Overview
- The Justice Department announced Monday that its Civil Rights Division found the UC San Diego School of Medicine used race in admissions in violation of Title VI and the Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions decision.
- Federal investigators say admissions staff used a so‑called 'shadow' review and 'hardship' essay responses as race proxies to sort applicants into subgroups and steer more Black and Hispanic candidates into interviews.
- The department cited internal emails in which admissions leaders recommended selecting lower‑scoring applicants to boost underrepresented minority enrollment and statistical evidence showing higher admission rates for Black and Hispanic applicants with lower average MCAT scores and GPAs.
- UC San Diego says it is reviewing the DOJ letter, insists applicants faced uniform academic thresholds, and has agreed to talks while the DOJ seeks a voluntary resolution and reserves the right to sue or pursue federal funding actions if compliance is not achieved.
- The finding is part of a wider Justice Department review of medical schools that has opened probes into roughly 15 institutions and could affect federal research funding and how schools legally consider hardship or socioeconomic context in admissions.