<p>From the report:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/committees/boars/boars.supplmnt..eligibility.propsl.09.07.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/committees/boars/boars.supplmnt..eligibility.propsl.09.07.pdf</a></p>
<p>"Why is BOARS proposing these changes?
BOARS’ overarching goal is to better honor its Master-Plan obligations, and to
strengthen UC’s commitment to the social contract they imply. If the proposal is enacted, two main benefits are expected to result. First, enriching the applicant pool should enable campuses to select a group of students who are better prepared academically. UC’s current requirements for guaranteed admission to the system, which are presented in UC publications and web sites, deter applications from some students who are academically strong, but whose records have some technical deficiency. For example, the 2003 CPEC study estimated that about 10,000 seniors completed the required a-g courses, took the SAT I, and graduated with GPAs of 3.5 or better, but were ineligible for UC because they did not take the required SAT II exams. If campuses could receive and review applications from such students, they would likely find students who are better qualified overall than some students who are currently deemed eligible by the present version of the eligibility construct.</p>
<p>While eligibility, and therefore guaranteed admission to the system, involves meeting a GPA/test-score performance index, this index is set at such a modest level that nearly all students who take all required a-g courses and complete UC's test pattern are, in fact, UC eligible. At present, guaranteed admission to UC hinges primarily on students' course and test-taking behaviors, and, to a much lesser extent, on the grades and scores they
earn. Campuses can make better and more accurate decisions by reviewing all the information in the application, and by considering applicants’ accomplishments in the context of their particular schools and personal circumstances. Not surprisingly, BOARS has found that considering other information from the application, in addition to average grades and composite test scores, does result in more accurate prediction of students’ performance at UC.</p>
<p>The second expected benefit is better representation of California’s various communities. Under current procedures, nearly half of UC’s admitted freshmen come from high schools that account for only one-fifth of the state’s public high school graduates, and the trend is toward more stratification, not less. UC’s admitted freshmen come from households that have higher incomes and education levels than the general population of California. And the percentage of California high school graduates who are Chicano, Latino, African American or Native American is about two times bigger, and growing
faster, than the percentage of UC freshmen from these groups.</p>
<p>The admission guarantee to the UC system, with its attendant rigidly-applied eligibility rules, has failed to attract high-achieving students from less-advantaged backgrounds. The current requirements for guaranteed admission instead favor students from high schools where curricula, counseling, and administrative procedures are geared toward maximizing the number of students who meet UC’s requirements. These high schools tend to be affluent, enrolling relatively large proportions of white and Asian students.
Enacting the BOARS proposal should increase the number of applications from the rest of the high schools. As the applicant pool draws from more high schools, it should also become more representative in terms of income, education, race, and ethnicity. A more representative pool should result in a more representative group of admitted freshmen. From this larger and more inclusive pool of applicants, campuses should be able to select students who are more qualified academically and who better represent California."</p>