UC Policy reduces # of Asians system wide

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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<p>USA Today 4/24/09</p>

<p>University of Calif. admissions rule angers Asian-Americans</p>

<p>By Terence Chea, Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — A new admissions policy set to take effect at the University of California system in three years is raising fears among Asian-Americans that it will reduce their numbers on campus, where they account for a remarkable 40% of all undergraduates.
University officials say the new standards — the biggest change in UC admissions since 1960 — are intended to widen the pool of high school applicants and make the process more fair.</p>

<p>But Asian-American advocates, parents and lawmakers are angrily calling on the university to rescind the policy, which will apply at all nine of the system's undergraduate campuses.</p>

<p>They point to a UC projection that said the new standards would sharply reduce Asian-American admissions while resulting in little change for blacks and Hispanics, and a big gain for white students.</p>

<p>"I like to call it affirmative action for whites," said Ling-chi Wang, a retired professor at UC Berkeley. "I think it's extremely unfair to Asian-Americans on the one hand and underrepresented minorities on the other."</p>

<p>Asian-Americans are the single largest ethnic group among UC's 173,000 undergraduates. In 2008, they accounted for 40% at UCLA and 43% at UC Berkeley — the two most selective campuses in the UC system — as well as 50% at UC San Diego and 54% at UC Irvine.</p>

<p>Asian-Americans are about 12% of California's population and 4% of the U.S. population overall.</p>

<p>The new policy, approved unanimously by the UC Board of Regents in February, will greatly expand the applicant pool, eliminate the requirement that applicants take two SAT subject tests and reduce the number of students guaranteed admission based on grades and test scores alone. It takes effect for the freshman class of fall 2012.</p>

<p>Some Asian-Americans have charged that the university is trying to reduce Asian-American enrollment. Others say that may not be the intent, but it will be the result.</p>

<p>UC officials adamantly deny the intent is to increase racial diversity, and reject allegations the policy would violate a 1996 voter-approved ban on affirmative action.</p>

<p>"The primary goal is fairness and eliminating barriers that seem unnecessary," UC President Mark Yudof said. "It means that if you're a parent out there, more of your sons' and daughters' files will be reviewed."</p>

<p>Yudof and other officials disputed the internal study that projected a drop of about 20% in Asian-American admissions, saying it is impossible to accurately predict the effects. "This is not Armageddon for Asian-American students," Yudoff said.</p>

<p>At San Francisco's Lowell High School, one of the top public schools in the country, about 70% of the students are of Asian descent and more than 40% attend UC after graduation.</p>

<p>"If there are Asian-Americans who are qualified and don't get into UC because they're trying to increase diversity, then I think that's unfair," said 16-year-old junior Jessica Peng. "I think that UC is lowering its standards by doing that."</p>

<p>Doug Chan, who has a teenage son at Lowell, said: "Parents are very skeptical and suspicious that this is yet another attempt to move the goalposts or change the rules of the game for Asian college applicants."</p>

<p>One of the biggest changes is scrapping the requirement that applicants take two SAT subject tests. UC officials say the tests do little to predict who will succeed at UC, no other public university requires them, and many high-achieving students are disqualified because they do not take them.</p>

<p>The policy also widens the pool of candidates by allowing applications from all students who complete the required high school courses, take the main SAT or ACT exams and maintain a 3.0 grade-point average. Under the current policy, students have to rank in the top 12.5% of California high school graduates to be eligible.</p>

<p>Students still have to apply to individual campuses, where admissions officers are allowed to consider each applicants' grades, test scores, personal background, extracurricular activities and other factors but not race.</p>

<p>The policy is expected to increase competition for UC admission. This year the university turned away the largest number of students in years after it received a record number applications and cut freshman enrollment because of the state's budget crisis.</p>

<p>"I'm getting all sorts of e-mails from parents, alumni and donors who are quite upset by the action UC took," said state Assemblyman Ted Lieu, chairman of the Legislature's 11-member Asian-American caucus.</p>

<p>Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed... < Haha Fuuuu ck you!</p>

<p>University</a> of Calif. admissions rule angers Asian-Americans - USATODAY.com</p>

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<p>wow… interesting… they do have a point though… I meant, both sides of the argument…</p>

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<p>wow…I originally thought this thread was a joke.</p>

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<p>What about women to men?</p>

<p>I heard some a freshman here at UCI last quarter that women outnumber men at UCI by about 2 to 1.</p>

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<p>Lowering standards to increase diversity? … hmmm this seems pretty wrong and I think Asian parents will become even stricter on education on their kids than they already are.</p>

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<p>This policy is not rational, and it is racially discriminatory. This kind of thing widens the gap between race and nationality.
Asian Americans get higher test score results and therefore the tests should be considered with lesser weight? What!?</p>

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<p>Most Asian Americans are 2nd generation Americans–grown and breed in America! They speak english no better than any other white folk, as well as love the American culture.</p>

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<p>I already brought this up a while back…but great to have more input.
For freshmen.</p>

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<p>I dont think it’ll affect asian admissions…asians will just have to be more well rounded now…(I’m asian, i got into ucla)</p>

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<p>Alarasus: "Most Asian Americans are 2nd generation Americans–grown and breed in America! They speak english no better****than any other white folk, as well as love the American culture. "</p>

<p>****no worse :slight_smile: </p>

<p>sorry… im just bored :D</p>

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<p>As a Hispanic UC applicant, I too agree that this policy is wrong. The Hispanic and Black communities need aggressive policies to help kids from young age, to socialize them into becoming the high achievers that they can potentially be. We do not need ad hoc, self-righteous solutions that will only create inequality in what fundamentally matters most: an education of quality commensurate with the caliber of the student willing to pursue it.</p>

