The Trump administration has accused UC San Diego’s medical school of illegally discriminating against White and Asian applicants in favor of admitting less qualified Black and Hispanic students, putting nearly $1 billion in federal funding at risk.
The findings stem from a months-long Justice Department Civil Rights Division investigation launched in March and come as the Trump administration intensifies its effort to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
According to a letter sent to the school by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, the admissions committee used applicants’ responses to a “hardship” essay question to determine their racial and ethnic backgrounds, using the essays as a proxy for race in deciding who advanced in the admissions process. The investigation found that from 2019 to 2025, Black applicants to UC San Diego Med were admitted at more than twice the rate of White applicants, even though White applicants, on average, had higher MCAT scores and GPAs.
“Rather than rely on MCAT scores or GPA, San Diego Meds shadow application process unlawfully judged applicants for admission based on their race,” Dhillon said in a statement. “San Diego Meds blatant efforts to prioritize race are illegal, and we will end these practices.”
In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard that it is unconstitutional for colleges and universities to consider applicants’ race during the admissions process, including any workarounds which would give any racial group a competitive advantage.
“The Court made clear that proxies for race also may not be used to discriminate, noting that ‘universities may not simply establish through application essays or other means the regime we hold unlawful today,'” the letter stated.
The Justice Department’s findings echo allegations at the center of the Harvard affirmative action case, where plaintiffs argued that Asian American applicants with stronger academic credentials were admitted at lower rates than similarly qualified applicants from other racial groups.
In the UC San Diego investigation, the department concluded that Black and Hispanic applicants were admitted at significantly higher rates than equally qualified White and Asian applicants, saying the disparities were too consistent to be explained by chance and that the university failed to provide evidence accounting for them.
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After the Supreme Court’s ruling, the medical school’s leadership remained committed to ensuring that minorities, also known as an underrepresented minority in medicine, are bolstered in the admissions process by giving considerable weight to how they respond to a personal account
