The University Admissions Committee yesterday announced the results of the “Multi-Star” university entrance program, saying that two students who scored 51 in the 75-point grading system for the General Scholastic Ability Test (GSAT) were admitted to National Taiwan University (NTU) under the program.
A total of 335 students who scored between 51 and 75 in the GSAT have been accepted to the university through the program.
The Multi-Star program, which allows students to be admitted to universities through a recommendation from their high school, was designed to encourage students to attend nearby high schools by creating equal university admission opportunities for every school.
Students are eligible for a recommendation through the program if they have attended only one high school, are in the top 50 percent of their school and have scored more than zero in the GSAT.
NTU student enrollment section head Lee Hung-sen (李宏森) said the university had planned to recruit 332 students through the Multi-Star program this year.
A total of 686 students applied, and the university accepted 335 after it decided to recruit three more students for the Department of Dentistry, because all four applicants to the department had perfect scores on the GSAT and were equally impressive, he said.
This year, the university has accepted more students with perfect GSAT scores through Multi-Star — including those who passed first-phase screening for the School of Medicine — than it did in the past five years, he added.
It accepted 17 students with perfect GSAT scores last year and 25 in 2016, while this year it has admitted 37, Lee said, adding that most are to enter the School of Medicine.
The two students who scored 51 on the GSAT — the lowest score of all students accepted to the university this year — are to enter the Department of History and the Department of Political Science, Lee said, adding that one was in the top 1 percent and the other in the top 2 percent of their schools.
As the Multi-Star program aims to reduce the urban-rural gap in education and help rural schools compete with their urban counterparts, the university’s history and political science departments had set their admission criteria as having at least an average GSAT score with an emphasis on strong academic performance in school, he said.
Lee, who described himself as a believer in the Multi-Star program, said the university accepted students from three schools — all outside of Taipei — for the first time this year: Hsinchu County’s Liujia High School, Changhua County’s Tienzhong High School and Keelung’s Fu Jen Sacred Heart Senior High School.
Taipei Chenggong High School had the most students accepted by the university this year at six, followed by Taoyuan Municipal Senior High School at five and Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School, Taipei First Girls’ High School, Taipei Jingmei Girls’ High School, Taichung Second Senior High School, St Dominic Catholic High School in Kaohsiung, Pingtung Girls’ High School, Hualien High School and Luodong High School with four each, NTU statistics showed.
A total of 252 high schools recommended students to the university through the Multi-Star program this year, Lee said.
Additional reporting by Ann Maxon
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