The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) med school has a staggering 50% fail rate on basic medical tests after the school lowered admissions standards for minorities. It was once extremely difficult and academically competitive to get admitted into UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. The acceptance rate is about 1.3%, out of roughly 14,000 applicants. In November 2021, the school dropped its admissions requirements to accommodate a black girl who had grades far lower than the required cutoff, setting a new precedent for minorities. A new report from the Washington Free Beacon shows data from UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine exams and recounts multiple interviews with admissions officials and faculty who are sounding the alarm on the med school’s DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) track record and alleged affirmative action, which is considered a crime in both state and federal legislation. The data, displayed in graph form — the green bar is “pass rate,” the red is “fail” rate — shows about 50% failing grades for standardized tests on emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, neurology and pediatrics.Nationally, the fail rate of these tests is only about 5%..Eligible students are required to have taken advanced science courses in undergrad, maintained a 3.8 GPA and scored in the 88th percentile on the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT) — however in 2021 arose a case that compelled dean of admissions, Jennifer Lucero, appointed in 2020, to argue certain exceptions should be made for a female black student. The student’s grades were well below the med school’s requirement. When other members of the admissions committee staunchly disapproved of the move, Lucero said the applicant’s scores shouldn’t matter because of the groups she represents as a black woman. "Did you not know African-American women are dying at a higher rate than everybody else?” said Lucero, according to some committee members who disclosed the matter to the Beacon. The dean stated high scores should not be a top priority because “we need people like this in the medical school."California outlawed affirmative action in 1996, with the University of California defining it as the prohibition of “state entities from using race … in public employment, public contracting and public education.” The US Supreme Court banned it in 2023. It was Lucero’s insistence on discussing explicitly in the admission process that prompted some admissions officers to bring the matter to other committee members. "We are not consistent in the way we apply the metrics to these applicants. This is troubling,” wrote an official in an email obtained by the Beacon. "I wondered if this applicant had been [a] white male, or [an] Asian female for that matter, [whether] we would have had that much discussion."Eight university officials, including faculty and the Discrimination Prevention Office, spoke to the publication about multiple similar instances of admissions under Lucero’s leadership that prioritized diversity over merit. One former admissions staff said admitting students based on race has turned UCLA into a "failed medical school.”"We want racial diversity so badly, we're willing to cut corners to get it," they said. "I have students on their rotation who don't know anything. People get in and they struggle,” a current admissions official said. "I wouldn't normally talk to a reporter. But there's no way to stop this without embarrassing the medical school,” said a UCLA faculty member. UCLA dropped from 6th to 18th place in rankings of US schools, according to US News & World Report.
