Asian Americans Get Bigger Share of Admissions to UC

Asian Americans this year widened their margin as the largest single racial or ethnic group admitted to the University of California’s most competitive campuses, according to annual admission statistics released Monday.

In contrast, other minority students, particularly blacks, continued to lag behind in the post-affirmative action era.

At UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego--the three most competitive campuses--the number of blacks admitted for 2000 remains about 40% lower than in 1997, the last year of affirmative action in admissions.

At UC Irvine, the number of African Americans invited to join the next freshman class fell to its lowest level since 1997.

The Irvine figures showed a 19% drop in the number of African Americans accepted, from 287 in 1997 to 233 this year.

“The percentages make it seem a bit more dramatic than the actual numbers,” said Manuel N. Gomez, UCI’s vice chancellor of student affairs. “But it is a disappointment, and we are concerned. It reflects a deeper problem in terms of the preparation of this particular group in California public schools.”

The number of Latinos has rebounded at those campuses, but is still about 20% to 30% below the levels at the university before voters banned affirmative action.

Systemwide, UC admitted slightly more Latino students for the class that will enter next fall than it did while affirmative action was in effect.

But the offers were mostly to attend the system’s less-coveted campuses, particularly UC Riverside and UC Santa Cruz. UCI and UC Davis also extended invitations to more Latinos than they did in 1997.

“I’m satisfied with the way the numbers turned out,” said Carla Ferri, systemwide director of undergraduate admissions. “Students still do feel that the University of California is a very viable institution for them.”

The number of Asian American students at UC has been climbing for decades, reflecting cultures that place enormous stock in the value of a quality education.

Although more white students than Asian Americans were admitted systemwide, Asian Americans are the largest group in the freshman classes for Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Irvine and Riverside.

In another trend, young women continued to make an increasing proportion of what will be next fall’s freshman class: Of the roughly 46,000 students with offers, 56% are female.

The effort to increase the number of “underrepresented minorities”--primarily blacks and Latinos--at UC campuses involves several steps.

UC officials now spend an estimated $250 million a year on “outreach” activities to help underprivileged and minority students meet minimum eligibility requirements or become academically competitive for UC admission and to encourage them to apply.

Some tactics are quite simple, such as UC President Richard C. Atkinson sending talented minority students personal letters, urging them to apply.

Other efforts include targeting younger students and will require more time before they pay off, said Margaret Heisel, who runs UC’s outreach efforts.

Gomez said UCI has been offering support to disadvantaged schools through teacher training, curriculum reviews and summer enrichment programs for students.

The work seems to be having some impact. Minority applications soared this year, both systemwide and at the most selective campuses.

Yet the competition for slots at UCLA and Berkeley remained extraordinarily fierce. UCLA received 37,700 applicants for 4,200 seats and Berkeley received 33,192 applicants for 3,710 seats. In that highly competitive pool, larger numbers of highly qualified Asian American and white applicants overwhelmed even the most talented black and Latino students, admissions officials said.

Under policies adopted by the UC regents, at least half of the freshmen class must be picked on the basis of academics alone--grades, test scores and the caliber of their high schools.

With the remaining students, admissions officers try to give an edge to students who have overcome hardships, such as family poverty, to excel in academics.

Now that the admissions letters have gone out, the next phase of outreach begins--persuading students to take UC up on its offers.

Many of the best students are choosing among a fistful of opportunities, often including acceptance letters from elite private universities in the Ivy League.

UC Berkeley’s chancellor will lead an entourage of admissions officials next week to Los Angeles high schools, specially focusing on recruiting the brightest minority students. Berkeley admitted 301 African American students and 876 Latinos--slightly more than last year’s admission of 276 blacks and 741 Latinos.

Richard Black, acting assistant vice chancellor for admission and enrollment, said he was pleased that Berkeley has made some modest gains in minority numbers.

“This is not a short-term affair,” Black said. “Any rapid rebound in African American students is not going to happen.”

Competition at UCI became tighter, with slight increases to record numbers in the average GPA and SAT scores of accepted pupils.

The pool of accepted students at UCI had an average GPA of 3.84 and an average SAT score of 1231--the highest ever in both categories. Those offered seats in next year’s freshman class fell to 52% of all applicants, down from 57% last year.

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Times staff writer Ann L. Kim contributed to this report.

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UC Freshman Admissions

The number of Latino students admitted to the University of California system has finally surpassed the figure for 1997, when affirmative action was still in use. But Latino admissions to UCLA and UC Berkeley lag behind 1997 levels. The number of African Americans admitted remains lower than during the affirmative action era. The same is true of American Indians. Meanwhile, Asian American students continue on the upswing, closing in on whites systemwide and outpacing whites at the two most competitive campuses.

UC SYSTEMWIDE*

*--*

1997 1998 1999 2000 African American 1,510 1,248 1,390 1,404 American Indian 334 316 296 273 Asian American 13,649 13,697 15,415 15,475 Latino 5,622 5,258 5,753 5,935 White / Other 18,679 16,656 20,488 19,288 Declined to State 2,141 6,216 3,579 3,772 Total 41,935 43,391 46,921 46,147

*--*

UC BERKELEY

*--*

African American 562 191 276 301 American Indian 69 27 39 43 Asian American 2,925 2,998 3,196 3,225 Latino 1,266 600 741 876 White / Other 2,911 2,775 3,018 2,900 Declined to State 496 1,237 716 790 Total 8,229 7,828 7,986 8,135

*--*

UCLA

*--*

African American 524 313 329 315 American Indian 85 50 41 49 Asian American 4,173 4,228 4,194 4,376 Latino 1,512 995 1,041 1,180 White / Other 3,506 3,369 3,646 3,755 Declined to State** 650 1,655 846 917 Total 10,450 10,616 10,097 10,592

*--*

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

**UC officials have determined that the vast majority who did not report racial information were white or Asian American.

Source: University of California

Compiled by MALOY MOORE / Los Angeles Times