By Steve Sailer
02/03/2009
UCLA gets the most freshman admission applications of any college in the country. And, the California state constitution, as amended by Proposition 209, makes it illegal for UCLA to use racial preferences in admissions. But the law doesn’t stop the diversicrats. From the LA Times, a profile of a freshman student:
[Karina] De La Cruz faces fairy tale odds. She’s an illegal immigrant, so she isn’t eligible for most forms of state and federal financial aid. The University of California system, by policy, does not require applicants to disclose their citizenship status: Officials say their goal is to find the best students, not to enforce immigration law. UCLA officials say they aren’t even sure how many undocumented students are on their campus.The 18-year-old De La Cruz graduated barely in the top 20% of her San Pedro High class and is competing against students with much higher GPAs and test scores. She probably doesn’t have enough money to finish her first year of classes.
She has almost no safety net: She doesn’t know her father, and her mother, who lives across the street, didn’t get up to wish her good luck. She met a few people during orientation but doesn’t have anyone she would consider a friend.
UCLA officials acknowledge that some freshmen are admitted for reasons other than their grades and test scores, that some students come from dramatically different backgrounds than many of their peers but show academic promise. They say there are programs on campus to help these students But De La Cruz isn’t aware of them. …
Presumably, they liked her essay about how deprived she is. Remember, UCLA is the school that, because they aren’t allowed to use race in admissions, switched over to "comprehensive admissions," including an essay. They announced that they would give extra points to students who had been shot (although getting shot in a hunting accident likely wouldn’t get you any brownie points).
San Diego State University was her dream school; she applied to six others, mostly UC and Cal State campuses. She never thought she'd get into UCLA, especially after San Diego State rejected her in February.The average UCLA freshman boasted a 4.22 GPA in 10th and 11th grades, according to the most recent data posted by the school, and De La Cruz had a 3.365 at San Pedro High when she applied. She got a 21 out of a possible 36 on the ACT college admissions exam, ranking her in the 48th percentile in California. She scored 380 out of a possible 800 on an SAT subject test, putting her in the third percentile nationwide.
But on March 8, De La Cruz opened an e-mail from UCLA, and a congratulatory banner popped up. She screamed and asked a friend to look.
But then the 5 hours of commuting each day begins, along with her realization that she can’t compete with the Asians in her Life Sciences class.
What’s particularly stupid about UCLA admitting her as a freshman is that UCLA takes in 3000 to 4000 transfer students each year, typically community college graduates with an associate’s degree. The community college grads often replace kids with higher scores who flunked out of UCLA’s difficult first two years, and wind up getting a valuable UCLA degree instead. But, in their hunt for diversity, UCLA is likely going to turn her into academic roadkill, and then replace her with a JuCo transfer!
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