UCSD med school uses 'shadow' admissions system to favor 'underrepresented minorities': DOJ

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced in a press briefing released Monday that it found the University of California San Diego School of Medicine (San Diego Med) illegally used race in its admissions process in direct violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin, and the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), which banned race-based admissions in higher education.

The school was blasted by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

"Rather than rely on MCAT scores or GPA, San Diego Med's shadow application process unlawfully judged applicants for admission based on their race," Dhillon said. "San Diego Med's blatant efforts to prioritize race are illegal, and we will end these practices."

The Justice Department says its investigation found UC San Diego School of Medicine changed its admissions process to increase racial diversity even after the Supreme Court banned affirmative action. According to the department, admissions staff used supposedly "race-neutral" criteria to increase the overall number of applicants who identified as "underrepresented minorities in medicine" which includes black and Hispanic applicants. The department says those racial delegates violate the Supreme Court's Students for Fair Admissions ruling.

According to the investigation, one method involved using applicants' responses to "hardship" essay questions to help identify likely URM "underrepresented minorities in medicine" applicants. Admissions staff then sorted applicants into groups based on MCAT scores and GPA, with separate "hardship" subgroups for each. Those groups were combined, divided into batches of 30, and ranked for interviews. The Justice Department also says reviewers in some admissions cycles after the Students for Fair Admissions decision were also able to see applicants' race during this stage, allowing more URM applicants to receive interview invitations to the school. The department concluded the hardship category was used to bypass to the Supreme Court's ban on race-conscious admissions, ensuring more minority applicants advanced in the process.

The department threatened a lawsuit if the schools failed to comply with federal law in regards to these issues.