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4 

STUDENTS FOR FAIR ADMISSIONS, INC. v. PRESIDENT 
AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE 
Opinion of the Court 

its freshman class of 4,200.”  Id., at 595. 

Every application the University receives is initially re-
viewed by one of approximately 40 admissions office read-
ers,  each  of  whom  reviews  roughly  five  applications  per
hour.  Id.,  at  596,  598.  Readers  are  required  to  consider
“[r]ace and ethnicity . . . as one factor” in their review.  Id., 
at  597  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted).    Other  factors 
include academic performance and rigor, standardized test-
ing results, extracurricular involvement, essay quality, per-
sonal factors, and student background.  Id., at 600.  Readers 
are responsible for providing numerical ratings for the aca-
demic,  extracurricular,  personal,  and  essay  categories. 
Ibid.    During  the  years  at  issue  in  this  litigation,  un-
derrepresented  minority  students  were  “more  likely  to
score [highly] on their personal ratings than their white and 
Asian  American  peers,”  but  were  more  likely  to  be  “rated
lower  by  UNC  readers  on  their  academic  program,  aca-
demic performance, . . . extracurricular activities,” and es-
says.  Id., at 616–617. 

After  assessing  an  applicant’s  materials  along  these 
lines, the reader “formulates an opinion about whether the 
student  should  be  offered  admission”  and  then  “writes  a 
comment defending his or her recommended decision.”  Id., 
at 598 (internal quotation marks omitted).  In making that
decision, readers may offer students a “plus” based on their 
race, which “may be significant in an individual case.”  Id., 
at 601 (internal quotation marks omitted).  The admissions 
decisions made by the first readers are, in most cases, “pro-
visionally final.”  Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. Uni-
versity  of  N. C.  at  Chapel  Hill,  No.  1:14–cv–954  (MDNC,
Nov. 9, 2020), ECF Doc. 225, p. 7, ¶52.

Following the first read process, “applications then go to 
a process called ‘school group review’ . . . where a committee 
composed of experienced staff members reviews every [ini-
tial] decision.”  567 F. Supp. 3d, at 599.  The review com-
mittee  receives  a  report  on  each  student  which  contains,