The DOJ has this year accused several universities of racial discrimination in admissions decisions.
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The University of California at San Diego’s medical school discriminated on the basis of race in admissions decisions over the course of three cycles, the Justice Department claimed this week.
The agency has been investigating the medical school since March and detailed its findings in an eight-page letter to the university. According to DOJ officials, the university discriminated on the basis of race by allowing applicants to share how they overcame certain disadvantages. That hardship question, the government argued, served as a way for admissions administrators to determine which students came from an underrepresented minority group and then give them a boost.
The UC San Diego medical school added the question after the Supreme Court struck down the use of race-conscious admissions policies in 2023. Before that decision, the university would sort students into three groups based on their MCAT scores and GPAs, the DOJ letter said. Students could end up in Group B if they had MCAT scores in the 83rd percentile or were from underrepresented backgrounds and scored in the 50th percentile. The GPA cutoffs also varied.
