The University of Illinois at Chicago is among the nation's most diverse university campuses. There is no ethnic majority among UIC's 25,000 students. UIC has been honored for fostering diversity on campus and considers diversity one of its strengths.
Ensuring diversity among the student body becomes an issue for colleges and universities that do not have a diverse applicant pool. UIC has a very diverse applicant pool. Almost 62 percent of our students are from Cook County and almost 80 percent are from the greater Chicago metropolitan area. We are very proactive in our recruiting efforts. We seek students from a wide range of backgrounds.
The admissions process at UIC is complicated. Undergraduate admission decisions are centralized in the admissions office, but graduate admission decisions are made by individual departments. UIC has more than 140 graduate programs and therefore more than 140 different admission decision committees.
Most undergraduate admission decisions are based on test scores and class ranks and race is not taken into consideration. In fact, race is an optional question on our application for admission. In some instances where an interview or audition is required as part of the admissions process it is possible to use race as one of the many factors in making an admission decision. Our practices conformed to the law under Bakke and we will be sure they conform to the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in the University of Michigan cases.
UIC will, over the summer, review all of its admissions policies and practices to ensure that they are in compliance with the court's new rulings. UIC does not believe the court's decisions will have a significant impact on the campus. Whatever modifications may need to be made to admissions practices, UIC will remain a diverse and vibrant environment, and fully engaged with its metropolitan community.
June 2003