It’s not a “routine”, they aren’t setting up norms of expectation for the rest of the cycle. Furthermore, like I said above, just checking off the URM box does NOT guarantee a boost. Adcomms are very clear that this type of consideration/boost is only given to individuals who manage to incorporate their identity or experiences into the rest of their application, as a reflection of their diverse and unique background. URM status does NOT blanket over a bad application, and if you’re only evaluative metric of an application’s quality is 2 numbers, you’re largely missing the social and material context. Conveying this social context is extremely important for URMs in the admissions process b/c we have simply not been afforded the same types of opportunities. There isn’t a gap in expectations. Like another user said, it’s about addressing the gap of opportunity.