming the
"last refuge of the incompetent," taken by those who can't hack it in other
majors, the solution is to make your program more rigorous. That way you
increase the quality of your program, let students know up front what's
required, and warn off those students looking for an easy way out.
Increasing the GPA requirement is, IMNSHO, just a cheap fix that unjustly
punishes those students who get off to a shaky start in their first year and
does little to improve the major. Heaven knows we've all seen students get
drunk on freedom in their first year and take an academic nose dive. But
we've also seen that many of those students sober up their second year and
become great students. Whatever method you employ to restrict the major you
need to have some way to accommodate these prodigal students.
Ed
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D., Department of Psychology,
West Chester Univ. of PA, West Chester, PA 19383
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Husband, father, grandfather, biopsychologist, herpetoculturist and
bluegrass fiddler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shameless self promotion: The Mill Creek Bluegrass Band performs every
Tuesday night at Dugal's Inn, Mortonville, PA. Call 610- 486-0953 for
directions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2000 17:21:04 -0500
> From: "Bev Ayers-Nachamkin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Requirements to Declare Major?
> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> Our students declare majors at the end of their first semester as
> sophomores. Once again I find myself jealously eyeing Education's
> requirement that, among other things, any student who wishes to major in
> Ed.
> must have and maintain a 2.5 gpa (soon to be 3.0). Have any of your
> programs
> established criteria that must be satisfied in order to major in Psych or
> Behavioral Sciences?
> Second half of the semester - must be I'm getting cranky ;-)
>
> If there is sufficient interest, I'll be glad to compile responses for the
> list.
>
> Cheers,
> Bev
>
> >>>>>>>@@<<<<<<<<
> Bev Ayers-Nachamkin
> Wilson College
> 1015 Philadelphia Ave.
> Chambersburg, PA 17201-1285
> 717-264-4141, Ext. 3285
>
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
