The Council reserved two positions for Afro-Caribbean or Asian applicants in the housing department.

Asians maintain that admission requirements are weighted against Asian applicants in several ways.

In general, however, the university says that Asian applicants have the same chances in admissions as do whites.

In 1985, the year John Kuo was accepted by Harvard, for example, 12.6 percent of the Asian applicants were accepted.

Asian applicants who have been turned down charge that members of other ethnic groups with lower grades or test scores are given preference.

The number of Asian applicants rose 10.8 percent but applications fell 7.7 percent for blacks and 5.8 percent for Hispanics.

The A.A.M.C. also reported small increases in the number of minorities and women applying, as well as an 11 percent increase in Asian applicants.

The pairs of names used for each application were randomly selected from the panel of three Asian and English applicants.

In one post the English applicant was shortlisted and was subsequently withdrawn - after which the Asian applicant was shortlisted.

Further, loan rejection rates among Asian, black and Hispanic applicants had been cut in half.