<p>And in all honesty, when pat-on-the-back-we’ll-save-you bull**** policies like this come forth, they f***ing embarrass me.</p>

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<p>To reply to Grey’s post above, although the Hispanic and Black communities (not to mentioned other Urban populations) are tremendously under served, legislation has never yet been able to provide a universal boost as it were. I mean this is a problem that has been analyzed probably for the past 50 years, and there has yet to be a real solution that can uplift these populations–it probably stems simply from the racist origins of the United States and the capitalist labor system and how it makes commodities of people. I think this policy shift might actually benefit them more than anything else. True, on a purely meritocratic scale, Asian-Americans achieve simply because of they perform best on tests, demographically. But the SAT is a rigged game. It can be correlated directly to family income. It’s just another tool to preserve the ruling order, really. I think it’s an indirect disadvantage to Asian Americans, but really the argument isn’t very poignant. It just restructures the process and if anything makes things more level. If anyone could actually prove to me how this change disqualifies Asians then I would change my mind. As it appears I think it takes away the inherent advantages these populations have to begin with, such as higher incomes and access to better schools. That’s essentially like whining that you can’t bring a pistol to a knife fight really.</p>

<p>PS; I’m biracial Indian (Asian on any census).</p>

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<p>wow this sucks and so wrong at the same time. But then i understand both sides of the arguement.</p>

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<p>You guys say there are too many asians at UCI, but there are just as many at Berkeley, UCLA, and UCSD.</p>

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<p>***…</p>

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<p>ALERT!</p>

<p>Did you guys READ the article?</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>It just appears like the admissions process for the UC system as a whole will be somewhat less tied to test scores, more lax concerning high school prerequisites, and more competitive because there will simply be more freshmen applicants.</p>

<p>Nothing under the new guidelines specifically targets Asian or enhances the chances of whites.</p>

<p>Only this prematurely inflammatory source makes this assertion:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Have there been statistically rigorous tests to back up this claim? I doubt it. </p>

<p>USA TODAY and other media sources are obviously to blame for picking up on an obnoxious story just to boost readership. They are probably being aided and abetted by some insecure paranoid gasbags who have to find something to do as leaders of various ethnic advocacy organizations. </p>

<p>Reminds me of the numerous articles in the LA Times concerning the paucity of blacks on the UCLA campus. They are just catchy race baiting articles that make you want to buy and read the stupid newspaper.</p>

<p>That said, I could see how there might be some negative effects on students who may rely largely on quantitative assessments to set them apart from peers during the admissions process. It does appear that new applicants will be judged in a more qualitative manner.</p>

<p>Finally, this does not concern any of us here because we are transferring, which is probably the best pathway to entering the UC system, and the most likely to result in admission based on quantitative statistics like GPA and completion of prerequisites.</p>

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<p>Just because one ethic group is known to generally achieve more then the rest when it comes to academics does not mean they should be punished because of it. I know that every University would love to claim that they are the most diverse, but I feel the most important thing to do is to accept those students who have the best merit. If thats happens to be mostly asians, then thats fine. Damn affirmative action is being used too unfairly now a days.</p>

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<p>I don’t understand why people get their panties in a knot over this issue, when Asians are not specifically targeted. It just happens that the admissions guidelines are changing, becoming more relaxed, less reliant on test scores, and unfortunately this will probably decrease the number of Asians admitted. They’re trying to make it easier for a student from a household where academics probably aren’t paramount, and where the parents are probably unwilling to shell out $1000 for a SAT prep course. These students are typically black or latino, but since the UC system can’t ask for race information, they can’t check that box on their application.
If you want to get upset about an issue, get upset at private schools like USC that take race into direct consideration when admitting students. These schools give extra consideration to underserved minorities like blacks and latinos, and less consideration to Asians, just because they’re Asians.</p>

<p>Further, just to throw fuel on the fire, I think it’s ridiculous that a school like UC Irvine is 50%+ Asian. California is only 12% Asian. That’s a stereotype that has come to fruition.</p>

<p>Asians can be as ****ed about this as they want. The UC system NEEDS to do something about this. I suspect the article has a pro-Asian bias, because I seriously doubt the UC chancellors discussed this and said “We want to decrease the Asian population dramatically, increase the white population dramatically, but only increase the black and latino population slightly.” They want to increase the black and latino population as much as they can. The percentage of white students in the top-tier UC schools is less than the percentage of whites in California, but the percentage of Asians in the UC schools is significantly higher than the percentage of Asians in California… if they’re going to try to increase the percentage of black and latino students, one of the latter two races is going to have to decline in population… which do you think it’s going to be? The one that’s significantly higher than the state average.</p>

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<p>Still don’t understand why diversity is that important, I know it’s nice for UCs to claim that they’re diverse, especially when we’re here in the US, the country of diversity. However, do they care more about their merits as world-class educational institutions or their levels of diversity?
And hey, the US government is underrepresented as well, maybe they should limit the # of white people who can run for senators/representatives and let more Asians in.</p>

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<p>i think that any regulations regarding race are BS but if i may note every asian i know except one got accepted to ucla and every whitey or Caucasian person got denied… lol im talking 3.98 white girl get denied with massive EC’s
and then asian friends who arnt half as qualified get in…its so bull ****…but then again none of my asian friends got into ucsd…its all crazy both ways… it should be random no name no country background just a number and no whiny personal statement.lol
p.s. my asain friends deserved to ge tin but so did white friends is my point not taking sides i think its unfair overall…not one way or the other…ucla take non native americans whil other schools take opposite…weird… ohh well I <3 world any way</p>