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Campus Staff Took Advantage of Weaknesses in Admissions Processes to Inappropriately Admit 64 Students as Favors to Donors, Family, and Friends

Key Points

• Our review found that campuses admitted 64 applicants—in addition to the two identified in the federal investigation—for academic years 2013–14 through 2018–19 on the basis of their families’ donations to campuses or their connections to campus staff, leadership, and donors. These inappropriate admissions decisions subverted the university’s high standards for admissions and denied more qualified applicants educational opportunities.
• Campus staff falsely designated 22 of these applicants as student‑athlete recruits because of donations from or as favors to well‑connected families. Each campus we reviewed lacked sufficient processes for verifying that the applicants whom coaches identified as student‑athlete recruits actually possessed experience or athletic talent in the sport that they purportedly played.
• UC Berkeley inappropriately admitted 42 other applicants who were connected to campus staff and donors. These applicants were less qualified than many others for whom the campuses denied admission. In fact, some of these applicants received the lowest possible scores on their applications. The involvement of multiple members of management at UC Berkeley in these inappropriate admissions demonstrates that campus leadership failed to foster a culture committed to the university’s principles of fairness in admissions decisions.

In Violation of University Policy, the Campuses We Reviewed Admitted 64 Applicants Because of Their Families’ Donations and Connections

Because the university’s admissions process determines who has access to the high‑quality education it provides, maintaining the integrity of that process is essential. The university has established high standards for its admissions process and has regularly stated that it bases admissions decisions on an applicant’s merit, achievement, and life experiences. Through those statements, the university has effectively affirmed that factors such as relationships to university staff, parents who are alumni, and financial gifts and donations have no place in admissions decisions.

Despite the paramount importance of adhering to its high standards, the university has admitted some students because of inappropriate factors. As Figure 2 shows, we found 64 applicants across all four campuses we reviewed whom the campuses admitted for academic years 2013–14 through 2018–19 because of donations from the applicants’ families or because of relationships with campus personnel, alumni, or prominent donors. The majority of these applicants were white and at least half had annual family incomes of $150,000 or more. In most of these 64 cases, the campuses admitted the applicants even though those who reviewed their applications (readers) had determined that the applicants’ levels of achievement were not competitive for admission.

Figure 2 The University Admitted 64 Students Based on Inappropriate Factors

Source: Analysis of admissions records, donations, and athletics participation at UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, and UC San Diego from academic years 2013–14 through 2019–20.

Assistant Coach to Head Coach

[The family’s] recruiting agent called me up […] to have a direct conversation about what needed to happen next with this kid. After beating around the bush for a little bit, he said the family has made it clear they would like to “add to the legacy of the [sports team] and their family at Berkeley” to the tune of $[Amount redacted] donation. Figured I’d double check with you guys before I told him “thanks/no thanks.”

Head Coach to Assistant Coach

🍷👍👍👍👍👍*$[Amount redacted] upfront for this year?*

Assistant Coach to Head Coach

We didn’t get that far into the conversation…wanted to touch base with you first and told him I’d get back to him later this week…but he sounded very serious.

THREE DAYS LATER…

Assistant Coach to Recruiting Agent

After getting a chance to discuss our conversation with the staff yesterday, [Head Coach] is open to opportunities and would like the chance to speak on the phone. If the [family] is willing to establish their legacy with Berkeley and [the sports team] very soon involving the figures you suggested, we’ve already identified specific short‑term & long‑term needs of the program. With this could possibly come early admission for [applicant] to facilitate the process & agreement. We would need [applicant’s] transcripts, SAT/ACT test scores, a PDF of [their] complete application & a letter of recommendation from a recent instructor to speed the process along.