The UC Board of Regents voted 15 to 4 for a proposal to admit undergraduates through a comprehensive review process, beginning with high school seniors applying this month for admission next fall. They met Nov. 15 in San Francisco.

The comprehensive review process, which will be introduced and individually customized by each campus, will broaden the evaluation criteria for applicants to include a broad range of factors, including students' scholastic and extracurricular accomplishments. The tiered system of admitting 50%~75% solely based on academic criteria will disappear.

"Traditional test scores will continue to play a major role in admissions, but simplicity alone is not our goal," said UC San Francisco Professor Dorothy Perry, chair of the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS). "In evaluating applicants, what we want to do is identify students who are the most likely to take advantage and succeed in the university's rigorous and challenging environment."

Although BOARS and the Academic Senate will provide a basic systemwide architecture for comprehensive review, each campus will be given the flexibility to implement a process that matches its character, academic strengths and stage of campus development.

At UCLA, where in the past 55% of those admitted were selected based on academic criteria alone, 100% of students will now be selected on a broad range of criteria, said Assistant Vice Chancellor Tom Lifka of Student Academic Services. "No student who applies to UCLA will be judged solely on academic criteria," he said.

About 120 to 140 readers, made up of volunteers, staff from Undergraduate Admissions and Relations with Schools and outreach staff, will be reviewing applicants' dossiers at UCLA. Every applicant will be given three scores: for academic achievement, personal achievement and life challenges. Academic achievement will remain the most important element in the admission decision, Lifka said.

"We will be looking within the context of opportunities that are available at each applicant's school," he explained.

Doing a comprehensive review of 100% of the applications will require more resources, said Lifka, who estimated that at least 40 more readers will be needed in order to finish reviewing all the applications in three months, ending in March. In the past, UCLA has received more than 42,000 applications.

While that is an enormous change in terms of resources, Lifka said, "We do not foresee dramatic changes in the composition of our admit pool, given that UCLA was already considering a broad range of criteria in the past."

Under the new system, those who meet basic UC eligibility standards will continue to be assured entrance to UC, officials explained.

A plan for intense faculty involvement in designing, monitoring and overseeing the process was outlined by UCLA Professor Chand Viswanathan, chair of the UC Academic Council.

"Academic performance is at the heart of the admissions process," said Viswanathan. "and that fact will not change."

The proposal was endorsed with the understanding that it "shall be used fairly, shall not use racial preferences of any kind, and shall comply with Proposition 209."

The state has earmarked $750,000 in its current budget to help the six top~choice campuses implement the review because they receive more applications. Additional costs will be covered by individual campus resources.