UC-ELC Questions [From a student.]

Parents Forum
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<p>Hello Parents,</p>

<p>I am currently a Senior at a central California high school. I in the top 4% of my school (top 1% to be exact), meaning that I qualified for ELC. For the parents who are well versed in the UC system:</p>

<p>My question is what does ELC exactly do for me? I know that I am guaranteed to some schools, but what schools are they? And do I have to clarify what schools?</p>

<p>I am particularly interested in UCSB, (hoping it will be my safety). Does having ELC mean I am guaranteed there? (I think that was the case last year, but I don’t know this year.)</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<p>ELC doesn't mean that you are guaranteed Santa Barbara, but the chances for you are something like 98%. The only 2 campuses that the UC administrators can say for sure will take all eligible students are Merced and Riverside. </p>

<p>Here are the Fall 2004 admit rates by campus:</p>

<p>Berkeley: Admit Rate – Overall: 24.71%</p>

<h1>ELC Student Admit Rate: 61.1%</h1>

<p>Davis: Admit Rate – Overall: 54.9%</p>

<h1>ELC Student Admit Rate: 97.8%</h1>

<p>Irvine: Admit Rate — Overall: 52.1%</p>

<h1>ELC Student Admit Rate: 95.2%</h1>

<p>UCLA: Admit Rate — Overall: 23.0%</p>

<h1>ELC Student Admit Rate: 50.2%</h1>

<p>Riverside: Admit Rate — Overall: 73.5%</p>

<h1>ELC Student Admit Rate: 92.0%</h1>

<p>San Diego: Admit Rate — Overall: 39.3</p>

<h1>ELC Student Admit Rate: 88.7%</h1>

<p>Santa Barbara: Admit Rate — Overall: 53.1%</p>

<h1>ELC Student Admit Rate: 97.2%</h1>

<p>Santa Cruz: Admit Rate — Overall: 68.6%</p>

<h1>ELC Student Admit Rate: 98.5%</h1>

<p>So basically, based on past performance, I would say that almost all ELC students who apply will be admitted to Davis, Irvine, Santa Barbara, & Santa Cruz, and that your chances at admission are at least doubled at San Diego, Berkeley, and UCLA. </p>

<p>And no - you don't have to do anything beyond apply to your colleges of choice, though I would suggest selecting at least one "safety" from the ones with the 90%+ admit rates. If you are not admitted to your campus of choice, the UC system would notify you of what campus did have space -- but the reasons I think it is important to designate a "safety" is that it will at least give you some choice.</p>

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<p>Thank you very much calmom. That was very helpful. I have just one question though. Why aren't the percentages for UCSB, UCI, UCSC, and UCR not 100% ? DO they turn people away, or is it that they dont qualify? </p>

<p>Thanks for your time.</p>

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<p>I got into the ELC program too. But no, it does not mean that you are guaranteed at a particular campus. It just means you are guaranteed a spot in at least ONE of the UC. But I am guessing that since you are the top 1% of your class, you have solid academics stats so UCSB should not be a problem.</p>

<p>And you should have received your packet of information by now... with your ELC pin number and everything.</p>

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<p>Don't forget that there is merit aid at some of the UC campuses for ELC/top student types. My son was ELC last year (also National Merit) and received a Regents scholarship at Davis. He was also admitted to Berkeley and is attending. I'm not sure if SB has Regents though. Best of luck, SB is a really nice school (I went there).</p>

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<p>Carbon - the point is that the admit rates show that ELC is NOT a guarantee at any of the campuses except for Riverside & Merced (where we know that all eligible students will get in merely because that's what the UC ad com people have said)... but only a tiny fraction of ELC students get rejected from USB, UCI, UCSC & UCD. The reason for this is the "comprehensive review" process where points or weight is assigned to a number of criteria - including factors like strength of curriculum. At some schools it is a very clear cut point system, and ELC represents a LOT of points -- you'd have to score very low in the other categories in order to miss the cut. In other schools, the weighting factors are more flexible.</p>

<p>I am sure that if you really want to go to UCSB and take the time to write a personal statement indicating why you want that campus, you will get in.</p>

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<p>ELC kids also have the plus of having their UC application half-way filled out by the application system. ELC is a great thing to have accomplished.</p>

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<p>Carbon:</p>

<p>according to UCOP, the UC guarantee schools this year are SB, Irvine, Riverside and Merced, so you are literally guaranteed a spot at one of those campuses. Good luck with SB. </p>

<p>Calmom: how does one make a personal note to SB while using the UC common app? Wouldn't that note go to all other UC schools for which Carbon applies? Or, do you suggest Carbon send a separate letter to Director of admissions at SB? (I only ask about the process cuz S is also elc and has a strong preference for one of the campuses.)</p>

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<p>carbon,
there are different bars for guarantees at specific campuses with ELC. Last yr, an ELC candidate was guaranteed for Berkeley if you were 4.2 UC GPA. The higher demand campuses, such as Berkeley, cannot admit every ELC because some of them may be competing with ELC's who have a stronger record.</p>

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<p>you should get a follow up letter from the school that says they will be the one taking your guaranteed acceptance. i believe some people have received their letters from UCI already. </p>

<p>ELC means that you are guaranteed to ONE of the UC campuses, but not necessarily the one of your desire. for example, someone might be guaranteed riverside instead of irvine, so that's why you don't see 100% acceptance rates for ELC students at all the UC's because they probably applied to a campus that wasn't guaranteed for them (and got rejected).</p>

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<p>Bluebayou, a "personal statement" is the essay the UC application requires of all students, not a personal note to one college. My point is that if the applicant really wants one particular campus, then it would make sense to tailor the personal statement to something that campus offers or is known for. It doesn't have to be spelled out as "I want to go to UC Santa Barbara because..." -- it's just that the ad com reading the statement is going to recognize it when they see it. So if your son is strongly interested in one school, he should make sure his personal statement highlights things that make him a good candidate for that particular school.</p>

