By Seth Blaylock
Getting in to BYU isn''t what it used to be.
Over the past 30 years, admissions standards have changed drastically. Academic standards have risen, and new standards have been created.
Gone are the days when average grades would assure entrance in to BYU.
According to the BYU admissions office, the average student admitted to the university in the past few years has over a 3.7 grade point average and over a 27 ACT score.
Compared with ACT, Inc. statistics, this puts the average BYU student in the top 10 percent of all high school students nationally.
Dean of Admissions and Records Erlend Peterson says BYU students today are in many ways different than their predecessors.
In the late 1960s, when Peterson first became involved with BYU admissions, the GPA required to get in was much lower - 1.78 for men and 2.37 for women, he said. At the time more women were competing for entrance than men.
In the early 1970s, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started to cap the number of students let in. Although the number of students has increased since then, the demand is often much greater than supply.
Peterson said that the admissions standards have changed more than just heightening GPA expectations.
Early on, GPA was the main indicator used, but in 1969, BYU started collecting information about the ACT.
In the 1970s, the school started to require ecclesiastical endorsements for all students.
In the 1980s, the university changed to what Peterson called a 'preparation model.'
This model gave more weight to grades in core and advanced classes, encouraging prospective BYU students to take harder schedules in high school that would prepare them better for college.
For example, a class in foreign language or advanced chemistry would be weighted more than a physical education class.
Peterson became dean in 1990. Since then, he said, admissions criteria has continued to evolve.
While the primary emphasis is still on academic preparation, Peterson said, today BYU officials are looking for students who have also excelled in leadership and community service.
'We want a person who will go out and make a contribution with their education,' Peterson said.
Prospective students include leadership and community service information in their applications and write essays read by the admissions committee.
Peterson said the changing admissions policies have helped students prepare better for college and the admissions office gauge the quality of students applying.
'We have a changing influence - the criteria for admissions changes the kind of students that you get,' Peterson said. 'It does change, but not as dramatic as one would expect.'
The standards may have risen and changed, but BYU still accepts about 80 percent of applicants. Peterson said this is because the applicants to a church-run school like BYU are self-selecting.
'We have such a homogeneous applicant pool,' he said.
Most applicants are similar in their academic quality and commitment to church and community service, Peterson said.
'It is really amazing to see how well qualified these kids are -- how much they''ve accomplished in such a short time,' Peterson said.
Elizabeth Simmons is one example of this new breed of BYU student. Simmons, 17, of Orem was accepted into the university on Jan. 11.
Simmons has an unweighted GPA of 4.0 - much higher weighted - and received a dazzling 35 out of 36 on her ACT.
She is the president of the Orem High School chapter of the National Honor Society, president of Academic Decathlon and vice-president of the Future Business Leaders of America.
Simmons attends LDS seminary and is active in several other clubs at school. She is the Art Sterling Scholar for Orem High.
She has volunteered at the Springville Museum of Art and been involved with service projects for the National Honor Society and the Art club.
'I''ve always wanted to go to BYU,' Simmons said. 'That was the only place I applied to - it''s a good thing I got in.'
Simmons said she wants to study art education and become an art teacher. She said BYU is the perfect place to do that.
'I feel that is an environment that would benefit me, both spiritually and in gaining the knowledge that I want,' Simmons said.
Simmons will join her brother this fall at BYU. William Simmons, 21, studies microbiology. Her father is an alumnus from 1978, and her mother studied nursing at BYU.
But for every student like Simmons that gets in, there are others that do not.
Peterson said choosing between applicants is difficult.
'We just don''t have any more room,' he said. 'It is sure hard to turn down students that are so good.'