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ERIC Number: ED418192
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1996-Oct-15
Pages: 9
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Racial Preferences at U.C. Berkeley. Racial Preferences in Undergraduate Enrollment at the University of California, Berkeley, 1993-1995: A Preliminary Report, Revised Edition.
Lerner, Robert; Nagai, Althea K.
This report presents selected preliminary findings for the Center for Equal Opportunity's undergraduate admissions project for the University of California, Berkeley, 1993-1995. It describes the racial and ethnic composition of Berkeley enrollees and racial and ethnic differences in Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) scores and grade point averages. The report also describes in detail the procedures used to generate these results. There is a greater degree of racial preference in the admissions process at Berkeley than is usually assumed. Three enrollee data sets were obtained from the university, with information for each enrollee for the applicant's racial and ethnic groups, high school grade point average (GPA), SAT math and verbal scores, and best achievement test scores. At Berkeley, no single racial and ethnic group was a majority of enrollees, but Asian Americans represented 40.9% of the entering class, Whites were 32.8%, and 17.1% were Hispanics. African Americans comprised 7.2% of enrollees and American Indians, 2%. The Berkeley data show substantial differences in enrollee qualifications among ethnic groups, including differences in SAT verbal and mathematics scores, and in high school GPA. There were small differences between White and Asian American enrollees. In contrast, the differences between White and Asian enrollees and African American enrollees are so substantial as to suggest that these groups of enrollees are selected from entirely distinct academic populations. The gaps between White and Asian American enrollees and Hispanic enrollees are smaller, although they are still substantial. For every variable, a distinct rank order of ethnic group performance emerges. Asian Americans or Whites are at the top, with Asian Americans scoring higher than Whites in SAT math scores and high school GPAs. These two groups are always followed by American Indians, who generally score higher than Hispanics, except for GPAs. African Americans consistently have the lowest scores. The analysis indicates that a massive degree of racial preference in admissions policy exists at Berkeley. (SLD)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Center for Equal Opportunity, Washington, DC.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A