UC Berkeley admits students from a San Francisco high school at nearly three times the statewide average—even though the vast majority of that school’s students fail state math tests, according to a new analysis.
Mission High School in San Francisco posted a 45 percent acceptance rate to UC Berkeley for the Class of 2025, compared with a 15 percent average across California high schools, according to data highlighted in a New York Post report and a UC Berkeley math professor’s op-ed.
Of the 76 Mission High students who applied to Berkeley in 2025, 34 were accepted. Yet only 17 percent of Mission High’s 11th graders scored proficient or above in English, and just 6 percent did so in math on the 2025 state assessment exam—the lowest of any school in the San Francisco Unified School District, which averaged 59 percent and 43 percent respectively.
The 76 applicants represented 29 percent of Mission’s senior class. Given that Berkeley accepted 45 percent of that applicant pool, critics argue the numbers make it mathematically impossible for the university to have admitted only students who passed the state’s math exam.
The revelation adds fuel to a brewing controversy over the University of California’s decision to abandon SAT and ACT requirements, a move that thousands of faculty members say has led to admitting students unprepared for college coursework.
Professor’s Comparison Sparks Debate
UC Berkeley teaching professor of mathematics Zvezdelina Stankova laid out the contrast in a recent op-ed titled “I teach calculus at Berkeley. Some of my students can’t do middle school math.”
Stankova compared two California high schools: Dougherty Valley High School in San Ramon and Mission High School in San Francisco.
At Dougherty Valley, 432 of 756 juniors exceeded California’s math standard in 2024, as measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test. Of the school’s 542 Berkeley applicants that fall, 44 were admitted—an acceptance rate of 8 percent.
At Mission High, 193 of 202 juniors did not meet the state math standard. Yet Berkeley admitted 34 of the school’s 76 applicants—a 45 percent acceptance rate.
Stankova noted that 174 Dougherty Valley students who exceeded the state benchmark were rejected, while at least 25 Mission High students who failed to meet the benchmark were admitted.
The UC system has banned admissions officers from considering the SAT or ACT since 2020, eliminating what Stankova and other critics describe as the only common academic benchmark across California’s thousands of high schools.
Critics See DEI Agenda, Financial Harm
Conservative commentators and some academics argue the disparity reflects a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda that prioritizes equity over merit, at the expense of white and Asian students who score higher on standardized tests.
But critics also point to what they call a twofold harm to minority and low-income students themselves.
First, without the SAT or ACT as a metric, there is less incentive for schools to teach students to a college-ready level, they argue. “Who does that hurt? The students, obviously,” wrote John Nolte in a Breitbart News analysis of the data. “Who does this benefit? The lazy middle and high school teachers, obviously.”
Second, critics say universities are financially exploiting unprepared students. In-state tuition at UC Berkeley is around $15,000 per year, plus housing and other costs. Students who are not academically prepared for Berkeley’s rigor may struggle or drop out, leaving them with debt and no degree.
“This is cruel to those students who do the work to qualify and get snubbed,” Nolte wrote. “This is cruel to the students who are not qualified and then dropped into a deep end they cannot handle.”
The UC system has defended its test-blind policy, arguing that standardized tests disadvantage low-income and minority students and that holistic review better captures applicant potential. But Stankova and other faculty members have called for the university to reconsider, pointing to mounting evidence of unprepared students in their classrooms.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/education/2026/08/18/nolte-highest-berkeley-acceptance-rate-is-from-school-where-94-flunk-math/