Berkeley admits most ethnically diverse class in over 30 years

Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Stephen C. Sutton sent the following message to the campus community on Thursday:

I am elated to announce that our 2020-21 admissions data show that we have admitted the most ethnically diverse class of freshman students in more than three decades in terms of representation of underrepresented minority students.

Freshman admission offers to African-American students increased by more than 40 percent, and offers to Chicanx-Latinx students increased by 45 percent. In addition, we saw gains in various measures of greater socio-economic diversity among students offered admission. Further, this exceptionally talented admitted class maintains the high academic accomplishment seen in admitted classes from prior years.

Transfer students, another group of amazing students, continue to bring greater diversity to our campus community and we are pleased to see an increase in admission offers to underrepresented minority students among this group as well.

These outcomes reflect the hard work of our Office of Undergraduate Admissions to meet campus goals of increasing overall diversity and access to a Berkeley education.

Congratulations to Olufemi Ogundele, assistant vice chancellor and director of undergraduate admissions here, his admissions team, and the various units across campus that partnered in this incredible effort. This includes the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office, the Division of Undergraduate Education, the Center for Education Partnerships, the Centers for Educational Equity & Excellence, the Division of Equity and Inclusion and bridges Multicultural Resource Center, a coalition of student-initiated recruitment and retention centers.

There is much more work to do — including getting many of these talented students enrolled here — but we want to acknowledge this wonderful effort regarding offers of admissions. Read more about our offers of admission in the press release, and accompanying Q&A, issued today.