Early Entrance Program (CSU)

The Early Entrance Program (EEP) is an early college entrance program for gifted individuals of middle-school and high school ages at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) based on a similar program of the same name at the University of Washington, Seattle campus. The program allows participants to skip normal schooling and become full-time, degree-seeking college students. Although there are a number of early college entry programs, EEP is the only one of its kind in the United States in promoting a direct transitional scheme from middle and high school to college without intermediary remedial education. Recently, EEP has attracted national media attention. Applicants to EEP now come from all over the United States as well as international locales.

The Director of the Early Entrance Program is in charge of all EEP's operations. This position can be compared to a combination of an American high school principal and an academic advisor/counselor. The current Director is Richard Maddox, EdD, who has his doctorate from the University of Southern California (USC) in Educational Psychology. Maddox is responsible for the current EEP design, and has been the director of the Program since the 1995-1996 academic year. He has also encouraged EEP publicity, projecting it to nationally recognized status.

Every year, approximately 100 gifted students from all over the United States apply to EEP. However, each fall, only 25-40 applicants are admitted, after being screened by the ACT (American College Test) or the SAT and undergoing a rigorous assessment period called a "Provisional Quarter." The screening test used to be the WPCT (the Washington Pre-College Test).

An EEP applicant's first step is taking the American College Test (ACT) OR the SAT. The ACT is a standardized test for high school achievement and college admissions in the United States produced by ACT, Inc.[1] It was first administered in fall 1959 by Everett Franklin Lindquist as a competitor to the College Board's Scholastic Aptitude Test, now the SAT Reasoning Test.[2] Some students who perform poorly on the SAT find that they perform better on the ACT and vice versa.[3] The ACT test has historically consisted of four tests: English, Math, Reading, and Science reasoning. In February 2005, an optional writing test was added to the ACT, mirroring changes to the SAT that took place later in March of the same year. All four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. accept the ACT,[4] but different institutions place different emphases on standardized tests such as the ACT, compared to other factors of evaluation such as class rank, G.P.A., and extracurricular activities. If the ACT is taken at one of two annual testings administered at CSULA, the applicant does not complete the writing portion. The applicants to CSULA's PACE program also take this test. To qualify for the EEP, an applicant must score 23 or higher on the Math section and 24 or higher on the English section. To qualify with the SAT the applicant must score above a 510 on both the Critical Reading and Math sections.

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