Just to clarify, my 80th percentile referred to the 80th percentile at UCB/UCLA, not as a whole. Obviously we disagree about how these schools are making decisions, but the report you quoted doesn’t even support your contention that wealthy families are a disproportionately high percentage. The report states that over the past several years, admissions has focused on low income students which correspondingly reduced the opportunities for affluent families. That also begs the question of how much it takes to truly be affulent in certain parts of California. Is a family in any of the major cities actually upper middle class when they make $100,000/year? As someone pointed out earlier, that family likely makes too much to get any aid, yet is hard pressed to pay the full cost of attendance. And if you think race doesn’t come into play, I suggest you read the NY Times article authored by at UCB admissions reader. There is an enormous pressure placed on readers to elevate applications with a wink and a nod towards race and other factors.