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MIT admissions tightening up for transfers

The faculty of Media, Information and Technoculture is revisiting its admission process.

In last Friday’s Senate meeting, a motion dealt specifically with admission to the second year of MIT along with the process required for upper-year students looking to transfer into the program.

Currently, any first-year in any faculty can be admitted into the second year of MIT as long as they have taken the three required first year courses and maintain the necessary averages. This alone, however, does not guarantee a spot in the competitive program. ­

As stated in the senate agenda, this admission process has given rise to many problems including the confusion of an undetermined admission average, no reserved space for upper-year students and lack of priority for students in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies.

The revised calendar copy recommends all students registered in FIMS who maintain the required average will be guaranteed admission into the second year of an MIT major. There will also be 10 spaces reserved for upper-years to transfer into the second year module.

The proposal was accepted welcomingly by most of the Senate.

“Western takes pride in the flexibility of its academic system,” said Matthijs van Gaalen, media information and technoculture/social science senator. “This proposal enshrines that this value will be carried on in the MIT program.”

Van Gaalen added the motion will ensure FIMS students’ interests will be protected.

While the admission revision is an improvement, there have been some concerns raised about the 10 competitive upper-year spots.

“I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” Arzie Chant, administrative staff senator said. “They’re guaranteeing space in the upper years, which they weren’t doing before. But consider a scenario where there is an upper-year student who is quite gifted and has an interest FIMS, but can’t get into the program because they discovered it too late.”

Van Gaalen also expressed concern about the limiting nature of reserving only 10 spots for undergrad students.

However, transferring majors, particularly in upper years, can prove to be a complicated procedure for any student no matter the faculty. Nonetheless, it is assumed the University should be able to outline the requirements for upper-year students to transfer programs if they so desire.

“I know it can get complicated with courses,” Shilo McBurney, second-year fine arts student, said. “But I assume you have the right courses and the right average, you can [transfer into any program].”

While the revision does not address all the concerns of the MIT faculty, the proposal will work to alleviate the anxiety of potential applicants, give FIMS students first priority, and will still allow students from other faculties to be admitted to MIT.

“I want to stress that this is indeed a step in the right direction,” Chant said, “but it’s not as far as they could go in terms of equal opportunity for all FIMS students.”

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