Get a Life or Get Accepted

The news that Asian American students were the largest ethnic group admitted to the University of California’s most prestigious campuses has generated certain resentment. Many are puzzled by the fact that Asian students appear to be extraordinarily successful navigating the very same academic waters that others find so perilous.

It’s not that Asian students are smarter. They simply do the work.

Admission to the UC system is largely determined by a combination of grades and SAT scores. As UC offers an extra point for grades earned in advanced placement and honors classes, students enrolled in these courses have a numerical advantage over students in regular, unweighted classes. This year, the average grade point average of students admitted to UCLA was 4.17. With stiff competition for coveted spots--37,700 applicants for 4,200 seats--only those who earn top grades in the most academically challenging classes get in.

UC hopefuls need to be willing to devote their four years of high school almost entirely to schoolwork. Needless to say, the system isn’t fair. Many students must work jobs to help their families survive. Others have changed schools many times as their parents move to find better jobs, making it difficult to qualify for honors classes in their new school. Some attend high schools where few advanced placement courses are offered. Often intelligent and talented young people are simply unwilling to spend 8 to 10 hours a day with their noses in a book.

A typical day in the life of an 11th-grade student planning to apply to the University of California begins at daybreak. Ms. UC Hopeful arrives on campus at 8 a.m. If she is a member of the band, orchestra or madrigals she must come an hour earlier in order to make room in her schedule for music. Her last class ends at 3 p.m., but if she plays a sport, practice will run until at least 5 p.m. On days when her team plays “away,” it could be 7 p.m. before Ms. Hopeful gets home.

With her sights set on Berkeley, this young woman is most likely enrolled in three advanced placement classes along with pre-calculus and a third year of a foreign language. Each of these courses requires from 30 minutes to 60 minutes of homework every night, leaving her zero minutes for chores, television, phone calls or that ubiquitous teenage activity called “chilling.” The weekend often is spent catching up on the work she couldn’t finish during the week.

Few teenagers are able to discipline themselves to such a regime. Those who do are the ones currently being admitted to the University of California’s prestigious campuses.

The formula for success is simple: challenging coursework plus enormous effort minus familial responsibilities and recreation equals admission. How many students are willing to do the math? Given that a third of the students admitted this year to the University of California were Asian American, the answer is clear. They are.