Justice Department Alleges Yale and UCLA Medical Schools Discriminate by Race in Admissions

The Justice Department sent a letter to Yale School of Medicine on May 15, 2026, accusing the school of discriminating based on race in its admissions by favoring Black and Hispanic applicants over White and Asian ones. The allegations are based on a year-long investigation and cite differences in average test scores and GPAs between students of different racial groups over the past three admissions cycles.

The DOJ sent a similar letter to the UCLA medical school the week before May 15, 2026.

In January 2026, the DOJ joined a lawsuit against the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA filed by Do No Harm, which advocates against diversity initiatives. The DOJ accused UCLA of continuing to “intentionally discriminate against applicants based on their race” despite the 2023 Supreme Court decision.

In its findings against UCLA, the DOJ outlines “statistical evidence of intentional discrimination” by comparing MCAT scores and GPAs of admitted students by race.

In 2023, white and Asian applicants admitted to UCLA had a median MCAT score of 514. The letter to Yale makes a parallel case.

In 2023, Black applicants to Yale had a median MCAT score of 517.

The Trump administration accused Yale School of Medicine and UCLA medical school of continuing discriminatory practices after the 2023 Supreme Court ruling, which prohibited the use of affirmative action in admission decisions. On his first day in office in 2025, President Trump signed an executive order targeting “radical and wasteful” DEI programs.