Direct Admissions Spreads, State by State

The newly rebranded Universities of Wisconsin announced the launch of a direct admissions initiative last week at 10 of the system’s 13 universities. High school students in the state who meet the minimum academic requirements—which will be based on grade-point average and class ranking—will receive automatic letters of acceptance starting next July.  Wisconsin is just the latest entrant in a wave of state higher education systems to take up the experimental practice. The University System of Georgia launched its own direct admissions program on Oct. 7, and Indiana’s Commission for Higher Education announced an initiative in August. All told, there are now 10 states with system-level direct admissions; some say that number is likely to multiply in the coming year.