Positive Outcomes of Holistic Review Research Highlighted in New Report

Research from the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Nursing and Urban Universities for HEALTH (UU HEALTH) showing how holistic review positively impacts diversity, student success and academics is highlighted in a recently-published report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Changing Face of Nursing, published Jan. 20, explores strategies that have increased diversity among nursing students and the nursing workforce.

Holistic review is a flexible, individualized way of assessing an applicant's capabilities by which balanced consideration is given to experiences, attributes, and academic metrics and, when considered in combination, how the individual might contribute value as a student.

A section of the report, titled "Looking Beyond the Numbers: Transforming Admissions,” focuses on research conducted by a team led by Greer Glazer, PhD, dean of the UC College of Nursing. The study, funded by the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities investigated how holistic review impacted the quality of the student body. 

The study found that the majority of health professions schools that adopted holistic review reported three measures—the average GPAs of incoming classes, graduation rates and the average number of attempts per student to pass required licensing exams—all remained unchanged or improved following the introduction of holistic review. At the same time, the student bodies at these schools had grown more diverse.

"The schools also reported to us that their learning environments had improved because students were engaging with a more diverse group of peers who introduced new ideas,” says Glazer. ”Holistic review uses no one set of criteria. It’s mission-based and broader than grade point averages and test scores.”

According to the report, lessons learned from this study were that expanding nursing school admissions criteria beyond test scores and grades can lead to a more diverse student body and schools must ensure that their admissions criteria are aligned with their institutional missions and will stand up to legal scrutiny.

The UC College of Nursing has placed an emphasis on diversity through student pipeline programs, innovative practices and strategic partnerships in the surrounding community. The Pathways for Emerging Healthcare Leaders Program, developed by the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing as a joint initiative among several UC colleges and community partners, has been awarded a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the Office of Minority Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

The new program, led by Glazer and Karen Bankston, PhD, associate dean for clinical practice, partnership and community engagement at the College of Nursing, will build on an initiative started three years ago in which the college partnered with six high schools in the Cincinnati urban core to support college readiness and programming to strengthen student retention among college freshman and sophomores in the health professions.