SEMO'S TIGHTER ADMISSION RULES NO ROADBLOCK FOR STUDENTS

Southeast Missouri State University's tighter admission standards make it a moderately selective institution, according to state standards.

But the average student can still get in.

All of Missouri's public colleges and universities require students right out of high school to have taken a basic core of high school classes.

As a moderately selective school, Southeast automatically admits students who have an American College Testing score of 21.

But students with lesser scores can enroll, Admissions Director Juan Crites said.

She said there are many students at Southeast and other Missouri schools who had a "C" average in high school and scored an 18 on the ACT.

Students can enroll if their ACT percentile and their high school class rank equal 100 points.

For example, a student with a 20.5 ACT score is at the 50th percentile. If that student ranks in the top half of his high school class, then his total score is 100.

Students with ACT scores of 18 and a top-third ranking in their high school class also meet admissions standards.

In addition, Missouri's public colleges and universities are allowed exceptions. As many as 10 percent of a school's students don't have to meet ACT and class rank standards.

Southeast also runs a summer academy for border-line students so they can be admitted for the fall semester.

Some 15 students attended the academy last summer. Only one didn't get admitted to the university and she didn't come to class, Crites said.

Students already 21 aren't given the ACT but take a placement test.

"There is always an exception," Crites said. "You just have to look at the kid."

She added, "We are not in the business of exceptions, but we would be pretty foolish these days if we did not try to find a way for a kid to make it."