Seeing that 97% of UCLA Admits and 98% of Berkeley admits were ELC, if I didn’t get it, is my application basically dead? Also, I understand that getting top 9% statewide means NOTHING in admissions, but ELC means a lot. Are those stats so high because it just happens to work out that way or do UCLA and Berkeley just throw out applications from non-ELC students?
UC’s review all applications and just because you are not ELC eligible locally, does not mean you do not have a chance at any of the UC’s if you are academically qualified. Statewide ELC is also a consideration.
ELC only guarantees that if not accepted at your choice UC, your application will be referred to UC Merced if space is available.
It can also dependent upon when your HS’s ELC benchmark was established. This benchmark GPA will be recalculated for one-third of the high schools each year.
I forgot to say this, but I am top 9% statewide. If it is considered, then that’s gonna help.
From the UC website:
As shown in the quote above, statewide eligibility is still considered for the referral just like the local eligibility. How UC’s use ELC statewide and local is campus dependent.
You can use this link for Admissions by source school and GPA to determine if you are competitive for your HS for UC admissions:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/admissions-source-school
What I’m wondering is how ELC and Statewide guarantee are used to decide who gets into the 2 big UCs. From what I understand, 97% of UCLA Admits are ELC and they don’t care about statewide in regards to who gets into UCLA.
This is from the UCLA website regarding denials:
It is a case of supply and demand. There are far more qualified applicants than spots available at all the UC’s including UC Merced (since referrals are based on space availability).
HS GPA, Test scores, essays and HS course rigor are considered Very Important by all the UC’s but they also consider the more subjective factors such as EC’s, likely contribution to intellectual and cultural vitality of the campus; diversity in personal background and experience; demonstrated qualities in leadership, motivation, concern for others and community; non-academic achievement in the performing arts, athletics or employment and demonstrated interest in major. All aspects of your application will go into your admission decision.
ELC is only one factor. Apply and hope for the best since at this point there is nothing you can do.
From the link Gumbymom posted earlier (list of the number of UCLA and Berkeley applicants and admits (and all other UCs) from each high school in California), some high schools have more admits than the top 9%, others, not so. I also noticed some UCs (e.g., UCSD) admit more than 50% of the applicants from certain high schools. Great info, thanks for sharing. @Gumbymom