UC ELC (eligibility in local Context)

Applying to College
1

Hello, I am a Senior at a california high school applying as a prospective freshman applicant this fall. I am confused about the ELC program. The UC website says that you are given the ELC status if your the top 9% of your class. Here are my questions:

-Does this account for all California high schools or just your specific high school?

-My rank at my school is 53/462 which puts me in the top 11%. Will this help me at all or will the UC’s disregard this since I did not fall within the top 9%?

-My high school is rated very highly amongst other schools in my county and we have a competitive class with valecticdorians achieving 4.8 average gpa’s. Does this help at all? It doesn’t make sense to me that at another school you could have a 3.8gpa and fall in the top 9% of your class that does not perform as well as other schools. Those are just my thoughts but thanks for responding if you know an answer!

2

UC ELC is determined by comparing your UC-weighted-capped GPA against a top 9% threshold UC-weighted-capped GPA set by previous classes at your high school. It is not based on your class rank as determined by your high school.

The main effect of having UC ELC is that if you get shut out of UCs that you apply to, you may receive an admission offer from some other UC (Merced in recent years) if there is space available.

3

Not being ELC eligible will not keep you from gaining an acceptance into a UC, but with the competitiveness of the UC system, being in the top 9% will help.