There are many determining factors – ethnicity, desired field of study, gpa, sat scores. I know of a few AA kids graduating HS this summer with above 4.0 (weighted) and 2100 or higher on the SAT and didn’t get accepted to UCSD/UCI (engineering major). What major did your relative apply for?

Why?

I thought discriminatory admissions policies were banned in CA. If the person has the qualifications REGARDLESS OF RACE, shouldn’t they be admitted?

Also, can someone apply to a UC as a different prospective major, then change to engineering/CS? Nothing wrong with a bit of creative prevarication to get what one wants.

Does AA mean Asian-American or African-American, BTW? Common usage is the latter.

[quote=spdrun]Also, can someone apply to a UC as a different prospective major, then change to engineering/CS? Nothing wrong with a bit of creative prevarication to get what one wants.[/quote]

That was difficult even 30+ years ago. UCSD’s engineering became an impacted major as early as the late 80s….and it looks like the official policy now is that a student can’t change to an impacted/capped major.

https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/capped-majors.html

[quote=ltsdd][quote=spdrun]Also, can someone apply to a UC as a different prospective major, then change to engineering/CS? Nothing wrong with a bit of creative prevarication to get what one wants.[/quote]

That was difficult even 30+ years ago. UCSD’s engineering became an impacted major as early as the late 80s….and it looks like the official policy now is that a student can’t change to an impacted/capped major.

https://students.ucsd.edu/academics/advising/majors-minors/capped-majors.html%5B/quote%5D
There were impacted majors in the early 80s, ie Computer Science (I think it was set as impacted in ’81 or ’82). One of the problems has been that the UC System has done two things that have adversely affected availability of courses and admissions.

1) While the UC System can’t directly apply affirmative action, they can take action to make sure admissions are reflective of the population of California. This creates a partial racial profile. This creates a problem where not all admitted have the ability to complete the coursework due to weaker High School Education. This creates a situation where graduates may take longer than 4 years to complete their degree, or never complete.

2) The available courses do not reflect the actual market demand for the skills. We have a very large demand for EE, CE, CS people – yet the funding doesn’t necessarily reflect it. There is a perceived importance within the UC System, in making sure that there is a ‘diversity’ in education paths as well as having those paths supported. However, it ignores the need of the public and part of the real task of the UC System. Too many degrees are being supported that don’t lead to a employment opportunity that would pay off or support the costs of education. At the same time, California and the United States economy are crying for other degrees that are being left under-supplied. The UC System needs to recognize that part of their money comes from the State as well as the land they are on – and they have an implicit requirement to supply the education that the state needs.

Fixes?:
1) Drive the education requirements that are needed for college down the the High Schools. In part, this is being done through Common Core, however Common Core is being fought by the Teachers Unions and others, as well as being corrupted from within and through the Text Book Publishers.
2) Start increasing funding of impacted educational paths. They are obviously needed by the public and industries that end up funding the UC System. This may mean cutting back some of the other study paths to a degree. When I went through the UC System, there was one course EECS 163(A/B) that was a requirement for the EE/CE degree. This course was only taught by one Professor. During my time, there were only about 10 Professors that handled the upper division courses required for the EE, CE and CS degrees. Some of these Professors also handled some of the lower division requirements for the courses.
3) Get the UC System to understand that they need to serve the citizens of California, else they have no right to use the land they are on which came at a discount because it is a public University intended to serve the residents of California. Expose the UC System to the real costs involved in a student that is not a California resident, so that the University sees the real costs not just the increased tuition. The current arrangement distorts the actual costs and profits.

Sorry if I am a little disjoint here – I have been watching the online series called “Mostly Human” as I type(multi-tasking)
http://money.cnn.com/mostly-human/

UCLA provides some stunning statistics. They have stats on each fall admission since 1998.

For 2016, the bottom 25% quartile had an unweighted GPA of 3.85, with 16 honors courses and a weighted GPA of 4.29

The intersection of mostly A’s and lots of honors courses is pretty clearly outlined. All the extra isn’t.

http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/Adm_fr/Frosh_Prof16.htm

Does a candidate to UC have to prove their ethnicity? (If so how?) Can’t anyone just claim to be whatever race will increase their chances?

Pretty sure there is no affirmative action at UCSD. Just based on casual stroll through campus looks like about 70% of the students are Asian, definitely not reflective of the population as a whole. And you’ll have to look very hard to find a black person, even on the basketball team.