"It's very obvious," Galligani said. "A student absolutely knows whether or not they are eligible for University of California."
Galligani called the higher admissions rates for Latino and black students at Berkeley and UCLA "very modest differences" from the overall admissions pattern. Some of the admitted students, he said, may have received consideration because they came from poor-performing schools.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday November 07, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 55 words Type of Material: Correction
UCLA admissions -- An article in Monday's Section A incorrectly reported that black and Latino students with SAT scores of 1,000 or less were about one-quarter more likely to be admitted to UCLA than Asian or white students with similar scores. The correct figure is 53%, as shown in the chart that accompanied the article.
Others may have gained entry through the university's so-called 4% Plan. The program guarantees admission to a UC campus -- although not necessarily the campus of choice -- to the top 4% of graduates from every public and private California high school that participates in the plan.
The 4% Plan helps students at poor high schools because even some top graduates there couldn't compete with the students admitted under the criteria that allow the top 12.5% of all high school graduates to enter the UC. The 12.5% formula applies to all students; the 4% Plan applies to each campus.
The Times analysis shows that the effects of the UC's admissions policy are different on each campus. Not surprisingly, these differences are most dramatic when the most competitive campuses, UC Berkeley and UCLA, are compared to the least, UC Riverside.
The Riverside campus is the primary destination for students who meet UC requirements but are rejected at other campuses. Half of the low-scoring students admitted to UC in the past two years, nearly 9,400, were admitted to UC Riverside. Nearly a third of those students enrolled.
James Sandoval, vice chancellor for student affairs at UC Riverside, said his campus is committed to accepting all students who are eligible for UC admission. Students rejected by the other more selective campuses accounted for 200 to 250 of last year's freshman class of 3,200 students, he said.
"Our students are just as successful as those at any other campus," Sandoval said. "They've earned it. Nobody's made an exception."
For their part, UC Berkeley and UCLA officials declined to comment at length on the Times analysis but said their admissions are consistent with university policies, which do not give priority to the SAT. UCLA issued a statement that a student's high school grade point average is given greatest weight among academic criteria in admissions, followed by SAT II and SAT scores. The SAT II is a test of a particular academic subject.
