There are two possible cases here:
- The new auto-admit criteria are higher than the competitively determined thresholds that the school otherwise uses (i.e. auto-admit students would be admitted anyway without the auto-admit policy). In this case, the only real effect is to give assurance before application that the school is an admission safety for those who meet the new auto-admit criteria. I.e. an increase in transparency from the point of view of prospective applicants.
- The new auto-admit criteria could admit some applicants who would not otherwise meet the competitively determined threshold that would otherwise be used. In this case, there would be an effect on which applicants get admitted or not, in addition to the increase in admission transparency.
The question is, which of the above scenarios is likely to be the one that applies to each campus with new auto-admit criteria?