1P5 Required Student Preparation

Faculty review course and program standards and requirements at other institutions and professional standards for the field to guide their decisions about prerequisites, placement standards, and other program requirements. Student preparation requirements are also based on Advisory Committee and other employer input and information. The Employer Survey is a good indicator of what employers expect, and those results help STI make decisions about how to structure curricula. Prerequisites for courses are identified in the STI Catalog.

Initial student entrance into a program is based on program-specific entrance requirements. These requirements, developed by administration and program faculty, are used to determine student preparedness for the individual program’s curriculum. Entrance requirements vary according to the demands of the program and are based on a variety of factors, including high school gpa, ACT or COMPASS scores, and post-secondary transfer grades. Many programs have additional program requirements such as HOBET or TEAS test scores, drug testing, and background checks. Cutoff scores for ACT, COMPASS, HOBET, TEAS, and high school gpa have been set by administration with faculty input and are based on research of national statistics, historical data on student performance at STI, and comparison to STI’s previous APS test. Entrance requirements are reviewed and revised on an as-needed basis according to changes in program curriculum, testing options, and student and graduate performance.