UCSD announces equity-based rules for CS and other "selective majors'

More important is the impact. The GPA cutoff is very low, just 3.0. Who gets into UCSD with less than a 3.0? And the vast majority (75%) [1] of UCSD students are in-state. So the only factors that actually matter are Pell and first-gen college. So CS and other majors will be enriched with students who check these boxes. Will they succeed? Some will. But based on existing research we know that students who are admitted with lesser credentials transfer out of STEM majors at a higher rate. This applies to both AA admits and legacy admits. It likely also applies to Pell/first-gen students, whom the UC system prizes and privileges.

I see two possibilities. Either students will wash out in years 2 and 3, or so much of the majors will be made up of these students that there will be pressure to dumb down the courses so that students can pass. Either way, it's a bad outcome for these kids. And it's a bad outcome for the kids who were rejected from the major and who can't shift into it after slots open up later.

1: https://ir.ucsd.edu/stats/publications/21_22_StudentProfiles...