Equality in UC Transfer Admissions

The UC system boasts that it can provide the same quality of education as private universities. Those who designed the Master Plan for California education asserted that they wanted to create a "single continuum of educational opportunity, from small private colleges to large public universities" ("The California Master Plan for Higher Education in Perspective," 2004).

Why, then, does the UC system refuse to step up its admissions process to compete with those of private schools? For transfer admissions, the Pathways website states that "Junior-level transfer students from California community colleges are given priority consideration for admission" ("Comprehensive Review Factors for Transfer Applicants," 2006). Thus, the latest data on the Pathways website shows that 74.5\% of community college students receive transfer admission to a UC, whereas only 48.1\% of four-year transfers (including other UC-to-UC transfers) get the same opportunity ("Transfer Selection Criteria," 2005).

The Admissions system even admits to being inadequate: Former UC Berkeley Admissions Director Pamela Burnett said this in 2001: "We read about a third of the transfer applications comprehensively, including a review of the personal statement. In the future, we hope to be able to read more or all of our transfer applications." With budget cuts preventing schools from hiring more Admissions persons to deal with the great number of transfer applications received, how many more applications could they be reading now?

We are petitioning to stop this injustice. The UC system can first make amends to its process by admitting Mariam Nassiri to UC Berkeley. She is a bright girl who was accepted to Cal last year and could not attend due to financial and parental reasons. She applied again from Duke University for the 2006-2007 year and was rejected to make space for less qualified students from various CCs.

We would like to see more fairness in the transfer admissions process. You can start along the path to reform by accepting Mariam Nassiri.