Some version of this image has been running on the UCLA home page since January 2006. It touts an 89% bar passage rate, a data point included on the UCLA website in the section for prospective students.
This figure comes from the California Bar Association's statistical report for the July 2005 bar exam (see page 4). 235 out of 265 passed = 89%.
However, this figure only includes first-time takers. UCLA's pass rate for repeaters is a less impressive 3 out of 20 = 15%. Compare this to the repeater pass rate for Stanford (40%), Berkeley (46%), Loyola (27%), Southwestern (20%), or Pepperdine (17%). Fortunately we're tied with USC (15%) and still ahead of Whittier (11%). Woohoo!
If you go to page 2 of the report, you can see bar passage rates broken out by race. The top row shows results for first-time takers who graduated from California ABA-accredited law schools, including UCLA. The white pass rate is 75%. The black pass rate is 46.1%, and Hispanic is 57.5%.
Of course, since the California bar doesn't break out rates by school, we can't tell what the gap is at UCLA in particular. What would you guess? The black / white gap across all ABA schools is nearly 30 points. Is the gap at UCLA smaller or larger?
The results for the July 2006 bar exam came out last Friday. The statistical analysis for that exam isn't posted yet. As an unscientific experiment, I went through last year's facebook and noted the students in the class of 2006 who, in my estimation, were likely African-American. There were 18. Then I ran these names through the bar results search engine. 8 names came up. 10 did not.
If we assume that all the graduates took the bar, that's 8 out of 18 = 44% pass rate. Granted, that's an aggressive assumption, since a couple may be in joint degree programs, or taking another bar out of state, etc. I have no easy way of verifying this.
But let's assume 6 did not take the California bar, for whatever reason. That still leaves a bar passage rate of 8 out of 12 = 67%. If we assume that the bar passage rate for white students at UCLA is still 89% (it's likely somewhat higher, since the 89% figure includes all students, not just white), that would mean a black / white bar passage gap in the range of 22 to 45 percentage points. (This is an estimate, and I welcome any information that would allow me to improve the estimate.)
If Prop 209 were repealed tomorrow, it would only address half of the problem: achieving diversity in the admissions process. It would do nothing to address the other half of the problem: large gaps in bar passage rates.
A UCLA law student's chance of becoming a lawyer varies widely depending on the student's race. To deliberately include an African-American student in a photo touting a 89% bar pass rate strikes me as crass, a victory of marketing over substance. The day every UCLA grad has an 89% chance of passing the bar is the day they should put it on the home page.
RELATED: A story in Monday's NY Times about the racial gap in standardized test scores in grade school.
19 Nov 06
Testimony.
did you see that in the courtyard?
Couldn't this gap be explained by the admissions staff engaging in back-door affirmative action. I imagine it is often easy to discern a students race through their essay. I have a much easier time believing this than there is some kind of inherent unfairness in the education.
Posted by: at November 20, 2006 05:01 PMYou are making quite a jump by assuming that the white bar passage rate is 89% at UCLAW, and that coming up with a much lower numbers (67% or 44%) based on hypotheticals. After all, you said, "since a couple may be in joint degree programs, or taking another bar out of state, etc. I have no easy way of verifying this." You have no way of verifying anything since the racial breakdowns are not given by school. You're probably going to mention that the rates you're extrapolating from are statewide, but you do not know for sure whether UCLAW follows this. Fun with numbers, eh?
Posted by: at November 20, 2006 10:11 PMI'm not sure I see your point. Are you saying that the pass rate gap at UCLA is much smaller than my estimate? I would be DELIGHTED to find out that's true. Per above, "I welcome any information that would allow me to improve the estimate."
I make this analysis not to editorialize about the bar performance of one group or another, but rather the lack of attention UCLA (and law schools in general) give to the issue of equity in bar passage.
I don't want to stop affirmative action. I like affirmative action. (Geez, I even like quotas.) But right now, law schools only have incentives to create diversity at enrollment. They are not held accountable for bar results.
Posted by: MB at November 20, 2006 11:35 PMre Testimony in the courtyard.
Yes, eas, I did see that and as a hispanic law student at ucla I find it to be ridiculous. The one comment about the student who overheard other students commenting on how Raza is so sensitive is classic. Raza sensitive?! nahh, not Raza. Besides that I don't understand why another student was so shocked that a professor told him or her that maybe law school isn't for that student. Is it that surprising that maybe law school isn't for everyone? Shit, a look at the bar passage rate by race tells me that maybe law school isn't for me. So what should I do? Write on the walls? Protest the law school for following the law? I have a better idea! Maybe I should just sit my butt down and study. What a concept, who would have thought to increase the bar passage rate for minorities by studying harder, as a minority student.
Posted by: at November 21, 2006 12:41 AMThank you for that comment.
Posted by: at November 21, 2006 03:06 PMMB,
I believe the actual CA bar passage rate among blacks who graduated from UCLA Law last year is likely about 73%.
I came up with this figure based on an e-mail list to which I have access. According to this list there were 17 black students who graduated last year. However, based on my own personal knowledge I was able remove three students who took the bar in another state and three others who did not sit for the exam.
Of the 11 remaining students, 8 of them passed, making the passage rate 72.7%.
Hope this helps,
Endangered
Hello! ;)
wow... what brainsick news!
what do U think about it?