UCs and Cal States Should Admit Students Totally on Merit

UCs and Cal States Should Admit Students Totally on Merit

The University of California system and California State University system are among America's great public universities. They built world-class reputations through rigorous standards and merit. But recent policies have eroded that foundation, leading to unprepared students, strained faculty, and long-term damage to California's higher education brand. It's time to return to pure merit-based admissions : objective measures of academic readiness, no more holistic experiments that prioritize everything except preparedness.

The Crisis Is Real and Documented

A 2025 UC San Diego faculty report (from the Senate's Admissions Working Group) reveals a shocking collapse in incoming student preparedness. Between 2020 and 2025, the number of freshmen with math skills below high school level surged nearly 30-fold - from about 30 students to roughly 900. That's one in eight of the entire entering class at a highly selective campus (28% admit rate) with tons of 4.0 GPA applicants. Many of these students test below middle school level, unable to handle basics like rounding numbers, simple addition/subtraction, or fractions.

Professors now spend class time reteaching middle school material while trying to cover college-level STEM content. High DFW (D, F, Withdraw) rates follow in calculus and other gateway courses. Few, if any, students entering at the lowest remedial math level complete engineering degrees. This isn't isolated to UCSD - it's a system-wide warning sign after UC went test-blind.

What Changed? The Elimination of Objective Standards

In 2020, UC eliminated the SAT/ACT requirement (made permanent/test-blind later). The stated goals included equity and removing barriers. The results? Grade inflation exploded as the last objective signal vanished. High school GPAs became the dominant factor, but they're increasingly unreliable:

- Widespread grade inflation: Top students' GPAs rose across California high schools (e.g., +0.11 points or more at many public schools from earlier baselines). A 4.0 today doesn't mean what it did pre-2020.

- Essays: Often AI-generated or heavily edited/ghostwritten.

- Recommendations: Inflated under social pressure.

- "Holistic review": Subjective factors that can mask skill gaps.

Pre-2020 data from UC's own studies showed SAT/ACT (especially math) strongly predicted college success, even after controlling for GPA - and helped identify talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Removing it didn't boost diversity sustainably; it lowered average preparedness.

Cal States face parallel pressures with high acceptance rates (system ~82%) and less selectivity. Without merit filters, they risk similar remediation bloat and graduation gaps.

The Downstream Damage

- Students suffer : Unprepared admits face failure, debt, and disillusionment. Remediation wastes time and resources.

- Faculty burnout : STEM professors teach high school material instead of advancing knowledge.

- Reputation hit : Employers notice. Top talent may apply elsewhere. UC's global brand - built on excellence - frays.

- Equity illusion : Short-term access without readiness creates long-term inequality. Prepared students from all backgrounds get crowded out; underprepared ones get set up for struggle.

- Taxpayer cost : California funds these systems expecting returns in skilled graduates driving the economy.

This is a feedback loop: Lower standards → weaker cohorts → more remediation → declining outcomes → skeptical stakeholders.

The Merit Solution

Admit totally on merit for UCs and Cal States:

1. Reinstate standardized testing (SAT/ACT or equivalent) as a required, transparent component. It correlates with readiness, reduces grade inflation bias, and levels the field for high-ability students regardless of school quality.

2. Weighted, rigorous GPA with clear caps and verification - prioritize actual academic coursework over inflated or non-core classes.

3. Transparent rubrics : Publish exactly how merit factors (test scores, GPA, course rigor) determine admission. Minimize subjective "holistic" elements that invite inconsistency.

4. Targeted support post-admission : For students from challenging backgrounds who clear the merit bar, offer robust summer bridge/remediation - but don't lower the entry gate.

5. Cal States alignment : Adopt similar merit emphasis to maintain transfer pipelines and system integrity.

This isn't elitist - it's realistic. Meritocracy built California's public universities into engines of mobility. Data from UC's own pre-2020 analyses and national trends confirm tests + rigor predict success better than alternatives. Countries and institutions that abandoned merit are now reversing course (e.g., growing calls to reinstate testing).

California's future depends on educated, skilled graduates - not lowered bars. Restore admissions based purely on who can succeed and contribute at the highest level. Our students, faculty, economy, and taxpayers deserve nothing less.

What do you think? Should California lead with unapologetic merit again? Share data, experiences, or counterpoints below. Let's discuss solutions for the Golden State's universities.

(Stats drawn from UCSD faculty report, UCOP data, and related analyses. Sources available on request.). David Ganezer is the Santa Monica Observer's Publisher, and a candidate for San Francisco's Congressional District 11.