{"id":406067,"date":"2026-07-21T03:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T03:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406067\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T03:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T03:15:11","slug":"justice-department-says-ucsds-medical-school-racially-discriminates-against-applicants-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/406067\/","title":{"rendered":"Justice Department says UCSD\u2019s medical school racially discriminates against applicants \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday alleged<\/a> that the UC San Diego School of Medicine intentionally discriminated against applicants by granting and denying admission based on race.<\/p>\n

The accusation comes following a four-month review of the school\u2019s admission practices, as part of the Trump administration\u2019s broader crackdown on race-conscious admissions, particularly in California.<\/p>\n

For decades, California\u2019s affirmative action ban has barred schools from considering applicants\u2019 race for admission. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that race-conscious college admissions are unconstitutional nationwide. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 also prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating based on race, color or national origin.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than rely on MCAT scores or GPA, San Diego Med\u2019s shadow application process unlawfully judged applicants for admission based on their race,\u201d Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Diego Med\u2019s blatant efforts to prioritize race are illegal, and we will end these practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

UC San Diego said in a statement to the Union-Tribune that it is reviewing a letter sent by DOJ outlining the findings.<\/p>\n

\u201cUC San Diego School of Medicine is proud to produce some of the highest-performing physicians and researchers in the nation, with residency placement rates that consistently meet or exceed national averages,\u201d the school said. \u201cAll applicants to the school\u2019s Doctor of Medicine program must meet strict academic thresholds, a requirement that is and was applied uniformly to all applicants.<\/p>\n

\u201cUC San Diego remains committed to full compliance with federal law and welcomes the opportunity to work collaboratively and constructively with the federal government to affirm that commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Justice Department sent the medical school a letter on March 25<\/a> saying it was opening an investigation into possible discrimination and requested seven years\u2019 worth of admissions records that included Medical College Admission Test, or MCAT, scores, GPAs, a variety of affirmative action data, home ZIP code numbers, and material regarding diversity, equity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

UCLA and UC Davis received the same kind of attention. Earlier this year, the Justice Department alleged that separate reviews showed both schools were in violation of federal non-discrimination laws.<\/p>\n

UCSD says the medical school receives about 10,400 applications per year and that roughly 1,000 applicants are invited to interview. Each year\u2019s fall class of new med students averages about 140.<\/p>\n

The DOJ said that, in response to its request for records, the school responded with \u201conly 75 documents,\u201d including correspondence and applicant-level data for admissions cycles for incoming classes for 2020 through 2025.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department\u2019s review was heavily based on how the school appeared to consider the applicants\u2019 MCAT scores and GPAs in the years before and after\u00a0the 2023 Supreme Court decision.<\/p>\n

Before the court ruling, UCSD\u2019s criteria appeared to specifically consider, in part,\u00a0lower-scoring applicants who were underrepresented minorities in medicine, or those with a \u201cdisadvantaged background,\u201d according to the DOJ.<\/p>\n

After the ruling, the school categorized its applicants by test scores and grades, but then identified subgroups of people in each category based on information they provided about overcoming \u201chardships.\u201d The DOJ said a certain number of people with identified hardships were then granted interviews, and that during some years screeners had access to the applicants\u2019 race.<\/p>\n

The DOJ pointed to correspondence from admissions officials in 2023 that appears to recommend giving more weight to those with hardships in the lower-scoring tier as a way to boost interviews with Black and Hispanic applicants.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo racially diversify its classes, San Diego Med created an evaluation process that uses \u2018hardship\u2019 as a racial proxy, specifically to achieve its diversity agenda,\u201d according to an eight-page letter sent to UCSD outlining its conclusion. As a result, \u201cmore qualified white and Asian students were denied admission,\u201d the letter adds.<\/p>\n

In the letter, DOJ also pointed to admissions data showing racial disparities in test scores and grades.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department said it is seeking to enter into a voluntary resolution agreement with the school \u201cto ensure that its admissions practices are brought into compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday alleged that the UC San Diego School of Medicine intentionally discriminated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,1312,15,930,181,2581,100,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-406067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-courts","tag-education","tag-la-jolla","tag-latest-headlines","tag-national-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}