The University of Tennessee Board of Trustees’ September 8 meeting had as its first agenda item, “Admissions Policy Proposal.” That meeting concluded with a news release approving “a guaranteed admissions standards proposal that would impact all UT undergraduate campuses.”
So, what does that mean to all Tennessee students?
These guaranteed admissions standards are aimed “to expand access, recruit more of Tennessee’s best and brightest students to its campuses, promote greater geographic representation, and further its land grant mission,” according to the University of Tennessee’s system President Randy Boyd.
It seems that Tennessee’s land grant university, established in 1794 as Blount College two years before Tennessee was even a state, wants to actively seek the best and brightest minds that are homegrown in the Volunteer State.
What are these new guaranteed admissions standards that were made effective upon Board of Trustee passage and through the Fall of 2024 class?
The Board of Trustees approved President Boyd’s presented admissions changes as follows:
The approved proposal means all UT undergraduate campuses would guarantee first-year admission to all Tennessee high school students who meet any of the following eligibility criteria:*
- Finish in the top 10% of their high school’s graduating class; or
- Achieve a 4.0 or higher cumulative GPA.
Additionally, UT campuses in Martin, Pulaski, and Chattanooga would add a third criteria:
- Achieve a 3.2 or cumulative higher GPA and have an ACT composite score of 23 or higher (or an SAT score of 1130-1150 or higher).
Applying these new criteria to the 65,580 public high school students, about 10% would have guaranteed admission with almost 28% of Tennessee high school students scoring a 23 or higher on the ACT admissions test. Students who are looking to attend a four-year higher education setting within the next year, schedule a meeting with your guidance counselor or start browsing now at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga or the University of Tennessee Knoxville websites (https://www.utc.edu/about/admissions or https://admissions.utk.edu/apply/) to begin your process.