Bakke vs. California Sets Precedent

With college rapidly approaching for me, I thought there was no more important issue than college admissions. In 1978, the precedent for all future college admissions was altered and set by the landmark case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. In 1973, Allan Bakke applied for admission to the University of California Davis' Medical School with an above average grad point average and test scores. On the application, it was required that all students check a box on their ethnicity. Upon doing so and turning in his application, he was denied by the University. Not willing to accept this, he reapplied in 1974 with the same grades and scores, only again to be denied. As he looked more greatly into it, he found out much detail about the system used to accept students: they had a quota of certain amount of students per ethnicity each year in order to achieve diversity. Upon recognition, Bakke believed his dismissal to be unconstitutional because he had better grades than many accepted minority students did; he took this to court. After years of argument, the supreme court ruled 5-4 in favor of Bakke that it was unconstitutional to give a quota in order to accept students, however they also determined that race is a legitimate factor when considering applicants.

The outstanding effects of this case affect applicants everyday and are something each college applicant should know about. When considering students, it is no longer an issue of whether you are being denied because there were already "too many of your kind" admitted. This sigh of relief can be attributed to Allan Bakke and his fight. Thanks Mr. Bakke, when I get denied from college, I'll be able to blame my poor work ethic, not minorities.