Jonathan R. Zell – Most elite colleges and universities employ a so-called “holistic”-admissions system to select all of their incoming students. In contrast, the University of Texas at Austin (“UT”)—one of the parties in the Supreme Court’s Fisher cases—uses holistic admissions to admit only 20% to 25% of its undergraduate students. The remaining 75% to 80% are chosen under a “Top Ten Percent Plan,” which guarantees admission to any student who graduates in the top 10% of a Texas high school. (Since Texas high schools are somewhat racially segregated, this results in the admittance of many more African-Americans and Hispanics than would otherwise occur if all applicants were considered together.)
Citation: Jonathan R. Zell, It’s Not About Race: The True Purpose of the University of Texas’ Holistic Admissions System is to Give Preferences to Well-Connected White Applicants, Not to Disadvantaged Minorities, 24 U. Miami Bus. L. Rev. 35 (2016).
