Washington Monthly - September/October 2022 - 26

Degree of uncertainty: Savannah Gonzalez graduated without a clear career plan after being rejected from her chosen major,
communications, at UC Santa Barbara.
THE INVISIBLE
COLLEGE BARRIER
Admissions requirements for popular majors are
robbing underprivileged students of future income-
and their dreams.
By Rob Wolfe
S
avannah Gonzalez did everything right. Growing up
in a poor immigrant area of Los Angeles County, she
dreamed of being the first in her family to attend college.
Her mother raised her alone, scrimping to pay for tuition
and uniforms at Savannah's Catholic high school,
where she took AP classes and became a leader in student
government. She worked single-mindedly toward her goal,
achieving a 4.2 weighted GPA and, after high school, attending
a " STEP " program designed to help first-generation students
transition to college. In fall 2018, she enrolled at the
University of California, Santa Barbara, with a plan: pursue
a pre-business major, graduate early, and find a well-paying
job to support her family.
26 September/October 2022
But her first semester was a shock. Back home, Gonzalez
was surrounded by Hispanic and Asian people in a fastpaced
city environment. Here, her new peers were more
often white, wealthy, and accustomed to slow days on the
beach. In classes, those students quickly formed cliques and
shared notes, socializing with an ease she didn't understand.
She struggled-one of her required courses, statistics, relied
on math that seemingly everyone but her had studied
in high school. She failed that class the first time. Then she
took it again, studied with all her might, and got a C.
Halfway through Gonzalez's freshman year, a faculty
adviser told her that one grade meant she might not be accepted
into her chosen major, communications. (UC Santa
Courtesy of Savannah Gonzalez

Washington Monthly - September/October 2022

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