Page:Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College.pdf/170

Rh 81. Under SFFA’s model, however, Blackblack [sic] representation would plummet by about 32%, and the admitted share of applicants with high academic ratings would decrease, as would the share with high extracurricular and athletic ratings. 980 F. 3d, at 194. SFFA’s proposal, echoed by, , requires Harvard to “make sacrifices on almost every dimension important to its admissions process,” 980 F. 3d, at 194, and forces it “to choose between a diverse student body and a reputation for academic excellence,” Fisher II, 579 U. S., at 385. Neither this Court’s precedents nor common sense impose that type of burden on colleges and universities.

The courts below also properly rejected SFFA’s argument that Harvard does not use race in the limited way this Court’s precedents allow. The Court has explained that a university can consider a student’s race in its admissions process so long as that use is “contextual and does not operate as a mechanical plus factor.” Id., at 375. The Court has also repeatedly held that race, when considered as one factor of many in the context of holistic review, “can make a difference to whether an application is accepted or rejected.” Ibid. After all, race-conscious admissions seek to improve racial diversity. Race cannot, however, be “‘decisive’ for virtually every minimally qualified underrepresented minority applicant.” Gratz, 539 U. S., at 272 (quoting Bakke, 438 U. S., at 317).

That is precisely how Harvard’s program operates. In recent years, Harvard has received about 35,000 applications for a class with about 1,600 seats. 980 F. 3d, at 165. The admissions process is exceedingly competitive; it involves six different application components. Those components include interviews with alumni and admissions officers, as well as consideration of a whole range of information, such as grades, test scores, recommendation letters, and personal essays, by several committees. Id., at 165–166. Consistent with that “individualized, holistic review process,”