<p>
</p>
<p>Columbia has nearly 30% PGRs; USC has nearly 25%. Those are high numbers for any elite school. (“elite” being defined as in top 25 [that’s US NEWS’ definition, not mine.]) By itself, that doesn’t show an overevaluation of GPA over SAT scores.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Again, i don’t know what ‘truly holistic’ means. But holistic admissions means that they take the whole applicant into consideration when deciding whether to admit them or not. So they don’t just look at GPA/SAT scores or whether the applicant is an ORM, but other factors. Was the applicant born in a poor neighborhood with lack of access to educational resources? Were they battling cancer or some other disease while trying to complete their studies within high school? Are their bad grades the result of a drug addiction they strugled with and have since overcome? Things like that are considered within holistic admissions. ORMs may less frequently fall into the first category, but i’ve met several that have fallen into the second and third.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That could be blamed on a number of things, including Proposition 209.</p>
<p>Either way, the UCs mission isn’t to educate URMs, it’s to provide some of California’s most scholastic students access to high quality, low cost education. It enrolls high amounts of URMs in an effort to promote ‘diversity.’ I’m in agreement with them that there’s much more diversity out there than merely racial diversity. And, imo, they do a good job of seeking a balance between the both of them.</p>