IRVINE – UC Irvine took a stricter approach on processing admissions this year – contributing to the withdrawal of some 500 admission offers – because more freshmen accepted spots than anticipated. 
 
 “I acknowledge that we took a harder line on the terms and conditions this year, and we could have managed that process with greater care, sensitivity, and clarity about available options,” Thomas Parham, vice chancellor for student affairs, wrote in a message to prospective students on Friday. 
 
 “We are committed to correcting any errors swiftly and providing the help you need in an empathetic and understanding way,” Parham wrote. 
 
 The Science Library at UCI. (File photo, Orange County Register/SCNG) 
 
 A goup of high school students and their parents take a tour of the UCI campus. (Photo by Ana Venegas, Orange County Register/SCNG) 
 
 UCI campus buildings sprawl around Aldrich Park, center in this August 5, 2010 aerial photo .(File photo, Orange County Register/SCNG) 
 
 
 
 Parham’s letter, apologizing to “those who felt ignored or mistreated,” comes two days after UCI’s student government association sent a letter and a petition demanding that administrators apologize, reimburse all students whose admission status has been revoked and guarantee them admission to UCI following two years at a community college. 
 
 As with other colleges and universities, admission is considered provisional until final transcripts are submitted by a deadline, and a determination is made that there are no discrepancies between the grades and courses on the application and those on the official final transcript. 
 
 And that final grades are acceptable. 
 
 This year, UCI withdrew 499 admissions: 299 were transcript related, with 185 students appealing; another 209 were grade-related, with 110 appeals, UCI spokesman Tom Vasich said Friday. 
 
 As of Friday, 63 students who appealed were reinstated, Vasich said. 
 
 “We were less lenient (this year) on missed deadlines and documentation than in the past, when there weren’t enrollment issues involved,” Vasich said. 
 
 UCI received more than 104,000 applications from both freshmen and transfer students for the 2017-18 year – one of the highest numbers in the country. 
 
 The university offered admission to 31,103 freshmen and about 7,100 accepted, university officials said. But the school had planned a freshman class of approximately 6,250 students. 
 
 Students complained on social media that the university over-enrolled and used any excuse to trim its number. 
 
 UCI’s Parham acknowledged “missteps” but emphasized that all students “who meet the terms and conditions of the admissions offer will be welcomed into the Anteater family. 
 
 “No acceptance will be withdrawn due to over-enrollment, despite external reports to the contrary,” Parham wrote. 
 
 Related Articles UCI rescinds 500 admission offers, student leaders demand apology 
 
 UC system says it’s on track to increase number of California freshmen enrolled Many of the prospective students who saw their offers rescinded said that either the university or their high school made mistakes. And those errors, they said, have caused them a lot of anxiety. 
 
 Johnny Wang, 18, of Glendale, is appealing. UCI withdrew his offer of admission because it didn’t receive a transcript from his high school. 
 
 “It’s been confusing and sad for me,” said Wang, who graduated from La Canada High School with a weighted grade-point average topping 4.3. 
 
 Simran Chopra, 18, of Los Angeles, said that she locked herself in a bathroom and cried when she learned of the withdrawal. Chopra said she has proof that her transcript was sent via certified mail before the July 1 deadline. 
 
 “This was really heartbreaking for me,” said Chopra, who chose UCI over UC Berkeley because she’s a fan of the Irvine school’s Bollywood dance team. 
 
 While students were told that their appeals could take four to six weeks, UCI has increased the number of people reviewing appeals, and those already on appeal will be expedited and are expected to be completed by the end of next week, Vasich said late Friday. 
 
 For Julia Kim, 18, of Claremont, it’s too late. 
 
 Kim, who took a bevy of advanced classes and racked up a 4.3 grade-point average in high school, wanted to go to UCI to stay close to her family. 
 
 “I listed a course as a computer class on my application but because the name was called technical education, they didn’t think it was a computer class,” Kim said. 
 
 With less than two months before school starts, Kim didn’t want to wait until the last minute to find out whether her appeal would be approved. She considered community college or taking a gap year. But then she called a school that had previously accepted her. 
 
 “I’m going to Clark University in Massachusetts,” she said. ||||| With nearly 100,000 undergraduate applicants seeking admission for fall 2013, UCLA remains the most applied-to university in the country and one of the most sought-after colleges by exceptionally talented students from California and around the world. 
 
 UCLA received 80,472 freshman applications and 19,087 transfer-student applications for fall 2013 admission, for a total of 99,559 undergraduate applications — an 8.8 percent increase over last year and more than ever before in the university's history. 
 
 Despite the jump in applications, the academic qualifications of freshman applicants — as measured by grade-point average and admissions test scores — increased over last year, as did the ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic diversity of the applicant pool. 
 
 "We are both pleased and honored that so many talented students from such diverse backgrounds are considering UCLA among their top college choices," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. "A diverse student body from California and beyond enriches our campus, brings unique perspectives and vibrancy to our classrooms, and makes us a truly global university in a global city." 
 
