UM in the Post-Prop 2 Period: Reasons to Be Happy

Pre-Proposal 2 Data for University of Michigan (Last column is national data):
The Michigan Daily -- Underrepresented minorities, which the University defines as black, Hispanic or Native American, will make up 10.5% of the Class of 2012. The class from the previous year was comprised of 10.8% underrepresented minority students. The Class of 2011 were admitted during an election cycle place partially after the affirmative action ban took effect. The Class of 2010, the last to be chosen prior to the ban, was made up of 12.6% underrepresented minorities.

Ted Spencer, associate vice provost and executive director of undergraduate admissions, said the number of minority applicants and enrolled students for this year was good, "relative to the fact that we were working under the constraints of the proposition." "We're not happy where we are," Spencer said.

MP: The chart above show UM data (last column is national data) during the pre-Proposal 2 (which ended race-preferences for admission to UM) period, suggesting a possible mismatch between the abilities of underrepresented minority students admitted under affirmative action, and the academic environment at UM.

A black student with a 3.2 high school GPA and 1210 SAT score used to have a 92% chance of admission to UM vs. only a 14% chance for a white student, a ratio of 6.5 to 1. However, once admitted, black students were almost 6 times as likely as white students to be on academic probation at UM (45% vs. 8%), and 10 times less likely to be admitted to the Honors Program (1% vs. 10%). Black students were also graduating from UM with overall GPAs equivalent to a C+/B- letter grade (GPA = 2.63) compared to the A-/B+ (GPA = 3.34) outcome for white students. And if the graduation pattern at UM was consistent with national patterns, fewer than 4 out of 10 black students were graduating within 6 years, compared to almost 6 out of 10 white students.

So here's what UM should be pretty happy about: Relative to the pre-Proposal 2 period, underrepresented minority students now admitted to UM without race-based preferences will: a) be attending an academic institution better matched with their academic qualifications, and will have a better chance of: b) graduating on time with a higher GPA, c) qualifying for the Honors Program at a higher rate, and d) not being on academic probation.