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Many graduates of Berkeley County Schools (BCS) will now be accepted to college in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle without formally submitting an application.
That is because Shepherd University has launched a new initiative automatically admitting local high school graduates with a grade point average of 2.5 or higher, announced in a Thursday press release.
Graduates of Hedgesville High School, Martinsburg High School, Musselman High School and Spring Mills High School are eligible for the program.
Shepherd and BCS estimate 1,030 local students “are on track for automatic acceptance” this spring, according to the press release.
Through the program, students do not have to take action to receive admission. Instead, those that qualify will receive a letter denoting their admission.
“This is a wonderful program for our students,” said BCS Superintendent Ryan Saxe in the press release. “Shepherd is a part of the Eastern Panhandle community, but this initiative will connect them to our high schools in a meaningful way for students.”
The program’s launch comes as colleges and universities nationwide struggle with declining first-year enrollment. While Shepherd has seen an increase in its total enrollment since 2022, the student population sits well below figures from one decade ago.
Shepherd is not the only university in West Virginia making the admissions process easier for local students.
In May, the West Virginia University (WVU) Institute of Technology established a similar automatic admissions program for high school graduates in 13 southern West Virginia counties. In August, Marshall University launched an automatic admissions initiative of its own for schools in seven counties.
In the future, Shepherd hopes to expand the program to Jefferson and Morgan counties, according to the press release.
“We are so excited about this partnership and what it means for the young people who will be the leaders of tomorrow,” Shepherd President Mary J.C. Hendrix said in the release.
