Over the next two weeks, The Daily Free Press will explore the recommendations of the One BUTask Force Report in an eight-part series. Today, we look at the primary and most immediate recommendation of the report.
From maintaining different grade point average requirements to filling out countless forms, each college and school within Boston University has its own rules for transferring from school to school.
As part of the changes outlined in the One BU Task Force Report, the administration will lower intra-university transfer GPA requirements to a flat 2.0 in order to better integrate the campus beginning in fall 2010.
“We used to have these different transfer requirements . . . but now that’s all been equaled out,” said Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education Victor Coelho.
He said there will be still certain progress requirements to transfer, such as required introductory courses or capstone projects, depending on what school a student wants to enter.
“But the quantitative aspect has been equalized,” he said.
According to the Task Force Report, One BU will give students the opportunity to transfer between schools and colleges by “eliminating any and all barriers and inconsistencies that obstruct or compromise this movement.”
“That’s a big, big thing,” President Robert Brown said of the change. “That’s a huge thing. And if we did that, there’d be no university that I know of, of the size and complexity of BU that has that, where you can honestly say “I really understand exactly how to transfer.'”
Coehlo implied that the new policy might also boost retention rates.
“If students aren’t able to transfer within the university, they might leave the university, even though we can offer a number of very appropriate majors for those students,” Coelho said.
College of Fine Arts sophomore Melissa Katz, who recently transferred from the College of Communication, said she thinks once the change is implemented, students will be able to transfer with less of a struggle.
“The process to transfer will definitely be easier,” she said. “If a student is unhappy in their current school, their grades could reflect that and transferring might not have worked.”
The report also said made recommendations about “providing strong advising and compassing” for undergraduates.
“If there were advisers specifically to help kids with the transition, that would benefit all students,” said College of Arts and Sciences freshman Elizabeth Rich, who is trying to transfer from CAS to CFA next semester.
CAS freshman Han Kim, who is undecided, said he likes the prospective requirement because it will make it easier for undecided students to try new majors.
“It will make it easier to explore,” he said.
However, some, like CAS sophomore Karen Huang, said they think that while the change will make it easier for some people to transfer, lowering the GPA is somewhat unfair.
“Some schools are harder than others, so I don’t think it would be fair to other students who are in the programs already,” she said.
Coelho said there were some questions raised among college administrators about the academic level of students able to transfer under the new policy.
“There was concern that would this open the doors to a lot of students who were unqualified,” he said. “But you look at the data and you see that students who want to transfer are not going to be at that 3.0 level &- most of them are going to be 2.7, 2.8. . . . So there’s an element of risk for all these things, but it’s completely outweighed by the logical idea that why should it be different &- if it takes 2.0 to graduate, it should take 2.0 to transfer.”
Coelho said the new requirement is also to help encourage students to stay enrolled at BU, despite possible lower grades.
“If it’s an academic issue, students should not be penalized,” he said. “They should not feel that just because of a C in their first year they’ve got to leave and go to a second-rate university or college. We don’t want to make that first year something that follows you.”
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