UCLA IS URGED TO FAVOR LOCALS.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Saying UCLA turns away too many talented minorities, Sen. Richard Alarcon called Wednesday for guaranteed admission for the top 4 percent of students from each high school within 15 miles of the Westwood campus.

Flanked by two dozen students and other community members, Alarcon marched to the Chancellor's Office at the University of California at Los Angeles to present more than 1,300 letters from people in the community.

``UCLA relies far too heavily on GPA (grade-point averages) and SAT (college entrance exam) scores,'' said Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles.

He added that qualities necessary for success, such as organizational skills, ``can't be measured by the SAT; civic responsibility can't be measured by your GPA.''

UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor Daniel M. Neuman, speaking on behalf of Chancellor Albert Carnesale, who was traveling, said in a prepared statement that UCLA admissions standards are set for all UC schools statewide by the California Academic Senate's Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools.

The admissions board is studying the issue of schools offering geographic preferences, and will make recommendations this fall. Neuman said Carnesale was committed to working with Alarcon following the release of BOARS analysis.

The nine-campus UC system traditionally accepts the top 12.5 percent of California students, but it does not guarantee admission for them at any particular school.

UCLA remains one of the most selective public universities in the country, with only 3,915 freshman slots open this fall for an applicant pool of 43,179 students.

Alarcon said UCLA needs to invest in minority students who face tremendous barriers in their quest to gain UCLA admission, including academically poor high schools that don't provide enough Advanced Placement courses and gang- and drug-infested neighborhoods.

Only five students this fall were admitted to UCLA from Sylmar High School, three from Canoga Park High School, four from Crenshaw High School and none from Compton High School - even though each school had a large number of UC-eligible students, Alarcon said.

By comparison, 30 students were admitted to UCLA from El Camino High School, 34 from Granada Hills High School and 77 from Palos Verdes High School.

Alarcon said his plan to guarantee admission to talented local students, dubbed ``4/15+ for Success,'' has the support of the NAACP, the Asian Pacific Coalition, Latino Issues Forum, the Muslim Student Association, the Vietnamese Student Union, First AME Church, and other community groups.

Suelem Olivas, 17, of Sun Valley, is also a supporter. The computer science and engineering double major graduated from Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley in June as the valedictorian, with a 4.2 GPA. She took college classes at Los Angeles Valley College, and was active in several extra-curricular activities, but she was turned down by UCLA, her dream school since the ninth grade.

``When I received the rejection letter from UCLA I was disappointed,'' Olivas said. ``I felt like I was nothing to them. I felt like it was my fault, like I could have done better.''

She now attends UC San Diego, but that means paying thousands for room and board, when she had hoped to live at home.

Olivas said her SAT scores were 860 out of a possible 1600 points. The average SAT score among UCLA's fall freshman class was 1,353.

Although a student's grades are the most important factor, UCLA considers about 40 different criteria when deciding who to admit, including the hardships a student has encountered, the kind of high school he or she attended, and other factors, said Thomas E. Lifka, assistant vice chancellor for student academic services.

But even with a 4.0 GPA, about 45 percent of the applicants don't get in, Lifka said. Nearly 19,000 applicants had GPAs of 4.0 or higher this fall.

About one-quarter of the students who were admitted this fall were first-generation college students. Underrepresented students - American Indians, African-Americans and Chicano/Latinos - made up 15 percent of Fall 2004 admitted students, down from 16.1 percent the year before.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com

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Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, joined with students at UCLA in Westwood on Wednesday in asking the university to change its admissions policy and accept more local students. Alarcon presented more than 1,300 letters from people in the community.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer