The Justice Department found that two University of California medical schools discriminated based on race in admissions.
On July 20, University of California San Diego School of Medicine was found to use “race-neutral” subjective criteria to increase admission of underrepresented minorities in medicine (URM), which resulted in white and Asian applicants being denied admission in favor of lower-credentialed black and Hispanic applicants, the release said. The admissions staff used answers to “hardship” application questions to determine which students were URM applicants. This allowed them to invite more URM applicants to interview.
“UC 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,” a university spokesperson said in a statement to Becker’s. “All applicants to the school’s Doctor of Medicine program must meet strict academic thresholds, a requirement that is and was applied uniformly to all applicants. UC 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.”
On June 10, Sacramento-based University of California, Davis School of Medicine was found to discriminate in its admissions process after a six-month investigation. The investigation found the school’s admission practices included certain class-based “socioeconomic variables” or “disadvantages” as proxies for race, including family income, parental education or being from an underserved area. As a result, the school became the third most racially diverse medical school in the country in 2024, behind only historically black universities. Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted at rates up to six times higher than whites and Asians, despite consistently having lower academic qualifications on average, the release said.
“We are disappointed by the report and its conclusions,” a June 10 university statement said. “UC Davis School of Medicine strongly disagrees with any characterization of its admissions practices as discriminatory or inconsistent with applicable law. The report’s findings do not accurately reflect the school’s rigorous, individualized, and merit-based admissions process and our firm commitment to complying with applicable federal and state antidiscrimination laws. UC Davis is fully committed to meeting the critical healthcare needs of California, particularly those in underserved and under-resourced areas.”
These are the most recent schools to be found to discriminate in their admissions process. In May, Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn., and University of California at Los Angeles‘ medical school were also found to have policies that favored Black and Hispanic applicants over their white and Asian counterparts.
On June 4, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division opened new investigations into “potential race discrimination” at 15 medical schools. These investigations are based around the Supreme Court ruling that affirmative action policies were unconstitutional. Since the 2023 ruling, racial and ethnic diversity declined in medical school admissions and matriculations, a 2025 study found.
Researchers found that before the ruling, there were no racial or ethnic differences in acceptance rates. In 2024, underrepresented in medicine — Black, Hispanic, American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander — student matriculation into U.S. medical schools declined. Between the pre- and post-Supreme Court ruling ruling periods, white student representation decreased in matriculation by 1.94 percentage points, Asian student representation increased 5.19 percentage points, and underrepresented in medicine student representation decreased 3.56 percentage points.
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