Point Park’s academic admission considerations will no longer consider “talent/ability” for “first time, first-year admissions” students in the 2024-2025 academic year.
The category was considered “very important” to Point Park’s academic admission considerations for years before its revision this academic year.
According to Point Park’s most recent Common Data Set (CDS), the only things now considered for student admittance are academic GPA and the rigor of a student’s secondary school record. GPA is categorized as “very important,” while secondary school records are categorized as only “considered.”
The CDS is a document that colleges and universities across the country fill out every year to give a standard look at their resources, such as enrollment numbers, courses offered and admissions considerations.
The “talent/ability” category, as an admissions factor, is a way to judge the demonstrated talents of students related to areas of interest of the university, according to 2021 to 2022 CDS definitions released by the University of California, San Diego.
Point Park’s removal of “talent/ability” considerations continues a trend. The number of items considered in the Point Park’s admissions process, and the weight each of those items are held to, is getting smaller with each passing year.
In the 2022-2023 academic year, for example, an applicant’s “rigor of secondary schooling” was considered “important” along with standardized test scores. This categorization, however, reduced the number of considerations in Point Park’s admissions process.
Marlin Collingwood, vice president of enrollment management, said that this change only affects academic admissions. It has not changed at all for the Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA).
“Every student that eventually comes to Point Park has to first be academically admitted,” Collingwood said. “Then, if you’re in one of those [COPA] programs, you go into their admissions process.”
Collingwood said that they have only made one change related to the admissions process in the two years he has worked at Point Park.
“We removed [the “talent and ability” section] from our Film and Animation Department,” Collingwood said. “They will be admitted into the School of Theatre, Film and Animation to study film or animation on an application situation. If you want scholarship money, then you submit a portfolio.”
Emily Quidetto, coordinator of planning and assessment, said that the CDS can be tricky to answer, especially for a school like Point Park with a large conservatory.
“Academic acceptance to Point Park is not dependent on any specific talent or ability,” Quidetto said. “This is why ‘not considered’ would be an appropriate response. However, talent and ability are crucial for artistic acceptance. This is why in previous years, ‘talent/ability’ was listed as ‘very important.’”
This change in the number and weight of admission requirements also takes place at the same time that Point Park President Chris Brussalis has been pushing Pioneer Vision 2030 for the University.
One of the loftiest goals of the plan is to “increase overall university enrollment by 30% by 2030.”
Announced in 2023, the goal was in response to the 22% decrease in student population Point Park experienced from 2017 to 2022.
Brussalis gave updates on the plan when speaking to the Student Government Association (SGA) on March 17, telling the student body that enrollment for Fall 2024 was up 10%.
He also said, “Deposits are up by 40% over the last year, which is huge.”
Brussalis also told SGA that he came in too late to impact enrollment in Fall 2024.
When asked about the change in academic enrollment consideration, Brussalis stated that he had “no idea about that.”
To remain consistent with previous years and to reflect the conservatory admissions process, Quidetto says, “The 2024-2025 CDS will be updated accordingly.”
