The Joint API Legislative Caucus has specific reservatios about how the new admissions proposals would decrease the percentages of Asian Pacific Islanders from 32.6% to 25.2% of the entire eligibility pool, including both guaranteed and entitled to review applicants.  The UC has not made available sufficient information on how or what aspects of the proposal would cause this decrease. -- From California API Legislative Caucus to UC Regents, 02.03.09

Today we're going to have a math lesson on percentages, numerators, and denominators; so we can understand why the percentage of students entitled to UC admissions review (ETR) that are AAPI goes from 32.6% to 25.2%. Before the math lesson, let's understand how the new UC policy will determine which high school students will be entitled to review (ETR) in the UC admissions process.

So this is a message for today's 9th graders.  It's never too early to start preparing for college!  I know, it’s crazy, you just started to get used to high school, finally getting the upperclassmen to stop picking on you, and already you gotta start prepping for college? YUP! So pay attention! For you high school frosh, by the time you apply for the UC, to enter in Fall 2012, the requirements I listed in the last blog entry will be different. •    By the end of your junior year, you need to be done with 11 of 15 college prep courses. Like I said before... get thee to your guidance counselor! •    Just like before, you'll have to maintain a weighted GPA of at least 3.0.  So take lots of honors and AP courses! •    Take the ACT writing test OR the SAT reasoning test.  That's right... no more SAT subject tests, unless you want to be a superstar and take some anyway. The UC will still look at them, and think, "Wow! Super Achiever! We'll count these tests like we count AP test scores." Congratulations! You are now entitled to review (“ETR”), meaning that you can apply to all the UC campuses you want, and they will consider you for admissions. YAY! Go you! In the new policy, you still have to meet the 3 requirements of a GPA minimum, taking the right test and courses. So, the only piece changing in this part is which test you need to take. Remember, in the old policy, that even if you’ve done all 3 requirements that you’re still not entitled to an admissions review?  The new policy also changes so that if you finished these three requirements… you get to have your application reviewed. And in total, the UC predicts that there would be about 76,000 of you out there who would be ETR, or 21.7% of all California high school graduates (as opposed to only 12.5% in the old policy)! What about guaranteed admission? Well… the new policy reduces the proportion of students who are guaranteed admissions. In the new policy, you are guaranteed admissions IF: •    You finished the 3 requirements to become ETR. AND •    You are in the top 9% of the state based on an index of grades and tests. OR •    You’re in the top 9% of your high school graduating class. So statewide, the competition becomes more FIERCE! But at the high school level, competition loosens up just a bit… so go be friends with your AP classmates… no more backstabbing! These two groups (top 9% CA + top 9% CA H.S. classes) add up to about 10.1% of the state’s high school graduating seniors.  Congrats to this crew… you’re in the next UC freshman class!  But just like before, just because you’re in the UC, doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed the campus or major of your choice. I hear the flowers blossoming out in Riverside are simply lovely this time of year! Now, for the rest of you who won’t be in the top 9% statewide or in the top 9% of your graduating class, but you finished all those 3 requirements (GPA, test, courses)… the door of UC opportunity is still wide open. Another 11.6% of you CA high school graduates in the class of 2012 will still get to apply to any UC campus of your choice and be fully considered for admissions. 10.1% (ETR & guaranteed) + 11.6% (ETR & not-guaranteed) = 21.7% of CA H.S. students will now be ETR = Entitled to Review in the UC admissions process. And just like before, if you're ETR and you apply, your application will be forwarded to the campuses you applied to for review… more on that in the next blog entry. So, what’s the projected change in UC eligibility, by race, when we make these changes? Now it’s time for the math lesson… (Remember… it’s just a stereotype that Asians are good at math!) Yes, comparing the % in column B to column E, you see the drop in the percentage of AAPI represented, from 32.6% in 2007 to 25.7% of the predicted ETR total. And you see Whites go from 42.7% in ’07 to 46.5% of the predicted ETR.  File a law suit! The UC is discriminating against us! Yo, hold up! Don’t call your lawyer just yet.  Check out columns C and D, compared to B. Every population INCREASES in the NUMBERS of students who get a shot to be admitted to the UC.  The reason the AAPI percentage reppin’ in the ETR (column E) drops to 25.7% is because the denominator jumps to 76,141. Because, I’m guessing that a large proportion of Asian Americans (not PI’s) are already reppin’ in the current numbers of eligible students, our increase under the new policy is relatively smaller than the increases for everyone else.  We are such models of eligibility already! Kidding! The White increase in eligibility makes up about half of the total increase in the denominator.  See… (35,406-19,996)/(76,141-46,795) = 0.53 → 53% Now, let’s compare apples to apples.  Students in columns B and F, if they apply to the UC, are all guaranteed admission. Look at column G. EVERYONE drops in their numbers of “guaranteed admissions.” And well… that’s because the total number of guaranteed drops to 35,475.  African American students, not AAPI, experiences the biggest drop in their numbers of guaranteed students with a 36.3% drop. Whites have the smallest dip (16.8%).  AAPI and Latinos run neck in neck in their percentage drops for guaranteed students. So, looking at the AAPI reppin’ as a % of guaranteed students, we drop to about 30.5% of the guarantees (column H). Whites still increase to 46.9% of the guaranteed numbers. My guess is that this is because of their relatively higher test scores and grades, which keep them more concentrated in the top 10.1% of high school grads, since their drop (16.8%) was smallest. Just a guess. But… overall, the number of AAPI students entitled to admissions review still increases by almost 4,000. AAPI share of guaranteed students goes from 32.6% to 30.5%.  Other minority population shares of guaranteed numbers also drop slightly (compare column B to H). A few reasons are possible for the changes in numbers: Of course, first and foremost, the change from top 4% to top 9% in high school graduating classes shakes things up. And the other reason… the UC was one of the last public universities to still require the SAT subject tests, especially since the College Board (big corporation that owns the “SAT”) switched up their tests in 2006 so that the SAT reasoning test now has a writing component. They also addressed some of the racially biased issues in their test. (more info on this) This leads to a few possible reasons for the massive increase in students who are ETR, many who are high achievers (at least 3.6 GPA) and finished all the other requirements for eligibility (finished all college prep course requirements). (more info on this) •    Students with their sights set on Stanford, Northwestern, NYU, Harvard, Cornell, MIT, Princeton, Yale, LMU, Pomona, Oberlin, Santa Clara, USF, USD, Dartmouth, Columbia, Brown, etc. etc. don’t need to take the SAT subjects. (lots o' whites in this group, i'm guessing) •    Low-income students (including many immigrant students, Southeast Asians, Filipinos and Pacific Islanders) who don’t think they can afford the UC will apply to the CSU or Community College system instead. And if they don’t think they can afford the UC, they might not think they can get financial assistance to pay the testing fee. (and lots o' whites in this group too... my hunch) •    California still deals with persistent inequalities in its K-12 system, like many other states. Students who go to poorly resourced high schools, including many AAPI students, may be more dependent on their schools, especially guidance counselors, for information on how to get into college. California is notorious for having the worst counselor to student ratio. These students might not know they need to take the SAT subject tests too, under the current policy. What this all means is that the SAT subject test requirement is an unnecessary barrier to high performing students from even applying to the UC. Now imagine if the UC had gotten rid of all test requirements, and how many more students would get a chance to apply! Maybe some day, no SAT will be required... ahhh... a girl can dream. OK… long blog entry done... that's the new UC policy on who gets to be entitled to admissions review. So, what do you think it all means? By the way, I got the data for the table from this UC Regents document. What about people saying that AAPI admit numbers will go down? Stay tuned for the 3rd installment!