With enrollment numbers detailing UCLA’s latest freshman class recently unveiled, administrators and students seem optimistic that the new process is working to help application readers better understand students.
“There has been an overwhelming positive response to the quality of the selection process ““ the opportunity to really see a student’s experience really displayed in full,” said Janina Montero, vice chancellor for student affairs.
“(This fall’s class) is very accomplished in terms of what they’ve done academically as well as personally. They’re ready to participate,” she said.
The public reception to holistic admissions has focused on increasing racial diversity, though using race as a factor in decisions is forbidden under Proposition 209.
On this front, the process seems to be succeeding. The new class showed increased racial diversity in several categories, with the number of black students enrolled increasing from 100 in fall 2006 to 204 for 2007.
But this process should take into account equally important aspects of students’ backgrounds that have not received the same attention as race.
Particularly, economic disparities among families and communities may provide great challenges to a student yet may go unnoticed in the admissions process.
“Race is utilized as a way to hide the class issue. The institution has to shift the way it views itself,” said graduate student and UC student regent-designate D’Artagnan Scorza. “Are we serving the working class or the elite?”
The numbers from this year’s class illustrate how socioeconomic factors have figured into the admissions process. For example, in 2007, UCLA received 8,069 applications from families making less than $30,000 per year, up from 7,880 in 2006, before holistic review was put in place.
Despite the increase in applicants from this demographic, the number accepted fell from 1,906 to 1,484 ““ an acceptance rate drop from 24 to 18 percent.
On the other hand, acceptance rates of students from families making over $100,000 has increased.
While such disparities may be the result of differing applicant pools and inflation, which cause some fluctuation each year, it says something about how education and class interact at UCLA.
In a university system designated to serve all people of California, questions should be raised as to whether admissions policies may be driving qualified ““ but less advantaged ““ students away.
“Education is the great equalizer in the country. It allows students to transcend economic and social challenges,” said Scorza. “When working class families are not adequately represented in the institution, we have work to do.”
While there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer as to why such disparities are increasing, solutions have been offered to augment the new admissions to encourage an increase in such diversity.
The work seems to start long before students submit their applications to the UC ““ in the California public school system.
“(These) students are failing in the state. This effects the whole pipeline leading to the university,” said Scorza.
One such way that UCLA can become ““ and has been ““ involved in recruiting students with challenging backgrounds has been through alumni donations that specifically target at-risk groups.
By raising $1.75 million in scholarship funding, the California Community Foundation and members of the UCLA Black Alumni Association opened the doors for more black students to attend UCLA.
The same methods could be used to raise money for deserving students based on specific social class hardships ““ students from single family homes or first generation students, for example ““ as opposed to race.
The focus would not necessarily shift attention away from underrepresented racial minorities. In fact, considering that many students are both members of racial minority groups and come from financially disadvantaged families, it would offer them additional resources to succeed, while not eliminating candidates based on race.
Vu Tran, UCLA’s director of admissions, cautions against drawing conclusions about holistic review based on one year’s data and said it may take years for a definitive conclusion to be reached.
However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t start working to make sure it is a success.
“If we don’t begin opening our doors and turning things around, we will fail our mission,” said Scorza.
Additional reporting by Julia Erlandson, Bruin senior staff. E-mail Noble at bnoble@media.ucla.edu.