The criteria for evaluating students interested in studying at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) will change as of August 2023. Among the changes, some students will no longer have to take the College Board admissions test to be admitted to the country's public university system.

The UPR Board of Governors endorsed last Friday new amendments to the institution's Admissions Policy to create two new evaluation criteria: traditional and non-traditional. 

According to El Nuevo Día newspaper, traditional admission will evaluate students according to their academic average and PAA results. The new policy establishes that the academic average will have a weight of 60% of the general application index (IGS), while the results of the College Board test will account for the remaining 40%.  The 20% will go to verbal reasoning and the other 20% to mathematical reasoning. 

The "non-traditional" admission category seeks to expand the possibility for more students to pursue higher education. In this category, students must have a minimum high school GPA of 2.00 and are not required to take the College Board. Each program will design its own admission criteria. 

The UPR will open the period to fill out online admission applications starting Sunday, October 30