The latest: DOJ officials accused George Washington University’s medical school of illegally discriminating in admissions, alleging the institution used essay questions designed to learn information about applicants’ race or ethnicity. Officials accused the Washington, D.C., university of using this information to select more Black applicants for admissions interviews. 

The university said in a statement that officials have received a letter from the DOJ and are reviewing it. “We are disappointed by the DOJ’s conclusions, which we believe are incorrect,” the university said. “Our School of Medicine and Health Sciences admissions process fully complies with the law.”

The latest: The Justice Department accused Duke University’s law school of discriminating against White and Asian applicants, arguing that admissions staff used student responses to essay questions to advance racial diversity goals. The DOJ also said admissions officials tagged responses to “capture specific applicant characteristics that are commonly correlated with race, such as being a Pell grant recipient.”

A spokesperson for Duke did not respond to Higher Ed Dive’s request for comment by publication time.

The latest: The Justice Department accused University of California, San Diego’s medical school of discriminating in admissions by using terms like “hardship” and “disadvantage” as proxies for race. For instance, the department alleged, applicants that admissions officials determined had overcome hardship were placed in separate groups to ensure more underrepresented minority students were granted admissions interviews.

UC San Diego said in an emailed Aug. 28 statement that it is committed to complying with federal law and looks forward to working “collaboratively and constructively with the federal government.”  

“All applicants to the school’s Doctor of Medicine program must meet strict academic thresholds, a requirement that is and was applied uniformly to all applicants,” it said.

The latest: In July, attorneys for a Yale University faculty group issued a scathing analysis of the DOJ's allegations that the institution’s medical school had discriminated based on race in admissions, saying that the federal agency relied on “cherry-picked” and “statistically weak” evidence, leading to “bogus” findings. 

The background: In May, the DOJ accused Yale’s medical school of using racial proxies to unlawfully give admissions advantages to Black and Hispanic applicants. 

Officials pointed to a Yale presentation in 2025 that highlighted a University of California, Davis policy that it said gave low socioeconomic status applicants an edge in admissions, leading to higher admissions rates of underrepresented minority students. The DOJ accused Yale of taking a similar approach. 

When the DOJ announced its findings, a Yale spokesperson told Higher Ed Dive in a statement that the medical school was “confident in the rigorous admissions process we follow.”

The latest: The Justice Department accused University of California, Davis’ medical school of illegally giving an admissions advantage to Black and Hispanic applicants by "strategically" adjusting GPAs and MCAT scores based on metrics assessing socioeconomic status. 

During a six-month investigation, DOJ investigators homed in on the Davis Scale, which considers factors like family income and whether applicants received need-based scholarships during their undergraduate studies. 

In a June statement, the university said it was “disappointed by the report.”

“UC Davis School of Medicine strongly disagrees with any characterization of its admissions practices as discriminatory or inconsistent with applicable law,” the university said. “The report's findings do not accurately reflect the school's rigorous, individualized, and merit-based admissions process and our firm commitment to complying with applicable federal and state antidiscrimination laws.”

The latest: DOJ officials alleged that University of California, Los Angeles discriminated against White and Asian medical school applicants, accusing admissions officials of intentionally admitting students based on their race. 

At the time, a UCLA spokesperson said via email that the medical school has merit-based admissions “grounded in a rigorous, comprehensive review of each applicant.” The spokesperson also said the institution is “fully complying with federal and state laws.”