As a product of the University of California – Go Aggies! – I will tell you from first hand that the UC demographic is all Asian. As it stands, having four- to five-times the amount of Asians represented in California’s premier school system isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But the breakdown is certainly telling in terms of where balance is needed. In a state funded education system where Asians make up only 12.4% of California’s population, Asians make up 40% of the university’s student body.

To address the imbalance, UC regents have decided to relax admission standards in order to expand the UC applicant pool.

As it stands, Fall 2008 admissions data from UC schools indicate the following breakdown:

University of California, Berkeley

• Asian-American: 46%
• White: 30.2%
• Latino: 11.5%
• African-American: 3.7%

University of California, Los Angeles

• Asian-American: 38%
• White: 34%
• Latino: 15%
• African-American: 3%

University of California, Davis

• Asian-American: 42%
• White: 36%
• Latino: 12%
• African-American: 3%

University of California, Irvine

• Asian-American: 51%
• White: 24%
• Latino: 12%
• African-American: 2%

University of California, Santa Barbara

• Asian-American: 19%
• White: 53%
• Latino: 19%
• African-American: 3%

Effective in 2012, UC Regents have changed the admissions requirements and process to drop the SAT subject test (SAT II) and to extend automatic admissions to the 91st percentile of California high school students.

Applicants are currently required to maintain a certain GPA and SAT composite score that combines SAT and SAT II scores in order to qualify for UC. The new requirements will lax the current standards. But UC estimates the new changes would qualify 1,800 more black, 7,500 more Latinos, 15,000 more whites, and 4,000 Asian-American students.

Although the test is aimed to increase UC’s applicant pool, Asian- and African-American students benefit the least. Especially since Asian-Americans perform better on the soon-to-be dropped SAT II subject test and other minority and white students perform better on the SAT (I) reasoning test, Asian American political pundits suggest the new requirements will greatly reduce the number of Asian Americans in UCs. 

Further, the Asian-American community is most outraged in UC’s lack of outreach or consultation from the Asian community before instituting the changes.

I am a firm believer that admissions boards should admit individuals and not individuals from X-ethnic group. With that said, special attention does need to be paid to underrepresented minorities. While much of the Asian community suggest the requirement changes would lower the academic standards of the UC system, I believe any drop in academics are minimal as the increased diversity would outweigh any potential drop and will aid the melting-pot development of California youth.