Everett High School seniors with a weighted grade point average of 3.0 or better are now admitted to Salem State University without an application fee, SAT or ACT scores, letters of recommendation or an essay. Superintendent William Hart and Salem State President John Keenan signed the direct admissions agreement in the high school library on Thursday, October 15, in front of members of the class of 2027, who are the first students covered by it.
It is the district’s second such deal in five months. Worcester State University signed one with Everett on May 28 with a lower bar, a weighted 2.5, for its undergraduate day programs. Hart told the room Thursday that he hopes it is “the second in a series” and said the district is also using state grant money to arrange education credits at Salem State for its own staff who want to become teachers or administrators.
How it works
- Eligibility is a weighted cumulative GPA of at least 3.0. The agreement takes effect this school year, so current seniors qualify.
- Admitted students skip the application fee, standardized test scores, recommendation letters and the college essay. Bonnie Galinski, Salem State’s vice president of student success, said students who come in through direct admissions get a short form by QR code, “you’re going to fill it out, and you are automatically into our program.”
- Some majors keep their own requirements. At the School Committee’s October 19 meeting Hart said nursing, engineering and some science programs have additional criteria, and that the district shares the eligible list with Salem State, which then contacts the students. Galinski said nursing has an early action deadline ahead of the regular one.
- Hart said the district will bus interested students to the Salem campus for a day or half day of walking the grounds and meeting faculty.
“Ten miles sometimes seems to be ten thousand”
Keenan, a former North Shore legislator who has led Salem State for ten years, said the campus is ten miles up the road and that the point of the agreement is “the belief that you can come to Salem State, and not only come to Salem State and enroll, but more importantly succeed.” He told students the university wants engaged citizens as well as professionals, noted that Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll is a Salem State graduate, and said former President Barack Obama had visited the campus about three weeks earlier.
Keenan also pitched the nursing program. He said a $100 million campus project called Project Bold is building new simulation, biology and chemistry labs that are due to open next September. Galinski said the education school, which has trained teachers for almost 175 years, offers a four-plus-one track that leaves students with a bachelor’s and master’s degree and a teaching license in five years, plus an educational care track for students who want to work in day care or other settings.
Hart said the agreement “gives all of our students the opportunity to dream and to think about things beyond the immediate area. And even though it’s ten miles away, sometimes ten miles seems to be ten thousand.” In the district’s announcement he said Salem State “offers 33 majors, more than 100 concentrations and minors, and has a proven track record with employers and industries throughout the Commonwealth.”
The student who spoke
Senior Christopher Kelly told the gathering he wants to study graphic design at Salem State “because I am creative and I enjoy fashion and art,” and that his goal is to succeed in the art industry. “Students like Chris are why universities like Salem State want to partner with us,” Hart said in the announcement.
Assistant Superintendents Dennis Lynch, Margaret Adams and Chris Barrett, Principal John Braga, guidance counselors and vice principals attended, along with Everett Teachers Association President Kim Auger, a Salem State alumna. Hart and Keenan have known each other for years; Hart was chief executive of the state’s community college executive office when he attended Keenan’s inauguration in August 2017, and he called Thursday a full-circle moment. The district’s recording of the ceremony runs ahead of the October 19 School Committee meeting on its YouTube channel, and the committee’s account of the deal is in our meeting story.
