Sans Exam Screening, Will UNLV Journo Students Still Write 'Good'?

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Faced with cash-strapping declining enrollment, the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has jettisoned its entrance exam that tested writing ability and core skills acquired in pre-journalism courses, reports the school's student paper, Rebel Yell.

School officials insists the entrance exam has merely been shelved for a few years, rather than abandoned. Students must now maintain a 2.5 grade point average in designated introductory journalism courses and a 2.0 GPA overall to be admitted to UNLV's j-school. Previously, a cumulative 3.0 GPA was a prerequisite for admittance to the program.

Whether the revised standards will affect the school's efforts to secure accreditation from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC) remains to be seen.  The entrance exam was last offered in the Spring 2010 semester. Officials blamed the change in the exam requirement to the statewide crisis in education funding.

Though some may worry that relaxed admission standards means journalism schools such as UNLV's Greenspun School won't attract the best & the brightest students, which doesn't bode well for job-seeking graduates or the profession, the dedicated staff at "TUOL" is  unconcerned because: 1) there's always Fox News and 2) we really were just looking for an excuse to use the accompanying photo.