Under New Holistic Approach UCLA Continues to Make Progress in Increasing Black Enrollments

Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
Weekly Bulletin
June 5, 2008

In 2006 there were 99 black students in the entering class at the University of California at Los Angeles. This was the lowest number of entering black students in nearly 40 years. UCLA, like other state-operated universities in California, is prohibited by state law from considering race in its admissions decisions.
In response to its record-low number of entering black students in 2006, the UCLA administration adopted a new admissions model that incorporates a so-called “holistic” approach which looks at academic merit in the context of a student’s position in society.
The new system quickly bore fruit. In 2007 there were 392 African Americans admitted to UCLA, up from 249 in 2006. This was a whopping increase of 57 percent. There were 210 black freshmen at UCLA this past academic year, more than twice the number in 2006. Blacks were 4.5 percent of the freshman class in 2007, up from 2 percent in 2006.
Now UCLA is reporting more progress. Preliminary figures show that 233 black freshmen intend to enroll this fall. They will make up 4.9 percent of the projected entering class. More than one half of all black students accepted for admission at UCLA have decided to enroll. In 2006 black student yield was 40 percent. http://www.jbhe.com/latest/index060508.html#gop