Background:

African American Admissions

• Former UCLA Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams was personally involved with the UCLA Academic Senate in making the change to the holistic review process.

• New UCLA Chancellor Gene Block has stated that achieving diversity in admissions is one of his highest priorities.

• UCLA has participated in academic preparation and other outreach programs for more than 30 years, in response to a UC study that reported that Native American, African American, Chicano, Latino and low-income students were not receiving college preparatory information early enough to prepare them sufficiently to be eligible for admission to the University of California. The UC established the academic preparation programs, and the state funded them. However, in recent years, the state has cut outreach funding by more than half. UCLA, like all UC campuses, has had to reduce programs because of these large state budget cuts, but it has been able to maintain a strong level of stability for academic preparation programs because the Chancellor's Office has helped fill in the funding gap.

• UCLA continues to be a strong participant in the Early Academic Outreach Program (EAOP), which operates in more than 90 high schools and middle schools in Los Angeles County to help make college possible by working with families, educators, schools and communities to promote and cultivate a college-going culture.

• In October 2006, the UCLA Office of Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools added the position of associate director of recruitment to enhance UCLA's efforts throughout California to prepare high school students for college. Among other things, the Bruin Ambassador program, launched in January 2007, selected, hired and trained more than 20 UCLA undergraduates who, along with professional staff recruiters, visit more than 300 public and charter high schools in the Greater Los Angeles area. Their purpose is to communicate with high school counselors, provide information about UCLA admissions and identify prospective UCLA students.

• Bruin Days and Nights — regional meetings that are held throughout California for high-achieving and disadvantaged students — will take place this year in San Diego, Sacramento, the Bay Area, Santa Barbara and Orange County. Hundreds of students are expected to participate. Also, a Northern California recruiter now coordinates activities in the northern part of the state.

• BruinCorps deploys UCLA students to tutor children in underresourced communities throughout the Greater Los Angeles area and sponsors a College Career Center project in area high schools, middle schools and community-based organizations. BruinCorps members and volunteers participate in service events and site projects that address a variety of critical community needs.

• The Vice Provost Initiative for Pre-College Scholars, known as VIP Scholars, is a partnership between UCLA and the Los Angeles and Pasadena school districts to help prepare historically disadvantaged students in grades 9-12 to become competitively eligible for admission to UCLA. The VIP Scholars summer program includes a three-week residential program preceding the 11th grade and a five-week residential program preceding the 12th grade that allow students to take college-level courses for credit and engage in a range of social and cultural activities. The VIP Scholars program also encourages pursuit of graduate and professional education.

• The UCLA Center for Community College Partnerships develops and strengthens academic partnerships between UCLA and California community colleges, particularly those with large disadvantaged student populations.

• The center aids community colleges in developing a "transfer culture," working closely with administrators, faculty and staff to strengthen and diversify curriculum, create strong academic support programs, improve students' academic competitiveness for admission to the university and increase the diversity of UCLA's transfer-admit pool.      

• Among the center's programs is the East Los Angeles College Summer Immersion Program, a collaboration among the Youth Opportunity Movement, East Los Angeles College and UCLA. This intense 16-day academic program requires participants to successfully complete a three-unit University of California/Cal State University-transferable course within a two-week period.

• The Student Initiated Access Committee (SIAC) brings together UCLA students to work with students in grades K-14 in educationally disadvantaged areas. Among the activities are one-on-one peer advising, tutoring, skill-building, field trips, parent dinners and workshops. SIAC students join with various student organizations to host large-scale events promoting college preparation.

• The Academic Advancement Program (AAP) is a program that encourages and promotes academic achievement and excellence by providing students with tutoring; summer bridge programs for freshmen and transfer students; academic, personal and career counseling; graduate mentoring; scholarships and stipends; and research opportunities.

• Among the programs of the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies are the Principal Leadership Institute, which prepares the next generation of urban school leaders, and the Teacher Education Program, which encourages and trains teachers to have the commitment, capacity and resilience to promote social justice, caring and instructional equity in low-income urban schools.

• The UCLA Anderson School of Management offers the Riordan Programs, which are pioneering, career-based outreach programs that motivate high school students, college students and recent college graduates from diverse backgrounds and underserved communities to consider and prepare for careers in management through education, mentorship and professional development. Among the Riordan Programs offerings is the Riordan Scholars Program, which targets college-bound high school students in grades 10-12 who are interested in learning about business and developing leadership skills. Scholars attend eight monthly Saturday seminars at the Anderson School of Management.

• The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture's ArtsBridge program develops creative partnerships in arts education with artists, teachers and students in underperforming schools in Los Angeles. UCLArts also helps link local community arts centers with their neighborhood schools to enrich youth arts programs, and it offers scholarships to high school students in partner schools to attend a summer arts institute in design at UCLA.

• The UCLA School of Law's Law Fellows Program reaches out to targeted undergraduate students from economically and/or educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. The program utilizes a faculty-student mentoring approach to increase the academic competitiveness and law school eligibility of disadvantaged students. Program participants attend a series of Saturday sessions at the law school in the winter and spring quarters, which provide them with mentoring and career-development activities designed to demystify the law school experience and the legal profession and present them as viable options.

• Two academic preparation programs are conducted annually by the Office of Academic Enrichment at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

• The UCLA Pre-medical/Pre-dental Enrichment Program (PREP) is a seven-week summer program designed to provide premedical and predental students from disadvantaged backgrounds with a means of strengthening their ability and readiness to study medicine or dentistry. During the years since the charter class of 1982, PREP has become a nationally respected program in which 761 students have participated, 90 percent of whom have successfully applied to a health professions school. More than two-thirds are the first in their family to receive a college education. 

• The UCLA Re-Application Program (RAP) is an 11-month program for students who have been unsuccessful in gaining admission to a U.S. medical school. Medical and dental faculty, science professors, advisors, admissions officers, and current medical and dental students work with participants in small group settings. In addition to academic work, participants are assigned to observe practicing physicians, dentists and researchers. Special focus is directed towards provision of care in California's Health Manpower Shortage areas.

• Peter Taylor, a former UC regent and former president of the UCLA Alumni Association, chaired the African American Alumni and Community Support Task Force to work with friends and alumni of UCLA to increase African American admissions in ways consistent with the law. The task force works with the community to identify and encourage more African American students to apply to UCLA. It also works with friends and alumni on "yield" activities — that is, ways to encourage African American students who have already been admitted to actually enroll at UCLA. A list of task force members is provided at the end of this document.

• The California Community Foundation, a leading philanthropic organization in Los Angeles County, announced in spring 2007 that it had established a scholarship fund to support 100 renewable scholarships for African American freshman admitted to UCLA.

• The UCLA Urban Collaborative works with UCLA through four parent groups — Advocates for African American Students, serving the San Fernando Valley; the Council for African American Parents, serving the Pomona and Diamond Bar areas; the King-Drew Parent Association at the King-Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science, serving the Lynwood and Watts areas; and Young Black Scholars, serving Los Angeles County. UCLA provides admissions counselors to make presentations about UCLA at community sites. It also offers information about financial aid.

• The UCLA Afrikan Student Union hosts an annual education conference to promote and encourage student empowerment among youth of African descent in an effort to increase the number of African Americans at institutions of higher education, including UCLA. Elected officials have sent letters to African American students who have been admitted to UCLA urging them to enroll.