How the University of Texas built another diverse class
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Even as universities across the country have seen dips in diversity following a U.S. Supreme Court decision outlawing racial considerations in admissions, the demographic makeup of the University of Texas is relatively unchanged, per an Axios review of UT data.
Why it matters: In the post-affirmative action era, universities large and small are searching for how to build a diverse student body.
Between the lines: Now other large public university admissions are approaching UT about replicating its singular approach to admissions, Miguel Wasielewski, UT's interim senior vice provost for strategic enrollment management, tells Axios.
- He declined to name the universities that have reached out to UT.
By the numbers: UT's 2024 freshman class, the first admitted since the Supreme Court ruled that colleges can't explicitly consider applicants' race in admissions, looks a lot like it has in recent years.
- The class is 27.9% White, 28.4% Hispanic, 26.3% Asian and 5.5% Black, with the rest of the class identifying as Indigenous, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, multiracial or choosing not to report their race, according to figures obtained by Axios.
- The previous year's class was 29.4% White, 27.5% Hispanic, 28.3% Asian and 5% Black.
The fine print: The 2024 numbers, which are not yet available on UT's website and which Axios obtained through the Texas Public Information Act, use the state's diversity definitions. Previous years' numbers are available online using federal definitions.
- The difference between those definitions is that by Texas' definition, students who are multiracial and non-Hispanic and include Black as a race are counted as Black. Those students are counted as multiracial under the federal definition.
How it works: UT automatically admits the top 6% of each high school senior class.
- By law, those students make up 75% of the incoming class' resident spots.
- The rest are admitted under "holistic review," a process that takes a number of factors into account, including test scores, strength of academic background, awards, special accomplishments and essays. Another factor that used to be included: race.
Worth mentioning: After UT received more than 70,000 applications this year, the university tightened its enrollment requirements, approving only the top 5% of each high school senior class for automatic admission for applicants in 2026.
What they're saying: "In general we see a lot of stability in our enrollment at UT," Wasielewski tells Axios.
- "The university has stayed committed to providing a robust educational environment, to provide different thoughts and perspectives in the classroom, and that makes the educational experience better all around," he says.
Zoom out: Meanwhile, other institutions have reported major demographic changes in the wake of the affirmative action ban.
- About a quarter of MIT's enrolling undergraduate students have identified as Black, Hispanic, and/or Native American and Pacific Islander in recent years. For its freshman class this year, that figure is about 16%.
- As a consequence of the court decision, "I have no doubt that we left out many well-qualified, well-matched applicants from historically under-represented backgrounds who in the past we would have admitted — and who would have excelled," MIT dean of admissions Stu Schmill said in August.
- The University of North Carolina, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins have all reported enrollment declines among Black and Hispanic students.
Zoom in: UT is significantly more diverse than just a decade ago.
- In 2014, the enrolled first-year class was 44.8% white, 20.6% Hispanic, 22.8% Asian and 3.5% Black.
- "We've been intentional about how we develop our recruiting programs to support diversity at the University of Texas, reaching out to students early, as early as freshman year (of high school), who might be from low-income backgrounds or perhaps will be the first in their families to go to college and who don't have lots of guidance," Wasielewski said.
- Under the Texas Advance Commitment, the university guarantees tuition for families making below $65,000.
"I'm a product of this system — I was a first-generation college student at UT and a graduate student here — I know that what UT has to offer has life-changing potential, and I've personally benefitted from that," Wasielewski tells Axios. "I'm proud we provide a great education for people's lives and are actively trying to provide opportunities for people to come here."
Yes, but: Changes in state law barring programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion led to the freezing of scholarship programs, the shuttering of multicultural offices and layoffs of scores of staff, roiling students and faculty and leading to a letter of no-confidence against the university president.
The other side: That state law is meant to ensure "a merit-based environment where every student, faculty and staff member can strive for and achieve personal excellence," state Sen. Brandon Creighton, a Republican from Conroe, wrote in March to public university officials.
The bottom line: UT's admission policies appear to have insulated it from the demographic turbulence seen at other selective universities in the wake of the barring of racial considerations in admissions.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the 2024 figures use the state's diversity definitions and the previous years' use federal definitions.