UC Berkeley Admissions Scrutinized

The preliminary analysis of UC Berkeley admissions, prepared for the UC Board of Regents, showed that nearly 400 students were admitted to the campus in 2002 with scores of 600 to 1000 on the SAT entrance exam, far below the 1337 average SAT score for last year's admitted class. Sixteen hundred on the test is considered a perfect score.

The report also shows that more than 600 applicants with scores on the SAT of 1500 or above were not admitted, along with nearly 2,600 others with scores from 1400 to 1500. Berkeley officials say many of the rejected students with high SATs had relatively low grade-point averages.

Overall, the document finds, the admissions process at UC Berkeley "might not be compatible with [the school's] goal of maintaining academic excellence."

The report was prepared at the request of regents Chairman John J. Moores. It is based on university data, but contains extensive analysis that primarily was written by Moores. The report does not attempt to explain the reasons for UC Berkeley's admissions patterns. It does not break down admissions by race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status, nor does it measure changes over time.

But it urges a more comprehensive study of admissions -- including some of these factors -- at Berkeley and the university's seven other undergraduate campuses.

One regent, Ward Connerly, said Berkeley's flexible standards might be an attempt to get around the state's ban on affirmative action and admit more underrepresented minority students.

The analysis provides a highly unusual window into the student admissions process at UC Berkeley, one that -- despite the institution's status as one of the top public universities in the nation -- is largely hidden from public view.

UC Berkeley officials and faculty members acknowledged that the statistics in the report are generally accurate, but cautioned that in some instances the data were misinterpreted or misunderstood. They strongly defended their admissions practices, saying that academics are the leading criterion in all decisions, apart from a small number of exceptions for those with "exceptional personal talent" -- often athletes.