Tuesday, February 24, 1998
UC may alter admissions to up diversity
DIVERSITY: Plan would qualify top 4 percent of California high
schoolers
By Marisa Wong
Daily Bruin Contributor
In an attempt to increase the pool of UC applicants, the UC
Board of Regents discussed qualifying the top 4 percent of students
from every California high school for admission to the UC
system.
An estimated 3,500 additional students would be added to the
applicant pool, while the amount of students admitted would not
increase, said Terry Lightfoot, spokesperson for the UC Office of
the President.
Because of this, Lightfoot estimates that 10 to 15 percent of
all applicants could be affected by this plan.
UC Regents speculate that admitting the top 4 percent of each
high school¹s students would help increase the diversity of UC
applicants, and give schools an incentive to offer more college
preparatory classes to make more students eligible for
admission.
³One would hope it would broaden the number of schools from
which we are drawing and add a more diverse element to the student
body,² said Regent Judith Levin. ³It also might encourage
schools to make more students eligible if this guarantee were in
place.²
³We are realizing that there are some hard working,
motivated students who find themselves at a disadvantage when
competing for admission to the university,² Lightfoot
said.
UC Director of Admissions Carla Ferri said the plan will not
make currently eligible students ineligible  it would just
increase the number of students in the eligibility pool.
³The eligibility rate for UC admission is now 11.1 percent
of all high school students,² Ferri said. ³We should be
at 12.5 percent and this plan brings us up to the level we ought to
be.²
UC officials also speculate that many of the students who
already are automatically admitted to the UCs would still be in the
top 4 percent category.
Criteria for what constitutes the top 4 percent of high school
students has yet to be determined, but Ferri said students will
still have to meet the minimum admission requirements of at least a
3.3 GPA, 15 units of college preparatory courses, and SAT I and II
examination results.
Students who do not automatically qualify for admission with the
4 percent plan would be admitted using the current admission
standards.
Some university officials have concerns with the considered 4
percent plan and fear that this could discourage other eligible
students from applying to the UC system.
³It may begin to act to discourage some students,²
Levin said. ³Some may think, ŒWhy should I try when
I¹m going to lose my space to someone at another
school?¹²
Levin also said she was concerned about the possibility of the
criteria not evaluating students on individual merit or specific
academic accomplishment, but rather on GPA.
UCLA Assistant Vice Chancellor Tom Lifka said he questions what
the criteria for the top 4 percent will be and also questions
whether high schools will want to be put in the position to
determine their top students.
He also stated that he does not think this process should be
used as a way to create a more diverse applicant pool.
³Eligibility is ultimately a question of whether students
are well prepared academically and have achieved a level of
competency,² Lifka said. ³It shouldn¹t be used as a
vehicle for achieving various forms of diversity.²
Currently 50 California high schools do not send any students to
UC schools. The four percent plan will be discussed again at the
end of the school year, and if implemented, will probably take
affect for the class of 2000.