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<p>Wow, thank you for the overwhelming responses. I have another question though. </p>

<p>If have a 4.27 GPA, and a 1900 (I know, not that good, but my goal is to go to an easier undergrad, so I can achieve a higher GPA for med school, so really no need to prepare for SATs.), what "bars" of guarantee will this amount too??? </p>

<p>And also, on a side note: Do the UCs really look at ECs? I have heard that they are primarily "stat" based, but the dilemma is that I have very strong ECs. [UCSF Biomedical Internship, Clinical Orthopaedic research, research is published, and I am presenting my findings in DC next year] Will the UCs take into consideration these ECs, or will they just go by the "numbers?"</p>

<p>Thanks again. =)</p>

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<p>Geez, Carbon, can't you take "Yes" for an answer? You want to go to UCSB, right? You are IN. You are IN because I showed you stats from 2004 that showed a 97.2% admit rate, and 2004 was the one year in the entire history of the UC system that eligible students were actually turned away and redirected to the community colleges. So for all I know it is a one-year statistical anomoly. </p>

<p>You are also IN because Bluebayou claims that UCOP says that UCSB is a "guarantee" school this year, and while I can't find anything on the entire UCOP site to substantiate that, I have no reason to think that Bluebayou is making it up. I assume that Bluebayou's kid just goes to a better high school than my kid -- one where the counseling office actually shares information with the students - and probably got some sort of paper or notice reflecting that fact. </p>

<p>As to the ec's the answer is yes, the UC's care, and you would know that if you spent 2 seconds reading about the "comprehensive review" process... but no, it doesn't matter one bit as far as Santa Barbara is concerned because with your 4.27 GPA and 1900 SATs you are going to be accepted no matter what. So you could write down your EC's or list your favorite movies instead and it wouldn't make a dime's worth of difference. The only thing currently standing in the way of your acceptance is the fact that you haven't yet submitted an application. </p>

<p>USCB is your SAFETY. Get it? It is a safety for all ELC students. If that is also your first choice, save your money, don't check off any other school, and just submit your app. If you spent as much time and energy filling out the online app as you are doing here asking the same question over and over, you would be done already. Just list your EC's in the place on the app form for EC's, write a simple paragraph about the research you've done and your planned presentation and use that for your personal statement, and click the "submit" button. </p>

<p>So congratulations on your ELC status -- you are a very fortunate kid with a bright future, and since you have already made the very wise decision that you prefer to do your premed work at one of the campuses that is not known for its Chem 1A death toll.... you should be able to have a stress-free senior year.</p>

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<p>calmom:</p>

<p>I can assure you that our counseling office is lacking big time -- 3 counselors for 2000+ students. I just e-mailed UCOP and they sent back the response, in writing, for the four schools I posted.</p>

<p>epiphany: I spoke personally with the adcom at Berkeley, and she disputed the 4.2 gpa guaranteed acceptance -- obviously, each HS has different grading policies (some have inflation, others limit honors/ap courses to Jrs+). Perhaps in your HS, a 4.2 is top drawer, whereas at another, a 4.2 is not even elc.....</p>

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<p>blue, You could not be more wrong about my D's h.s. First, we heard directly from ELC regarding that info; second, my D's h.s. is so competitive that it is considered East Coast in quality & difficulty. An A at her school is not even vaguely the A at most other private schools in our region or at the high-rent publics. </p>

<p>There is bound to be some conflicting information and claims about elc from year to year, school to school. I am simply telling cc'ers the info that we rec'd, which also, btw, happened to accord with acceptance results from a wide range of elc'ers that we knew from several schools, public & private. I would not what this year's "guarantee" bar is at any particular UC campus.</p>

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<p>whoops: left out the "know" in the last line.</p>

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<p>hello</p>

<p>My son goes to a public charter school. He is ranked 6 out of 76 so he didn't make ELC but his stats are good (gpa 3.9 uw 2200 SAT).</p>

<p>Is ELC required for merit aid?</p>

<p>Would UC Davis and Irvine be considered safeties?</p>

<p>thanks, FresnoMom</p>

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<p>epiphany, I apologize if I was unclear. I meant to compliment your D's HS, not malign its reputation since I don't even know it. :)</p>

<p>My use of the term, "top drawer," was meant as top of the bureau, which in this case, is top of the the national high schools, Thus, a 4.2 is at your HS means auto acceptance to any UC bcos it is so competitive and has a well-known reputation. </p>

<p>But, as has been pointed out by other students, sometimes a 4.2 won't even qualify for elc at a particular school....thus, my point about possible grade inflation at those schools -- (again, which does not apply to your D's, however).</p>

<p>I know of two similar HS in our district, where a 4.2 is elc, but the other nieghboring HS has a higher cutoff, and that is bcos at the 4.2 school, A's are limited to 10-15% in several UC honors classes.</p>

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<p>FresnoMom - ELC is NOT required for merit aid -- students are offered scholarship opportunities based on overall consideration of merit. My son was not ELC but was offered opportunities to apply for full tuition scholarships at UCD and UCSC. </p>

<p>If you want to know your son's chances at UCI and UCD, then you need to look at statistical data for students with his stats. All I posted above was the ELC data, but each campus also publishes similar data where you can correlate percentage admitted to GPA or SAT scores. (example: acceptance rate for scores over 1400).</p>

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<p>Not to worry, blue; I PM'ed you as well. I'm just a little trigger-happy, I guess, with the recent comment on another thread about the supposedly "clubby" Ivy applicants. (The insult that never dies.)</p>

<p>I'm very excited for your S & he'll probably get into the campus of his choice.</p>