Admissions officers reviewing applications for incoming students next year say they are looking for more than just the grade point average.

A proposition has been made to begin moving toward a more holistic review process, said Thomas Canepa, associate vice president for admissions at UC.

“Academics would be a starting point,” Canepa said. “But what other things would a student bring to the university? What does the student say in their essay? Does the student have some sort of artistic or musical ability?”

The idea is that using guidelines, as opposed to criteria, would help shape the freshman class better, as well as bring a more diverse group of students to the university, Canepa said.

“The goal is to broaden the way we look at our admissions applications,” Canepa said.

Canepa said that this would be achieved by having two staff members review the applications, focusing more on the qualitative aspects of applications, as opposed to focusing primarily on the quantitative aspects.

Minimum admission standards of a 2.7 GPA and 21 overall ACT score went into effect at UC in 2006.

In comparison, the freshman class of 2011 — which consisted of 4,442 students, UC’s largest class ever — averaged a 25 on the ACT and a 3.44 GPA.

Although high school graduation rates in Ohio have been in decline in recent years and are predicted to continually decrease, according to a recent study done by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, college application rates have increased significantly in Ohio, particularly at local universities such as UC, Xavier University and Miami University.

“There have been nearly 16,000 applicants for the upcoming freshmen class,” Canepa said. “Nearly 2,000 students have already confirmed.”

The current enrollment on UC’s Main Campus is 33,329 students, nearly 30 percent more than one decade ago.

Students could potentially see the change in admissions reviews go into effect in the 2012-2013 academic year, but it is currently undetermined.

“Our goal is for colleges to make their decisions by mid-April,” Canepa said.