Under New Race-Neutral Admissions Policy at the University of Michigan, Minority Applicants and Admittances Are Down

In 2006, voters in Michigan overwhelmingly passed a public referendum which banned race-sensitive admissions at the University of Michigan. Because many of the applications for the class entering in the fall of 2007 were processed before the ban took effect, this is the first admissions cycle where all applicants have been judged under the new race-neutral admissions policy.

Preliminary data shows that applicants for the 2008 entering class have reached an all-time high. But applications from underrepresented minority students have declined slightly. The university reports that 2,771 minority students applied for admission this year and 1,310 were admitted. The admission rate for minority students was 2.3 percentage points lower than the case the year before.

The University of Michigan did not offer a breakdown of minority students for African Americans, Hispanics, or American Indians. First-year enrollment figures will not be released until October.