UCLA admissions data released Thursday morning showed an increase in the number of admitted black students in addition to an increase in the overall percentage of underrepresented minorities.
While 11,837 students out of an applicant pool of 50,729 were offered admission, black students comprised 3.4 percent of those admitted ““ an increase from last year’s 2.1 percent.
The number of prospective black students for fall 2007 increased to 392 from 249 last year, following the administration’s recent move to implement a holistic selection process that was used to assess the incoming freshman class.
This year’s black admits constitute the largest number of students of this demographic at UCLA since before the implementation of Proposition 209, which banned the use of affirmative action in admissions decisions and began affecting UCLA’s admissions decisions with the incoming fall class of 1998.
Janina Montero, vice chancellor of student affairs, said the change to a holistic approach ““ a selection process which considers the applicant’s file in its entirety ““ was intended to make the admissions process more fair for all applicants and not target any group specifically.
UCLA is a highly selective institution, UCLA administrators said, noting the university receives more applications than any other school in the country, and about 90 percent of them met the University of California’s eligibility requirements.
“We strongly agreed that a holistic approach made more sense for us,” Montero said, noting the significantly low number of enrolled black students in last year’s freshman class was a “catalyst” for the change, but not the only reason.
Increasing the presence of underrepresented minorities at UCLA has been a long-standing concern for campus officials, administrators and community members.
While the latest numbers released are only preliminary, the number of underrepresented minorities as a percentage of the admitted class has already increased compared to last year ““ from 14.4 percent to 16.6 percent.
But attributing the rise in the number of underrepresented minorities to UCLA’s newly adopted holistic approach is questionable at this point.
Since the new selection process is in its first year, it is difficult to assess the causal effect on the newly admitted class, Montero said.
While the number of admitted black, Latino and Chicano students increased, the number of Native American students declined from 51 students in fall 2006 to 44 in fall 2007. Though the total number of accepted Native Americans has decreased, the acceptance rate has remained relatively constant.
Montero said the university’s inability to consider race, ethnicity and gender in admissions makes it difficult for administrators to be as responsive to underrepresented communities as they might like. She added that UCLA administrators hope to increase representation from the Native American community next year.
Though university officials are excited about the increase in admitted underrepresented minorities, some UCLA community members expected more.
“It’s a bit disappointing,” said Tina Park, Undergraduate Students Association Council external vice president and member of the UC Academic Senate Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools. “It’s a moderate increase.”
Park said even with UCLA administrators’ increased outreach efforts and initiatives directed at underrepresented minorities, she did not see the surge of black students she had hoped for.
“We are on the right track. … We need to continue to build on the momentum of this year,” Park said, referring to implementing bigger changes in UC-wide admissions policies for the future.
Anna-Christina Ramon, research coordinator at the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, said she believes the change to holistic review helped achieve a more diverse group of students and is a positive step.
Some have criticized the holistic approach for lowering admissions standards by giving nonacademic factors more weight, but Ramon said the latest UCLA admissions data refute that.
“Traditional indicators of merit (such as GPA, grades and test scores) increased for this year’s admitted class, ensuring that a diverse student body does not equate to lowering student standards in terms of traditional indicators of merit,” she said.
Admissions data at the UC level brought some record-high numbers as well, with 57,318 students from California offered admission to at least one of the nine campuses for fall 2007.
Systemwide, the UC also saw the highest admission rate for underrepresented minorities in several years, with 22.9 percent of minority applicants from California being offered a spot at the university.
Now that admissions decisions have been posted, prospective students are in control of determining the final data as they decide whether they want to become future Bruins.
To help ensure that this increase in the number of accepted underrepresented minorities will be seen on campus as well, several student organizations such as MEChA and the Afrikan Student Union will be hosting admit days in late April.