<p>Irvine was giving out those full rides to everyone in their opening class regardless of their “good life stories.” That’s because they wanted to start out high in the US News rankings and so wrote off first year tuition to entice higher LSAT/GPA students to gamble on them. Same reason they gave half rides to the entire second class. Boalt claims to be holistic, but then so does everyone else. The hard data doesn’t support that theory, but it does support the theory that Boalt cares a bit more about GPA than most other similarly ranked schools. </p>
<p>I went to a UC for undergrad and I didn’t buy that “holistic” nonsense back then either. I can’t believe your sources for information are “regents” and “politicians” rather than admissions data. I am genuinely incredulous. Your claim that “at UC, LSAT is a little less important … and life stories can seal the deal” is pure speculation based on the political grand-standing of those with direct financial interests. I, however, have lots of real data on real students showing the “good life stories” those students have is “hi, look at my GPA and LSAT!”</p>