I’m wondering if anyone can share recent examples regarding the ‘Eligibility in the Local Context’ provisions for University of California applicants:
If you were denied to all the UC colleges you/your child applied to, what UC was the one offered under the ELC provisions? (A lot of people suspect it’s ALWAYS UC Merced)
Does anyone have experience with the ELC provisions resulting in admission to the perceived ‘prestigious’ UC campuses, like UC Berkeley, UCLA or Davis?
Usually only UC Merced and Riverside. None of the mid to top tier UC’s are going to accept these applicants because they already have many more qualified applicants on their waitlist than spots. UCM does not waitlist applicants since they need to save spots for ELC eligible applicants.
UC Santa Cruz did however offer spots to International applicants that did not get into any UC’s due to the money they receive from full pay students.
Guaranteed ELC admissions were much more widespread years ago (you can see this if you search for old posts in this forum). But lately I haven’t heard of anyone offered ELC admissions anywhere other than Merced.
My recommendation for the typical UC applicant: the first campus on your application list should be UCSC (or UCR if you prefer). There, that’s your safety. If you only apply to high and mid-tier UC campuses, then you are in effect designating UCM as your safety by default.
UC Merced is also not a “guarantee” since they do state that they will take ELC eligible applicants if spots are available. It may be dependent upon an applicant’s major just like UC Riverside which has contacted ELC applicants for majors that may not be filled to capacity (previous to this year). I have not seen any posts in regards to UCR accepting any ELC eligible applicants that did not get into their preferred UC’s this year.
With the number of applicants this year, I think people should be careful about assuming that UCSC or Riverside can be safeties (unless the stats are very high). People who in past years would have gotten into these schools are now being declined or waitlisted.
In recent years, any ELC or ESC applicant who did not get accepted by another UC campus would receive a “Count Me In” guaranteed admission invitation from UC Merced (even if they did not originally apply to Merced). It looks like Merced is still running the “Count Me In” program for Fall 2017 admissions.
In theory, then, it’s not necessary for a UC-qualifed student to actually apply to Merced; if you aren’t admitted anywhere else, then you will get an automatic invite. However, there are some possible drawbacks to this approach. First, it looks like some of the students admitted under “Count Me In” won’t get to start until Spring 2018. Second, while “Count Me In” guarantees admission to the Merced campus, I wouldn’t assume that it guarantees admission to your major of choice; it wouldn’t surprise me if the most popular majors fill up with regular applicants before the “Count Me In” invitations go out. Third, I don’t think there is any guarantee that Merced will continue this program indefinitely, or even next year. So if you are prepared to consider Merced, it’s probably worth submitting a regular Merced application, rather than waiting for a “Count Me In” invitation.
It sure looks like ELC and TAG are shrinking a little every year as there simply aren’t enough seats to accommodate all the applicants. Counting on a ‘Count Me In’ invite next year is foolish. If you are a well qualified applicant, apply to several UCs and CSUs so there is a door open to you.