<p>From today's IHE: Unintentional</a> Whitening of U. of California? :: Inside Higher Ed :: Higher Education's Source for News, Views and Jobs
"In the past few days, ..., a new issue has started to attract attention: concerns that the admissions policy changes that are expected to be approved by the Board of Regents today could lead to a significant drop in the numbers of Asian-American applicants who are admitted — with the major gains going to white applicants."
"The proposal before the Board of Regents today would do the following:
* End the requirement that applicants submit two SAT Subject Test scores.
* Narrow from the top 12.5 to the top 9 percent of high school graduates the percentage who will be guaranteed admission to the university system (although not necessarily to the campus of their choice).
* Expand the definition of applicants eligible for a full admission review to include all who complete 11 of 15 required high school courses by the end of their junior year, and achieve a grade-point average of at least 3.0"</p>
<p>dude i totally think that that is happening! it sucks being asian middle-class and applying to school, because even if you're good, there are so many others with the same story, the same numbers, same EC's.
its nuts. schools that want diversty take african americans, hispanics, etc, before they would take asians.</p>
<p>not to worry; the major gains won't go to white applicants. This is being done so they can do an end-run around the ban on affirmative action. By lowering the number guaranteed admission they free up about 1/4 the slots to fill any way they want. The way they want, it is clear from comments made when they were instituting holistic review, is more minority students.</p>
<p>White people are already at a disadvantage due to AA, isn't this just leveling the playing field?</p>
<p>I agree with Mikemac... this is to keep the door open for applicants from really lousy high schools, who have zero school based academic counseling (other than directed to community college or Cal St.), whose families are clueless about the preparation and application process for the UCs, and who cannot afford private college counseling.</p>
<p>With current no-exception requirements, it is very easy for an uninformed student who has assumed they were on track to apply to a UC, to realize too late that they missed one or two out of 30+ requirements (for example one core requirement, or one subject test).</p>
<p>well UC's dont do AA, do they? they dont do a quota thing or anything like that, i think they are all pretty much mostly on merit now, due to some pretty big court cases of people upset they didnt get in.</p>
<p>The UCs ought to set a minimum standard for eligibility for each campus, then draw names out of a hat to fill the class.</p>
<p>Every UC is like 35-40% Asian. Why not add some diversity?</p>
<p>Is this decrease in Asians in the admitted class being implemented this year for the high school class of 2009?</p>
<p>Are we sure it's unintentional? The UC's seem to be looking for ways to bring more diversity to their campsuses. Irvine for example, which was over 50% Asian just a few years ago, has had a declining number of Asians in each class these last few years.</p>
<p>I don't understand why diversity has to mean a majority of white students.</p>
<p>take the best applicants regardless of race.</p>
<p>the best applicants regardless of race won't make for the best learning environment.</p>
<p>I am a better person because I had to help those who came from more difficult backgrounds than I, it added a bit of realism to all the stories on the news about how minorities struggle in college because of poor HS. Now those same minorities are on par or better than there white counterparts. And I am a better person because of it as well.</p>