Students enrolled in the Reich College of Education have maintained the highest average GPA for an academic college, according to irap.appstate.edu, The students of the college have maintained this status from the 2006-07 academic year to the 2010-11 academic year.

Students enrolled in the Walker College of Business maintained the lowest GPAs within the five academic schools. However, the Walker College of Business’ average GPA has been increasing since the 2006-07 academic year.

Kathleen Smith, Director of Advising at Walker College of Business, said this increase is due to “business advisors [working] with students experiencing academic difficulties to help them to look at various options for strengthening the GPA.”

The College of Business’ active Career Services Center stresses the importance of maintaining a high GPA as well as participating in extracurricular activities, Smith said.

For the future, Smith said that the average GPA may increase with the addition of “a minimum grade requirement has been added to eight of the courses required for admission to the College of Business” in the 2012-13 academic year.

The average GPA of the College of Education can be attributed to many factors, such as “an admission requirement for teacher education that is higher than what the university requires,” Dean of the Reich College of Education Charles Duke said,

The College of Education requires a GPA of 2.5 for admission, Duke said.

Students entering the College of Education “usually have a much higher GPA than a 2.5,” Duke said.
The College of Education also has “certain accreditation standards” that help education students with their grades, Duke said.

The College of Education has “become much more conscious in the past five years of the importance of providing formative feedback to students” which has helped education students maintain a high GPA, Duke said.

Sophomore business major Natalie Nock said she has to study harder for her business classes than any of her other classes.

“I think that a lot of students want to be business majors but don’t have some of the skills necessary, myself included” Nock said. “[Students] should consider going to tutoring more often or even switching majors. The business program at Appalachian is one of the best, and they make it challenging to give students a competitive edge in the real world.”

Story: STEPHANIE SANSOUCY, Senior News Reporter