Minority Admissions at UC Almost at 1997 Level

The University of California announced Friday that it admitted nearly as many black, Latino and American Indian students this year as it did before banning affirmative action, but minority admissions have not shown the same resilience at the two most competitive campuses.

Overall, the university’s eight undergraduate campuses sent out 7,439 admissions letters to these underrepresented minorities, only 27 fewer than in 1997.

At UC Berkeley, the number of blacks accepted was up 45% and Latino acceptances were up 24%, rebounding partially from the dramatic drops last year when UC campuses admitted their first freshman class without considering race, ethnicity or gender.

Berkeley Admissions Director Bob Laird attributed the gains to flexible selection criteria that give students credit for achievements other than grades and test scores, as well as the aggressive recruitment of minority students with academic talent.

“We had stronger applicants from African American and Chicano communities,” he said.

At UCLA, the admission of Latinos was up 2% and admission of blacks was down 4% from last year.

Yet UCLA officials said they admitted 10% fewer students overall, making it difficult to boost minority admissions at a time when the competition for limited seats reached an all-time high. The new freshman class will have a weighted grade-point average of 4.24 and a median SAT score of 1,330.

UCLA Chancellor Albert Carnesale said he is deeply relieved that the Westwood campus has not been caught in a spiral of declining minority admissions in which discouraged minority students no longer bother to apply.

“While we held our own with underrepresented minorities and avoided a downward spiral, we are not yet reaping the benefits of the expanded outreach efforts,” he said. “What I’d like is for us to make progress upstream faster.”

Not all students admitted to the university will enroll in the fall, and many were admitted to more than one campus. Yet admissions are the critical measure of access to the prestigious university.

As has been true in recent years, Asian Americans will be the largest group at UCLA and Berkeley, outnumbering whites.

Those minority students considered “underrepresented”--blacks, Latinos and American Indians--are not being squeezed out of the system in the post-affirmative action era.

Instead, those who in previous years would have made it into Berkeley and UCLA are being redistributed to less competitive campuses, according to statistics.

UC Riverside, for instance, has admitted nearly twice as many blacks and Latinos as it did two years ago. Only a fraction of these students will decide to enroll at UC Riverside.

UC applicants apply, on average, to three different UC campuses, as well as a smattering of other colleges and universities. The most talented students are in the enviable position of picking among a fistful of acceptance letters.

The admission process even pits one UC campus against another, considering that 59% of students admitted to Berkeley last year also were admitted to UCLA.

For that reason, even the most popular campuses double- or triple-book each seat.

So Berkeley mailed out offers to 8,197 high school seniors to become freshmen in the fall, expecting that 3,700 will ultimately enroll. UCLA issued 9,793 acceptance letters, hoping to reach its projected freshman class of 4,000 students.

Admitted students have until May 1 to notify the campus where they intend to register for classes. At that time, UC officials will have a much sharper picture of their freshman class.

In the meantime, Berkeley, UCLA and other campuses are launching extensive recruiting drives to persuade minority students they have admitted to come to their schools. These students will be courted like star athletes. They will field calls from encouraging students, faculty and alumni and be invited to lavish receptions on campus and at private homes. Many will have a chance to accompany a student on campus.

Carnesale, besides hosting many of UCLA’s receptions, will visit Carson and South Gate high schools to personally hand out some of the 185 Blue and Gold Scholarships--worth up to $20,000 over four years--to needy students. “We want students to know that they are not only welcome here, but are very much needed,” he said.

Systemwide, about 58% of admitted students are expected to enroll in one of the eight undergraduate campuses.

About 3,000 California high school seniors did not get an acceptance letter from any UC campus, despite being fully qualified. UC officials are now scrambling to find a spot somewhere in the system for these students and plan to mail out acceptance notices by mid-April.

The eight UC campuses sent out 47,804 admissions letters, with 7,439 going to African Americans, Latinos and American Indians.

Although the number going to underrepresented minorities is roughly the same as two years ago, the campuses now admit nearly 5,000 more students overall. As a result, these students make up a smaller proportion of the freshman class than they did in 1997, falling from 17.8% in 1997 to 15.9% of all domestic freshmen. (International students are excluded from these calculations.)

Using this measure, UCLA takes pride in how it increased the proportion of Latinos in its freshman class this year to 10.5%, up from 9.4% last year. Blacks remained stable at 3% of the freshman class, even though the actual numbers declined slightly.

UCLA has gained another distinction: It received the most applications of any single campus in America, with 35,621 swamping the admissions office this year.

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Minority Admissions

The combined number of blacks, Latinos and American Indians admitted to the University of California this year bounced back nearly to the level of 1997, when affirmative action was still in use. Admission of these “underrepresented” minorities also rebounded at UC Berkeley, but not to 1997 levels. UCLA’s minority admissions remained relatively flat, in part because heightened competition for limited seats forced the campus to send out 10% fewer offers of admission.

UC SYSTEMWIDE**

*--*

% change ’97 ’98 ’99 ‘98-’99 African American 1,510 1,248 1,390 +11% American Indian 334 316 296 -6% Asian American 13,649 13,697 15,415 +13% Latino 5,622 5,258 5,753 +9% White/Other 18,679 16,656 20,488 +23% Declined to State 2,141 6,216 3,579 -42% International 926 873 883 +1% Total 42,861 44,264 47,804 +8%

*--*

UC BERKELEY

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% change ’97 ’98 ’99 ‘98-’99 African American 562 191 276 +45% American Indian 69 27 39 +44% Asian American 2,925 2,998 3,196 +7% Latino 1,266 600 741 +24% White/Other 2,911 2,775 3,018 +9% Declined to State 496 1,237 716 -42% International 221 206 221 +2% Total 8,450 8,034 8,197 +2%

*--*

UCLA

*--*

% change ’97 ’98 ’99 ‘98-’99 African American 524 313 300 -4% American Indian 85 50 38 -24% Asian American 4,173 4,228 4,065 -4% Latino 1,512 995 1,013 +2% White/Other 3,506 3,369 3,222 -4% Declined to State* 650 1,655 969 -41% International 192 220 186 -15% Total 10,642 10,830 9,793 -10%

*--*

* Students who declined to state their ethnicity dropped dramatically this year. UC officials have determined that the vast majority who did not report racial information were white or Asian American.

** Admissions totals for eight undergraduate campuses: UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Riverside.

Source: University of California