If he received the ELC designation on the UC application, then it is the local ELC not the Statewide. ELC only guarantees UC Merced if room is available and Mid-April is when they will refer the application to UCM. He should be notified if his application is referred.
Here is the information for UC Merced’s referral program , Count me in: https://admissions.ucmerced.edu/first-year/count-me-in-faqs
This is a screenshot of the message he received when he submitted his application (personal name/id removed). How do we know if this is the ELC or the Statewide Guarantee?
Edited: Sorry, I was reading it on my phone and did not see the information correctly. Yes, Statewide ELC as noted by @jntwinmama and @ucbalumnus. Depending upon if UC Merced has room available, then his application could be referred to the campus.
My understanding however was the statewide ELC was not noted on the UC application, only the local ELC?? But then again, the UC application has changed when my son’s went through the process and only Local ELC was noted on the application.
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I think this mean Statewide. My boys both got this same message and I asked at the school and was told they did not qualify at the school level.
That looks like a reference to the statewide top 9% approximated by the admission index that includes test scores. The local top 9% would only use the UC recalculated GPA compared against a benchmark UC recalculated GPA from the high school.
Contact UC directly to clarify.
This is what the UC website states on statewide ELC:
Statewide guarantee
UC will not consider test scores as a factor in fall 2021 admissions decisions. In light of this change, we will not use the admissions index to determine eligibility for the statewide guarantee for fall 2021 admissions. UC is in the process of revising the admissions index for fall 2022 admissions.
UC remains committed to ensuring enrollment opportunities for all qualified California high school graduates.
Seems to contradict the screenshot.
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Yes, I thought it was contradictory too, which is why I’m confused. They say he ranks in the top 9% in their message upon submission, but now the website says they will not use the admissions index for statewide guarantee for fall 2021 admissions? Sounds like they are re-nigging on their offer to these students. So after all this, and them not considering his near perfect test score for admissions which hurt him, now they are saying they won’t use it for this either??? On what basis would they make these offers then if not on this index? And how is that fair to change the criteria after the submission date when they already told students that they qualified?
I will have to call them to get this clarified.
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I agree, definitely call for clarification.
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Seems like the inconsistency may be due to the rushed timeline imposed by the court battles. The final decision of the lawsuit forcing UC to go test-blind occurred on October 29, 2020, so it is possible that not all of the web pages and such referring to SAT/ACT use were changed (the Daily Bruin noted on November 6, 2020 that the UC web site still included test score references on the statewide guarantee: UC to use test-blind admissions for fall 2021 following court decision - Daily Bruin ).
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It seems pretty unfair that it was still loading onto application portals in November though.
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Yes, that looks like a pretty bad (though probably easy to make due to omission) IT error in continuing to promise something that they were newly legally forbidden to promise.
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It is not clear to me that they were forbidden from using them for Statewide or they made that decision.
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ELC only uses GPA, so it is not affected by the ruling. It is the statewide top 9% that used SAT/ACT scores along with GPA.
Actually, for what it’s worth, the campus admissions offices specifically told us that the SAT was still being used for ELC, this was at least a few months after the court ruling and well after “test blind” was the acknowledged approach. Did that change?
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I meant statewide. Will edit.
It wouldn’t be the first time that a college person verbally gave the wrong information, since ELC was always GPA based without test scores: University of California Counselors
Interestingly, this link still refers to the statewide path with the admissions index that historically used SAT/ACT scores (although the admissions index link does not lead to an admissions index calculation): University of California Counselors . Probably another instance of an IT error where a change in policy was not consistently updated across all web sites and other references to the policy.
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I called the UC application helpline and they told me that what he received was for the ELC. There is no statewide guarantee this year due to them not using test scores (so another detriment to those kids who worked hard to get test scores). She said the wording was not updated in the message that he received, but that it was referring to the ELC. I don’t see how he is in the top 9% of his school, given his GPA, so I’m not sure I believe this. She said that those who qualified will receive an email by next week for the Count Me In program if there is space available. That’s a big IF, considering the onslaught of applications this year.
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Can you find out from the school or UC what the ELC benchmark GPA for the school is, so that you can compare his UC-recalculated weighted-capped GPA to it?
Makes no sense. Mine got the same designation as yours. But the school told me they are not top 9% there. Twin one had one B. Twin two had all As. But in a class of 200, there were at least 18 kids with all As and more AP classes.
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