The consequences of the end of minority preferences in the University of California (UC) schools of law and medicine are explored. The first students admitted into these graduate schools on a colorblind basis will begin classes in the fall of 1997. None of these students received a racial preference in admission, as a result of a 1995 decision by the UC Board of Regents. The media have described the effects of the new policy in uniformly alarmist and simplistic terms, but, in fact, the numbers of Blacks and Hispanics are generally down at the law and medical schools because in the past these schools have admitted minority students with weak academic qualifications. When color preferences were outlawed, it was inevitable that the racial mix of the incoming class would change. The decline in the number of minority students was especially great for African Americans. Hispanic enrollments dropped only half as much. Although the fact that no blacks were admitted to the UC San Diego medical school was widely publicized, the number of blacks enrolling in the state's medical schools actually increased slightly, and Hispanic enrollments dropped much less than in the law schools. Asian Americans are flourishing under the new policies, with their numbers in the first-year class at the UCLA (UC Los Angeles) law school up 81%. If Asians are included in the "minority" count, minority enrollments there are up about 25%. A desire to obscure Asian successes has led proponents of preferences to demote Asian Americans from the category of people of color. The actions of the UC Board of Regents have reduced the numbers of Black and Hispanic students in these graduate schools at present, but it will benefit those with solid qualifications by removing the stigma of having been admitted under lower standards. Contains 28 notes. (SLD)