However, when talking about applying to universities, the key term is “underrepresented minority.”

At some schools, certain minority groups are well represented. Far more so than the % of their group in the general population. So, schools may not give those minorities extra consideration. Race quotas aren’t legal, but affirmative action is still going strong. So, if you’re in a minority, you normally don’t need to meet the same stringent standards as whites. Unless you’re in a minority group that’s overrepresented at a university.

While it isn’t always the case, this typically just refers to Asians. The UC system is the easiest example to show this. By population, Latinos should make up the largest minority population. Blacks would be right up there too. Asians should be a pretty small %. However, in colleges, particularly the public UC schools, Asians make up huge % of the school population. At UCI, the Asian population is so great, there are more of them than white people.

So, the term “underrepresented minority” came about. If race is given consideration for admission, than you need to be an underrepresented minority to get the leeway and get the less stringent standards than whites. At say the UCs, Asians aren’t underrepresented so they have to meet the same standards as white. Possibly even greater standards. I know on the high school level, for some elite public magnet schools like Lowell or Whitney, Asians have to meet far greater standards than even whites to gain admittance.

~Candice~