The Justice Department has accused the University of California, San Francisco’s medical school of illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants, giving the university until October 2 to change its admissions practices or face a federal lawsuit.
In a nine-page letter sent Tuesday to UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said the medical school’s admissions data show black applicants had roughly 13 times better odds of acceptance than white applicants with comparable qualifications in 2025.
“Unfortunately, at UCSF Medical School, MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs have taken a backseat to race,” Dhillon said. “Aspiring doctors should be admitted based on their qualifications. The Supreme Court has spoken clearly — federally funded medical schools may not admit students based on misguided and illegal notions of diversity.”
According to the DOJ’s findings, black and Hispanic students admitted between 2023 and 2025 posted lower average MCAT scores and GPAs than the typical white and Asian applicants UCSF turned away. Last year, UCSF admitted 7 percent of black applicants and 4.8 percent of Hispanic applicants, compared with just 1.7 percent of white applicants and 2 percent of Asian applicants.
Admitted white students in 2025 averaged a 519 MCAT score — the 96th percentile — with a 3.95 GPA. Admitted Asian students averaged a 518, in the 95th percentile, with a 3.93 GPA. By contrast, admitted black students averaged a 514 MCAT and 3.86 GPA, while Hispanic students averaged a 513 and 3.88.
“In other words, the average admitted black and Hispanic student academically underperformed the average rejected white and Asian student,” Dhillon wrote.
The Justice Department concluded that UCSF “deliberately discriminated” on the basis of race in admissions for the incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The letter noted UCSF receives nearly $1 billion in federal funding annually, including a $5 million DOJ grant.
Federal investigators also alleged that UCSF used application essays, hardship questions and interviews as substitutes for explicit racial preferences, allowing the school to favor applicants from groups it considers underrepresented in medicine. The DOJ singled out two pipeline programs offering specialized admission tracks and scholarships; in one program, black, Hispanic and other designated students made up 89 percent of enrollment during the 2024-25 academic year.
The Justice Department began investigating in March and said UCSF, after receiving multiple extensions, turned over admissions data but that most of the documents were unresponsive to the government’s requests. The DOJ said the university failed to explain the racial gaps in grades and test scores among admitted students.
UCSF’s response
UCSF officials said they “disagree” with the Justice Department’s findings. “Admission to the UCSF School of Medicine is among the most selective in the country,” the university said. “Every applicant is evaluated through a rigorous, individualized review process that prioritizes academic excellence. Grades, prior coursework, and MCAT scores are important measures of an applicant’s readiness for a UCSF medical education.”
The university said it also considers “clinical experience, research, service,” and “leadership” in identifying future physicians, and added, “Academic excellence has always been central to our admissions process. We will continue to engage constructively with the department and look forward to resolving this matter.”
Dhillon has invited UCSF to negotiate changes to its admissions practices and pipeline programs. If no agreement is reached by October 2, the Justice Department could sue to force compliance.
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