 A recent survey of students admitted in fall 2012 shows that applicants are attracted to UCLA because of its recognized academic excellence and the depth of its academic offerings. The campus's location in Los Angeles is also an important consideration for applicants. 
 
 Increases in freshman applications occurred among both California residents and non-resident students. Applications from California residents rose by 5.2 percent, from 52,231 in 2012 to 54,958 this year, despite the fact that there was no projected increase in the number of students graduating from California's public schools. 
 
 Similarly, freshman applications from non-residents went up by 25 percent, from 20,395 in 2012 to 25,514 this year. Applications from transfer students rose by 1.1 percent, from 18,886 in 2012 to 19,087 for fall 2013, reversing a slight decline last year. 
 
 Despite the record-setting number of undergraduate applications, Youlonda Copeland-Morgan, UCLA's associate vice chancellor for enrollment management, was quick to reassure parents and students that the application review process this year will be as thorough and painstaking as ever. 
 
 "I want students to know that we value each and every single applicant," Copeland-Morgan said. "That's why each application we receive is read at least twice by experienced and rigorously trained readers. Selecting a new class is never easy, but it will be especially difficult this year, given the quality of our applicant pool." 
 
 UCLA also made great strides in attracting applications from traditionally underrepresented students. Applications from Chicanos/Latinos rose by 11.4 percent at the freshman level and 8.4 percent at the transfer level. Meanwhile, applications from African Americans increased by 5.7 percent at the freshman level and 14.3 percent at the transfer level. 
 
 The campus also saw an increase among students who report they will be the first in their families to earn a bachelor's degree (42.4 percent of all applicants). 
 
 While there has been intense focus on increasing applications from and admission of non-resident students, UCLA's commitment to California students remains unchanged. 
 
 "UCLA has continued to offer admission to California residents at a level equal to previous years," Copeland-Morgan said. "In fall 2013, we again expect to offer admission to roughly the same number of California residents that we admitted last year. Our commitment to California students is as strong as ever, and it remains our first priority." 
 
 Freshman applicants will be notified of UCLA's admission decisions in late March. Admitted students will have until May 1 to notify the campus of their intention to register. Transfer students will be notified of admission decisions by April 30 and will have until June 1 to commit to the campus. 
 
 Detailed tables with system-wide statistics and data for all nine UC undergraduate campuses are posted at www.ucop.edu/news/studstaff.html 
 
 UCLA is California's largest university, with an enrollment of more than 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer 337 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Six alumni and six faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize. is California's largest university, with an enrollment of more than 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer 337 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Six alumni and six faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize. ||||| Numerous studies have documented grade inflation in colleges. A study being released today shows that grades are going up in high schools -- in ways that may raise issues for college admissions systems that rely on high school grade point averages. The study also shows that many schools -- especially those educating wealthier students -- are no longer calculating or releasing class ranks, potentially making it more difficult to compare students in an era of grade inflation. 
 
 The study finds that the gains in high school GPA raise questions about the ability of colleges to rely on the statistics in college admissions. Further, the study finds that grade inflation in high schools has been most pronounced at high schools with students who are wealthier than average -- and where most students are white. 
 
 The study, released today, will be a chapter in Measuring Success: Testing, Grades and the Future of College Admissions, to be published next year by Johns Hopkins University Press. The two authors of the study are Michael Hurwitz, senior director at the College Board, and Jason Lee, a doctoral student at the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. 
 
 The involvement of the College Board in the research may lead some to assume that the study ends up endorsing the use of standardized tests as one way to deal with grade inflation -- and the authors of the study do in fact make that argument. At the same time, they say that the numbers speak for themselves and show grade inflation in high schools to be real. (A prominent critic of standardized testing contests the analysis -- more on that below.) 
 
 The research is on students who take the SAT, and the study argues that these are representative of high school students who enroll in four-year colleges. The data come both from the Education Department and from surveys the College Board conducts of students who take the SAT. 
 
 A key finding is that, looking at cohorts of high school graduates who finished from 1998 to 2016, the average high school GPA went up from 3.27 to 3.38. 
 
 Notably, the gains were unequal among high schools, and the differences appear to favor students from wealthier (and whiter) high schools than average. 
 
 The study groups high schools by the magnitude of grade inflation. In the top decile of growth in average GPAs, black and Latino students made up only 22 percent of students on average, and only 32 percent of students were eligible for free lunch. But in the bottom decile of GPA growth, black and Latino enrollments were an average of 61 percent, and more than half of students were eligible for free lunch. The study finds that the average GPA at the high schools with the most grade inflation (top decile) has hit 3.56, while the average at places that haven't seen much grade inflation (bottom decile, largely minority) is 3.14. 
 
 In some ways, this mirrors findings about grade inflation in higher education, where a recent study found continued gains in GPAs at four-year colleges, but not at community colleges, which serve many low-income and minority students. 
 
