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Although the University of Georgia has made major leaps in diversity since desegregating, UGA can still only be as diverse as those who apply and as diverse as the state of Georgia itself.

Each undergraduate class at the University of Georgia is more than 70 percent white with only less than 10 percent Black/African American. The data from the UGA Factbook presents alarming numbers surrounding the issue of diversity at UGA and the admissions process regarding ethnicity.

Anyone can access the data about ethnic origin in the UGA Factbook under the chapter: Characteristics of Enrolled Students by Class Fall 2010. In Fall 2010, there were 25,947 undergraduate students enrolled, 20,041 of which identified themselves as white.

The freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes all have a similar statistical breakdown for each ethnic origin, and no one class shows numbers not comparable to the others. Every class has an overwhelming majority of white students with extremely low enrollment of American Indians, Pacific Islanders, and Multiracial students.

Each class also has more Asians than black students. While the numbers are low in both categories, for the total undergraduate students, there are 249 more Asian students than black students.

“It is important to just take the numbers for what they are,” said Charles Mathies, a research analyst for the Office of Institutional Research.

With all the percentages presented so similarly, a question arises: Exactly what role does ethnicity play in the admissions process for the university?

“There is no quota for any kind of student. In respect of ethnicity, race, or geography,” said Patrick Winter, Senior Associate Director at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. “It seems there is a lot of belief there is a quota in the admissions process for certain types of students, and that is not the case at all.”

More than 10 years ago, the university did utilize both race and gender in the admissions process. Later, UGA made the decision not to use gender, race or legacy status in the admissions process.

Today, when students apply for admission, academic criteria, including grades, course rigors, and test scores, play the largest role in determining acceptance, not race or ethnicity.

Also, the number of students enrolled accurately reflects those who apply.

“It breaks down fairly evenly in any way that you would slice it,” said Winter. “You could look at left-handed students and right-handed students, or however you want to, and it is a pretty even distribution of what percentage of students apply and get admitted.”

When analyzing the data of ethnicity at UGA, the issue arises of who goes to college in the state of Georgia.

“When you have students coming from more affluent families, they are going to attend college at a much higher rate than students coming from low-income families, and the distribution of that is sometimes very much drawn among racial lines,” said Winter.

All of these factors are also greatly affected by the changing population in Georgia. Since the enrollment at UGA reflects those who apply, if the population of the state changes then so will the population of the university.

According to the Wiche Report “Knocking at the College Door”, Georgia has peaked in terms of the number of white high school graduates. The black population is remaining steady, while the Hispanic population is growing.

“If we have a population that is growing or declining in one area or another it will be reflected in the number of students going to college,” said Winter.

The data expressing the ethnicities at the University of Georgia shows an extreme majority of white students, but the students who apply to the university reflect these numbers. This could mean that in the future, a changing population could change the data to represent a larger percentage of minority students.