The way schools get around this and not get in trouble is to reject candidates under the “holistic” evaluation process. It’s easier for an admission officer to say that an Asian male student with 4.3/1500+ who plays tennis/piano well is less desirable than a white male student who’s a football athlete with 4.2/1400. I hate to say this but not just in the schools but in society in general, Asian males will often be stereotyped and will have the “less desirable” stigma against them. The Harvard court case is proof of this. I don’t know why the schools just don’t fix this by simply data masking name/sex/race before handing over the application packages to the decision boards.
@parentworry thanks for sharing! Do you think this is for all asians or chinese in particular? Just curious
@sawadeeka, not at CP. They are not holistic. Ethnicity plays no part in the algorithm. They do give advantage to underserved populations indirectly by giving MCA bonuses for Hayden Partner school and parent(s) who didn’t finish HS, but there is no mechanism to disadvantage high achievers regardless of ethnicity.
@parentworry, only UCB and UCLA are holistic, not all UCs. At the rest, there is no mechanism for race to disadvantage a student.
@eyemgh @memlover123 @sawadeeka @parentworry Thanks for all these comments - very interesting.
So, if CP and all the UCs – other than UCB and UCLA – are NOT holistic, that means high achieving and not socioeconomically disadvantaged Asians do not have a harder time being admitted, but URM are given indirectly an advantage.
However, does this mean at UCLA and UCB high achieving and NOT socioeconomically disadvantaged Asians ARE actually less likely to get in than, for example, a white student with the same stats and ratings in the other categories? For example, if two students with the same SAT scores, same GPA, and equivalent essays/extracurricular/leadership, etc. applied to UCB and UCLA, and assuming let’s say they both have very high stats, would the white student be more likely to get in than the Asian student?
Generally all far-eastern asians are affected by this practice. Based on UCB and UCSB examples, I am convinced all UC’s practice this to balance their racial profile even though they claim they do not consider race in their admission on their website. It is very obvious when you see other races getting accepted with much lower stats than asians. Havard got under a spotlight due to this issue recently but I am convinced this has been pretty widely prevalent practice among all high ranking colleges where too many asians flock to.
@parentworry At the UCSB chancellor’s reception on Sunday (early admits to UCSB, 10-15% of applicants?) the crowd was perhaps 80% Asian. What do you (or anyone else who is interested or knows ) think that means?
@collegemom111111 A lot of the UC’s have more Asians than you’d think. UCI is about 60% Asian, the rest of the schools hover around 30% with the exception of UCM/UCR. I could be wrong though. Diversity rates are on the websites
Our family is a Washington State resident, not CA resident. My second child applied to many UC and CS universities and thus I am here. If you are Asian though, I encourage to look into private midwest schools - my son is in a small liberal arts school in the midwest. My goddaughter is at the same school. They have so much scholarships, they flew them free to visit their school, they want ASIANS (or anyone who is colored) there! Just for your though!
@collegemom111111, I don’t know about UCB and UCLA other than that they are “holistic.” Overt use of race in admissions to CA publics though is illegal. They may have indirect methods, but I don don’t know for sure.
@eyemgh Another reason to love Poly! Their admissions process is for the most part based on merit and not the color of your skin.
As an Asian I know my son has to be above the rest to even be considered. I wonder if the look at sub groups. Asians are such a large group.
@gzza73, not at Cal Poly. Race plays no role in admissions. A high achieving Asian student will look exactly the same as a high achieving Caucasian student (or any other ethnicity for that matter) to the admissions algorithm.
@eyemgh I see you posted the final decisions thread. Do you think they’ll start releasing tomorrow? OOS first like what has been stated previously? Just curious if you have any more insights. Thanks.
@collegemom111111, no particular insight. I think the first time I did it, it was two weeks early. 
My son found out that he was accepted in December ( SDSU ) with a Biology major. His admission letter was accompanied by an application to apply for their honors program. Go Cal Poly!
In previous years, OOS has found out the Wednesday in the evening/night, so maybe OOS will be today.
What time do they usually come out?
@collegemom111111 At Cal Poly, no, race does not play a factor. But at many colleges (i.e. UCB) where they have the leeway of rejecting candidates on “holistic” level, the answer unfortunately is yes. For example, at Harvard, what placed them in the hot water with the supreme court was due to evidence of their admissions officers rating Asians lower on their “likeability” ratings, purely based on race alone. Fortunately, the justice presiding over the initial case was a conservative who supports the Asian community. Regardless of whether Harvard wins or loses, I think this case publicized the issue enough to hopefully change the way colleges do their business.
Last year it was around 2 pm, and note today would be mostly out of state if the timing is right. Thursday would be a combination of in state and out of state. but if they have a particular application towards the top of the pile and it is yours, you might hear tomorrow.
@eyemgh I knew CP doesn’t use race, but I didn’t know all the UC campuses (other than UCB/UCLA) doesn’t use holistic evaluation. That might explain the higher percentages of Asians at many of these campuses. I appreciate this info! That’s great news for our DS! 