SAN FRANCISCO — University of California regents Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a controversial change in freshman admission standards that would drop the requirement for two SAT subject exams and make more students eligible for a review of their applications while guaranteeing entry to fewer.
The change is considered among the most sweeping admissions policy shifts by the university in years. With approval expected by the full Board of Regents today, it would take effect for current high school freshmen who seek admission to the university system for fall 2012. They would still need to take the main SAT or ACT entrance tests.
Backers of the proposal, including UC President Mark G. Yudof, contended that the overhaul would ensure that talented students are not shut out of UC campuses because they missed taking the subject tests or their high schools did not offer enough college prep classes.
"I believe it increases both fairness in our system and opportunity for our students, and it does so while maintaining the very high standards that are the bedrock of our institution," Yudof said at a regents meeting in San Francisco. He conceded that admissions decisions may become slightly less predictable.
However, some critics within UC and the state Legislature see the proposal as an unwarranted departure from California's master plan for higher education and as an attempt to circumvent Proposition 209, which bars the state's public colleges from considering race in admissions. The Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus urged regents to delay the vote to allow further study about the effects of the new rules on ethnic groups.
Some regents said the proposal, which evolved over two years, remained too complicated.
The regents' Committee on Educational Policy voted unanimously for the change. The full board is likely to follow suit; the panel rarely rejects a committee action.
The nine undergraduate UC campuses make their own admissions choices. If students are rejected by the campuses they prefer but are deemed eligible for the UC system, they are guaranteed a spot at campuses with room, usually UC Riverside and UC Merced.
Students now generally become eligible for UC schools one of two ways. They must complete 15 required college prep classes and, on a sliding scale, earn a combination of grades and SAT or ACT scores that puts them in the top 12.5% of high school graduates statewide. Or their grades must place them in the top 4% of their high school class. (For both, a 3.0, or B, grade-point average is the minimum, with boosts for honors classes.)
