Exclusive | Elite San Francisco medical school discriminated against white, Asian applicants: DOJ

A top California medical school is the latest institution to come into the Department of Justice’s crosshairs for alleged racial discrimination — and millions in federal funds could be at risk.

Federal investigators are accusing University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) officials of illegally discriminating against white and Asian applicants, giving black candidates almost 13 times better odds of admission than white students with similar qualifications in 2025, the California Post has learned.

Harmeet K. Dhillon, assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, sent a blistering nine-page findings letter Tuesday to UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, telling the prestigious medical school to come to terms on a resolution or face a lawsuit and other enforcement actions.

“Unfortunately, at UCSF Medical School, MCAT scores and undergraduate GPAs have taken a backseat to race,” Harmeet K. Dhillon,  assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, told The Post in a statement. 

“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.”

The Justice Department also found that on average, black and Hispanic students admitted between 2023 and 2025 had lower test scores and undergraduate grades than the average white and Asian applicant the school rejected. UCSF admits just 2.5% of more than 10,000-plus annual applicants.

But in 2025, UCSF admitted 7% of Black applicants and 4.8% of Hispanic applicants, compared with 1.7% of white applicants and 2% of Asian applicants, according to federal officials.

White students that year averaged a 519 MCAT score — in the 96th percentile — and a 3.95 GPA, while Asian students averaged a 518, in the 95th percentile, and a 3.93 GPA. Admitted black students averaged a 514 and a 3.86 GPA, while Hispanic students averaged a 513 and a 3.88 GPA.

“In other words, the average admitted black and Hispanic student academically underperformed the average rejected white and Asian student,” Dhillon wrote.

Tuesday’s letter is part of a broader Trump administration crackdown under Dhillon on university admissions practices across the country following the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision prohibiting race-conscious college admissions. The DOJ previously issued similar findings against the medical schools at UCLA and UC San Diego. 

The DOJ concluded that UCSF “deliberately discriminated” based on race in its admissions and diversity pipeline programs for the incoming classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025, violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

UCSF receives nearly $1 billion in federal funding annually, including a $5 million grant from the Justice Department, according to the letter.

Schools officials fired back in a statement Tuesday, saying they “disagree” with the Justice Department’s findings.

“Admission to the UCSF School of Medicine is among the most selective in the country,” officials said.

“Every applicant is evaluated through a rigorous, individualized review process that prioritizes academic excellence. Academic achievement is fundamental to that review. Grades, prior coursework, and MCAT scores are important measures of an applicant’s readiness for a UCSF medical education.”

UCSF officials added that other factors include “clinical experience, research, service, leadership” to identify future physicians.

Feds are accusing UCSF of using application essays, hardship questions, interviews and ostensibly race-neutral criteria as proxies to identify and favor applicants from racial groups the school considers underrepresented in medicine.

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It also singled out two pipeline programs that offer specialized admission tracks, scholarships and other assistance. Black, Hispanic and other designated students made up 89% of enrollment in one of the programs during the 2024-25 academic year, according to the DOJ.

The Justice Department’s investigation began in March, and UCSF turned over admissions data after receiving multiple extensions. But the school produced only 83 additional documents, most of which the feds deemed unresponsive. The school also failed to explain racial differences in the grades and MCAT scores of admitted students.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department found that UC Berkeley’s law school deliberately discriminated against white and Asian applicants, saying a comparable black applicant had 5.8 times greater odds of admission in 2025.

The DOJ found in May that Yale’s medical school intentionally used racial preferences and proxies in admissions. In February, the department sued Harvard to obtain admissions records the university allegedly withheld from investigators reviewing its compliance with federal civil rights law.

Dhillon invited UCSF to negotiate an agreement to change its admissions practices and pipeline programs, giving the school 10 days to respond. If an agreement cannot be reached by Oct. 2, the feds could seek to force compliance through a lawsuit.

“Academic excellence has always been central to our admissions process,” UCSF officials said. “We will continue to engage constructively with the department and look forward to resolving this matter.”