Justice Department Finds UCLA Medical School Used Illegal Race-Based Admissions

The Justice Department has concluded that UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine engaged in illegal race-based discrimination in admissions by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants in violation of federal law.

The finding caps a yearlong federal investigation and continues the Trump administration’s campaign against diversity-based admissions at U.S. universities. A lawsuit from medical advocacy group Do No Harm triggered the probe into the school.

"UCLA’s admissions process has been focused on racial demographics at the expense of merit and excellence — allowing racial politics to distract the school from the vital work of training great doctors," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. "Racism in admissions is both illegal and anti-American, and this Department will not allow it to continue."

Investigators found that the school selected minority students on the assumption that minority patients receive better care from minority doctors. That focus led to admitted Black and Hispanic students posting significantly lower average GPAs and MCAT scores than White and Asian counterparts.

The Executive Director of Admissions shared a document with committee members on meeting "diversity goals." It promoted the idea that diverse healthcare workers improve outcomes for Black and Hispanic patients and warned that rejecting such applicants could lead to patient deaths.

The school uses a "holistic" admissions approach based on an Association of American Medical Colleges model. It weighs factors including citizenship, distance traveled, relationship status, cultural events, race, national origin and sexual orientation.

Applicants took a PREview Exam, a multiple-choice test that asked if they belonged to a marginalized group. "By design, this question asks Black and Hispanic applicants to reveal their race so that DGSOM can know and consider it," the Justice Department report stated.

Test score gaps appeared in admitted 2023 and 2024 cohorts. In 2023, median MCAT scores for Black and Hispanic students hit the 68th percentile, while those not reporting race reached the 96th percentile. Median GPAs showed a 0.26-point gap between the lowest group, Hispanics, and the highest, Asians.

In 2024, Hispanic students averaged the 66th percentile and Black students the 72nd percentile on MCATs, compared to 92nd percentile for those declining to share race.

"Federal law and the Supreme Court precedent are clear: Race discrimination has no place in our nation’s institutions of higher learning," said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California. "The pattern of illegal and odious conduct by UCLA’s medical school is abhorrent to our Constitution and our nation’s founding principles."

The UCLA finding follows Trump administration probes launched in March into admissions at Stanford University, Ohio State University and University of California, San Diego medical schools.

Fox News Digital sought comment from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.