Article 11:
Use of the LASSI in Graduate Admissions
by Marie Sather and Wayne Steffan
Fresno Pacific University

The LASSI is used in the Fresno Pacific University Graduate Admissions Office as a requirement for candidates applying to our School of Business, Leadership Studies master's program. A candidate would take this assessment if their BA/BS degree GPA was under 3.0. Once taken, it becomes part of their application file. The program director reviews this assessment result along with all the other application pieces to get a holistic view of that candidate and what they may be capable of at the graduate level.

We began using the LASSI July 2008. Since that time, we have had 11 out of our 37 admitted students take the assessment. We have found the LASSI convenient and easily accessible. This is helpful to our department since we do have a number of international students and we have three regional centers. The centers are in addition to our main campus.

Fresno Pacific University offers undergraduate and graduate programs that stress solid academic preparation and a strong ethical foundation. Each year about 2,400 traditional and adult students attend classes on the 42-acre main campus in southeast Fresno or centers in North Fresno, Visalia and Bakersfield. The university also reaches 14,000 students across the nation and around the world through professional development studies programs. FPU's traditional undergraduate program has the highest four-year graduation rate of any Central Valley college or university and is the Valley's only comprehensive Christian university granting master's degrees. FPU is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and ranked among the best in the Western universities --master’s category by U.S. News & World Report.

Since we began using the LASSI we have found that the assessment alone may not be a good indicator as to how one will perform in graduate school. It does, however, give additional information to those applicants who are borderline candidates. For the near future we will continue to use this assessment tool.

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