The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today its finding that the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF Medical School) discriminated based on race in granting and denying admission to its 2023-2025 incoming classes. UCSF Medical School’s discriminatory conduct violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), which banned race discrimination in higher education.
“Unfortunately, at UCSF Medical School, MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs have taken a backseat to race,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Aspiring doctors should be admitted based on their qualifications. The Supreme Court has spoken clearly — federally funded medical schools may not admit students based on misguided and illegal notions of diversity.”
UCSF Medical School’s application process has three stages: the Primary Application, the Secondary Application, and the interview. The Department’s investigation found that race is used to determine which students will advance from one stage to the next, and ultimately be admitted. The Primary and Secondary Applications prompt applicants to identify and discuss their race. And while less than 10% of Secondary Applications advance to the interview stage, black and Hispanic applicants were invited to interview at far higher rates than white and Asian applicants, despite having lower MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs.
From 2023-2025, UCSF Medical School admitted black and Hispanic applicants who academically underperformed the average rejected white and Asian student. But even where MCAT score, undergraduate GPA, and socioeconomic traits were the same when compared to white applicants, UCSF Medical School was 4.6 times more likely to admit Hispanic applicants and 12.6 times more likely to admit black applicants. When compared to Asian applicants, black and Hispanic applicants had similarly higher chances of admission.
Medical schools receive substantial federal financial assistance and are subject to federal non-discrimination laws. The Department will continue to investigate their compliance with Title VI, as interpreted by SFFA’s prohibition on race-conscious admissions. Where a violation has been found, the Department is engaging in settlement negotiations to ensure the school’s admissions practices are brought into compliance. If those efforts fail, the Department will file suit.
Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations at www.civilrights.justice.gov.
Note: Read the Department’s Findings Letter here.
