To provide a more thorough and fair evaluation of undergraduate applicants to the University of California, the UC Board of Regents' committee on educational policy today (Jan. 19) endorsed a resolution calling for the use of single-score, individualized holistic review of each applicant as the expected admissions method at all UC campuses.

Holistic review — the admissions method currently used by UC Berkeley and UCLA as well as most highly selective universities — consists of a thorough, individualized review of each applicant, in which an application reviewer or reader takes into consideration a wide range of academic and nonacademic achievements, in the context of the opportunities available to each student, that results in a single score.

The full Board of Regents will take up the resolution on Thursday.

UC President Mark G. Yudof said he brought the resolution and implementation plan to the Board of Regents because he strongly believes holistic review represents a best practice in admissions that needs to be adopted by all UC campuses.

"Holistic review as practiced at Berkeley and UCLA begins with the thorough individualized 'full file review' employed by the nation's most selective colleges and universities," Yudof said. "But it improves upon these approaches in that it relies on a wealth of data about students' schools and personal circumstances and their performance relative to peers who have experienced similar opportunities or challenges. I believe this is appropriate for UC, given our large number of applicants who are from very socioeconomically diverse backgrounds."

The resolution asks Yudof, in consultation with the Academic Senate, to ensure that all qualified UC applicants receive an individualized holistic review of their applications.

But it also allows flexibility for campuses that can demonstrate that alternate approaches employed at those campuses are equally effective in achieving the goal of UC Regents' Policy on Undergraduate Admissions to "seek out and enroll, on each [campus], a student body that demonstrates high academic achievement or exceptional personal talent, and that encompasses the broad diversity of backgrounds ... characteristic of California ..."

In addition to strengthening the admissions process, the adoption of a single admissions approach at all UC campuses will provide greater consistency and efficiency across campuses.

For example, all campuses will have access to common statistical profiles of applicants that put all their quantitative data, such as GPAs and admission tests scores, in the context of the high schools they attended, including the high schools' Academic Performance Index (API) ranking, average admission tests scores and the students' class rank, among many others.

"I have no doubt that this expansion of holistic review puts in place an admissions method that fully comprehends the complex challenges many of our applicants face and evaluates these students equitably," Yudof said.