COMMITTEE ON UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS
OCTOBER 5, 2016
MINUTES
PRESENT:
P. Sadler, Chair; K. Abdulrazak; U. Jayakumar; M. Molle; D. Volz
GUESTS:
E. Engelschall, Director, Undergraduate Admissions; L. Lundgren, Associate Vice
Chancellor for Enrollment
ABSENT:
K. Neville; J. Sandoval, Ex Officio
Chair Pete Sadler called the meeting to order at 10:10AM.
Following introductions of the Committee members, the Committee’s bylaws were reviewed. A hard
copy of the Member’s Handbook was distributed to members and the Chair explained that the
handbook should serve as reference for members as it includes information on admissions processes at
UCR.
The Chair informed the Committee that as Chair he is a member of Executive Council and is unable to
attend meetings of Council in the Fall Quarter due to a conflict in his schedule. The Chair asked if any
members were available to serve as the Committee’s representative to Executive Council in his absence.
The Chair will follow up with members at the next meeting to determine if anyone’s schedule allows
them to attend meetings as an alternate.
The Chair informed the Committee that a member of the Committee is charged with being a member
and Chair of the Special Review Committee (SRC), which is a Committee that meets to review admissions
applications of students who do not meet the Admissions by Exception guidelines and are supported by
a UCR faculty, staff, or department. Director of Undergraduate Admissions Emily Engelschall
administers the Committee and provided the Committee with a more detailed explanation of the SRC’s
function and role of members. The Committee questioned if there is historical data available
documenting the success rate of students admitted through the SRC and Director Engelschall responded
that this information is available and is shared with members at the first meeting of the SRC. The Chair
asked if any members were interested in serving on the SRC as the Committee’s representative.
Committee member Khaleel Abdulrazak expressed interest and will consult with Director Engelschall for
additional information and report back as to if he is available to serve on the SRC.
The Committee approved the minutes from the June 1, 2016 meeting.
The Committee approved the Conflict of Interest Statement for the 2016-2017 academic year.
The Chair provided the Committee with an overview of Systemwide eligibility for admissions to the UC
System and informed the Committee that the Regents have granted authority to faculty to set eligibility.
The Chair informed the Committee that the student body of the UC System has to be representative of
the state to ensure diversity and that this is achieved through several pathways. One pathway is the
Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC), which allows for the top 9 percent of the graduating class at a
participating California high school to be eligible for admissions to a UC campus. Another pathway to
admissions for California residents is the Statewide Index, which allows for students that rank in the top
9 percent of California students according to the UC admissions index to be eligible for admission at a
UC campus. The Chair presented a flow chart to the Committee documenting the pathways to
admission in the System.
Director of Undergraduate Admissions Emily Engelschall provided the Committee with an Admissions
101 presentation that provided an overview of the admissions process at UCR. Director Engelschall
reminded the Committee that faculty members of the Committee set admissions policy and the Office of
Undergraduate Admissions implements the policy. Director Engelschall reminded the Committee that
the official GPA of students is weighted and capped. The Office of Undergraduate Admissions works
with numerous campus partners to determine enrollment goals including the College Executive
Committees and Associate Deans. The Chair recommended that the Assistant Vice Chancellor of
Institutional Research, Allison Cantwell be invited to a future meeting to discuss with the Committee the
enrollment projection modeling that she develops for the campus. The Committee questioned how the
weights for the Academic Index Score (AIS) are determined and Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment
LaRae Lundgren explained that the variables are examined to ensure that they yield student retention
and success. The Chair clarified that the Committee can request data from the administration for
admissions to assist with the study of an issue at any time. Director Engelschall discussed nonresident
admissions with the Committee and informed them that UCLA, UCSD and UCB all have caps placed on
nonresident admissions as they are over their targets. Director Engelschall provided the Committee
with an overview of admissions for fall 2016 at UCR and informed the Committee that UCR did over
enroll this year as consequence of a more aggressive push to enroll high quality students. As a result of
over enrolling UCR did not admit students from the weight list. Transfer students were under enrolled
this year at UCR and Director Engelschall explained that the under enrollment was intentional to
compensate for the over enrollment of Freshmen students. The Committee questioned what the status
was of the transfer pathways initiative and the Chair informed the Committee that this subject is
scheduled for discussion at the Committee’s next meeting. The Committee questioned why CHASS
draws the majority of transfer students and Associate Vice Chancellor Lundgren explained that majors in
the humanities have less requirements, which allows for an easier pathway for transfer students. The
Committee discussed the goal of admitting one transfer student for every two freshmen and Associate
Vice Chancellor Lundgren shared with the Committee that the percentage of California Community
College graduates that are UC ready is low, which makes it difficult to admit transfer students. The
Committee questioned if time to graduation was considered in admissions policy and Director
Engelschall replied that it is considered.
The Chair asked if a member of the Committee would volunteer to serve as an alternate to attend
meetings of the Systemwide Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) when he is unable
to do so. Committee Member Uma Jayakumar volunteered to serve as the BOARS alternate for this
academic year.
The Chair gave the Committee an update from the agenda for the BOARS meeting to be held on October
7, 2016. BOARS is scheduled to continue discussions on the proposal from the Office of the President to
add a question to the application asking students if their parents are graduates of the UC System. This
issue was discussed last academic year and BOARS was not supportive of the proposal. BOARS is
scheduled to revisit the issue of UC Berkeley’s plan to request letters of recommendation in the
application as part of an augmented review. The Chair informed the Committee that this was a
contested issue at BOARS last year as BOARS did not review the proposal and questioned if local
campuses have the authority to alter the application process without review by BOARS. BOARS allowed
UC Berkeley to conduct a pilot and request letters of recommendation and the results of that pilot
suggest that the letters of recommendation did not promote diversity. BOARS will discuss the results of
the pilot and the issue of whether or not all campuses should allow for letters of recommendation.
BOARS will also continue discussions on the Compare Favorably report, which is the request from BOARS
to all campuses to provide a report documenting the success rates of resident students compared to
nonresident students.
The Chair informed the Committee that discussions will be continued from last academic year on the
review of applications with a revised rubric to assess if non cognitive factors predict success at future
meetings this academic year.
With no other business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 11:50AM.
Approved: 10/19/16
Prepared by: Beth Beatty, Committee Analyst