BERKELEY, Calif.
A faculty review awarded high marks to the University of California's new admissions process that tries to consider students' personal and academic challenges as well as their academic records. Critics, however, say the new policy, known as comprehensive review, lowers academic standards and encourages students to come up with hard-luck stories to impress application readers.
But the faculty review released last month found the process was successful in its first year with academic levels remaining stable, campuses keeping the system fair and a small spot-check indicating students were being honest.
UC's governing board of regents discussed the policy last month in San Francisco and decided to spot-check applicants' claims of hardship next year, hoping to defuse criticism that their new policy of taking disadvantage into account invites students to embroider tales of woe.
UC officials already verify all applicants' grades and test scores. Admissions officers are now working on expanding the verification system by drawing a random sample from all applications and asking those students to back up claims of extracurricular activities and achievements. Some hardships, such as poverty, will also be checked, although officials won't ask for evidence of very personal claims of adversity, such as a criminal assault. Students who can't verify claims will be denied admission.
Comprehensive review went into effect this fall at UC's most selective campuses: Berkeley, UCLA, San Diego, Davis, Irvine and Santa Barbara. The other two, Santa Cruz and Riverside, are able to accommodate all eligible applicants and therefore don't need comprehensive review to determine who will get in.
UC admits all students who meet basic eligibility requirements, but not necessarily to the campus of their choice. Comprehensive review helps determine which campus a student will attend. Applicants are judged on 14 criteria, 10 of which are academic. The other four span such experiences as overcoming something like a disability, a disrupted home life or poverty.