 These days, many high schools "weight" GPAs, giving extra points for honors or Advanced Placement courses, and the study finds similar grade inflation in the weighted and unweighted grades. 
 
 "High schools that liberally assign high grades may paradoxically disadvantage some students," the study says. "Such grade inflation blurs the signal of high grades on a transcript, meaning that the students whose performance truly justifies A grades are not easily discernible from students with more modest classroom performance." 
 
 And these findings should alarm admissions officials, the study says. "If all transcripts are replete with A grades, without standardized tests, admissions staff would be tasked with the impossible -- using high school GPA to predict whether the student will thrive academically." 
 
 The authors of the study also look at the data another way, to show that the gains in GPAs aren't from more B-minus averages becoming B-plus grades, but are due to more A grades. 
 
 Here, the authors find that the proportion of students with A averages (including A-minus and A-plus) increased from 38.9 percent of the graduating class of 1998 to 47 percent of the graduating class of 2016. Those gains came from the B and C ranges. 
 
 Of course, the authors acknowledge in their study, there could be a reason for the grade inflation that would make educators celebrate. What if students are smarter or are being better educated, and so are earning their better grades? The authors reject these possibilities, and cite SAT scores to do so. If students were learning more, their SATs should be going up, or at the very least remaining stable. But during the period studied, SAT averages (math and verbal, 1,600-point scale) fell from 1,026 to 1,002. 
 
 In interviews, the authors of the study said that they didn't have an explanation for the grade inflation. Their focus, they said, was on the data, not the reasons why. They said they hope people will do further research, talking to teachers and others, to look for explanations. 
 
 While the authors said they didn't think many educators would be surprised that grade inflation is present in high schools, they said it was important to look at the variation among high schools, a circumstance that has received less attention. 
 
 High schools "most prone to grade inflation are the resourced schools," Lee said, "the ones with the highest level of affluence." For those at high schools without resources, generally with lower GPAs, grade inflation elsewhere "puts them at a disadvantage in the college admissions process." 
 
 Hurwitz, asked about the College Board's inclination to favor standardized tests, said that it's true the organization runs the SAT. "We're not saying you should just ignore grades. But what we are saying is that it is important we have some sort of standardized measure like the SAT," he said. "Right now where we see high school grades is enormous variation among high schools and variation of grade inflation." 
 
 The Role of Class Rank 
 
 One way of dealing with grade inflation might be more reliance on class rank, especially if there are data on the averages of students at different ranks. "Class rank, based on high school GPA, adds important context to student grades," the study says. "Achieving a B average at a high school without grade inflation might prove a more impressive feat than earning all A grades at a comparable high school with rampant grade inflation." 
 
 But using data from the National Student Clearinghouse and the Education Department, the study finds that a majority of those who attend the most competitive colleges come from high schools where class rank is "suppressed." In contrast, a solid majority of those at less selective colleges come from high schools still releasing class ranks. And the study notes a relationship between wealth and these trends, with many of those coming from high schools that don't release rank coming from private schools. 
 
 Bob Schaeffer, public education director of FairTest: National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a longtime critic of the College Board, was not impressed by the study, which he said in an interview was an attempt by the College Board "to stave off the test-optional movement." 
 
 He said that the only part of the study he considered to be "a new wrinkle" was the information about grade inflation being most prevalent at high schools with wealthier, less diverse students than at other high schools. But he noted that many of the colleges that have dropped SAT or ACT requirements in recent years have found enrollments of minority and low-income students going up. 
 
 These colleges, he said, "know that no standardized exams are needed to make fair, accurate admissions decisions."
– Admissions goofs are nothing new. Learning you've lost your admission in July is another matter. That's the situation with the University of California Irvine, which withdrew 499 offers of admission two months before the fall term is to begin. By the Los Angeles Times' count, that's abnormally high: Other UC campuses gave "recession" numbers ranging from seven to 150. Per the school, 290 of the reversals were because of transcript issues; the rest were over low senior-year grades. Many of the newly disappointed are accusing the school of fishing for slight or even unsubstantiated reasons to dump would-be freshmen after too many made the choice to enroll. The LAT cites numbers that suggest they may not be off base: The UC Office of the President says 7,100 students made the decision to enroll, versus a planned freshman class of 6,250. A rep for the school concurs that the admissions office has been cracking down on verifying requirements "as a result of more students [having] accepted admissions to UCI than it expected." In case after case, the crackdown smells off: One student was told only one of the two required copies of her transcript was mailed; she says they were sent in the same envelope. Another student says he was told his transcript didn't contain a graduation date; he says it did. They're appealing, and they're not the only ones: Some 409—or 82%—have, with many of the students quoted by the LAT and OC Register as having 4.0-plus GPAs ... and having already turned down other schools and scholarships. As of Friday, 63 have emerged victorious. The school says the appeals process, which normally takes up to six weeks, has been accelerated.