The University of California has adopted changes to its undergraduate admissions policy that will enlarge its applicant pool and drop the requirement that students take the SAT Subject Tests. The policy is the most significant change in the university's admissions practices in at least a decade. It will increase the number of California high-school graduates who are considered for undergraduate admission by an estimated 40 percent, giving officials at the system's nine undergraduate campuses more flexibility to choose a freshman class. At the same time, the plan will cut the number of students in the state who are guaranteed admission based primarily on grades and test scores. In moving away from that guarantee and toward a more comprehensive review, the university will more closely align its admissions practices with those of other prominent public and private institutions. Supporters of the admissions plan hope it will increase the socioeconomic and racial diversity of the student body. They estimate that students from underrepresented minority groups, like African-Americans and Hispanics, who have frequently been disqualified under the existing guidelines, will receive a boost. Some Asian-American groups, on the other hand, voiced concerns that Asians would be hurt under the new policy. Other critics of the policy said that its complex reweighting of the admissions formula will confuse potential students and violate the Master Plan, a state document that defines which residents the University of California is designed to serve. Campus officials, however, said they welcomed the new policy, even though it will significantly increase the number of applications to each campus and increase the workload of the admissions process.