<p>I have been reading about the changes to the Eligible in the Local Context (ELC) program at the UC schools. I have an idea of how I think it works now, but I’d like to know if anyone can confirm that I’m understanding it correctly.</p>
<p>Before, if you were in the top 15% (I think) of your high school class, you would be notified that you were guaranteed acceptance at a certain number of UC schools – with my older son it was 5 schools.</p>
<p>Now, as I understand it, you are not guaranteed admission to any particular school. Instead when you apply to <em>any</em> UC school, you are automatically evaluated and compared with other students from your school. If you are in the top 9% in terms of your GPA and SAT scores, then you qualify for ELC and are guaranteed admission to at least one UC school. </p>
<p>The way I understand it – and I would especially like to know if I’m right about this part – is that when you apply to <em>any</em> UC school, if you are rejected by the school of your choice, you will automatically be considered for admission to the other UC schools. Then, whichever schools accept you will notify you that you are accepted. You will then have to pay the application fee for whichever school you decide to attend. </p>
<p>With this new system, it seems as though you only have to apply to one UC school and pay one application fee, to be considered by all the UCs. Then, you only have to pay additional app fees to the school that you decide to attend. (Whereas before, you had to pay an app fee for every school that you wanted to be considered by.)</p>
<p>No, you have to pay the application fee for each UC campus you apply to. If you are ELC and you do not get into any of the UC campuses you apply to, you will be offered a spot at the campus designated for such places–I think this year it was UC Merced.</p>
<p>Hmmm, don’t think this was ever true. UCs target the top 12.5% statewide, though it was possible for a top 12.5% student to not get any UC admissions if s/he only applied to campuses too selective for him/her.</p>
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<p>ELC is determined by UC admissions GPA meeting the top 9% UC admissions GPA threshold set by recent previous classes at the high school. Note that while this correlates to class rank, it is not identical, since high schools typically use different GPAs for class rank purposes, and ELC uses the recent previous classes as the benchmark, not the current class. The high school may be able to tell you what the ELC threshold GPA is.</p>
<p>ELC merely means that if the student is not admitted to any UC s/he explicitly applies for, s/he will be admitted to a UC which has space available. This almost certainly means Merced.</p>
<p>“ELC students not admitted to any of their campus choices are offered a spot at a UC campus that has space, if minimum UC requirements are met.”</p>
<p>This seems to imply that whichever campus has space will admit you, even if you didn’t apply there. I realize that in practice, it may be only Merced at this point, since it’s apparently the only one that has space.</p>
<p>“Hmmm, don’t think this was ever true. UCs target the top 12.5% statewide, though it was possible for a top 12.5% student to not get any UC admissions if s/he only applied to campuses too selective for him/her.”</p>
<p>I wasn’t sure of the percentage, but my son definitely did get a letter in 2010, saying that he was guaranteed admission to 5 UC schools due to ELC, including UCSB, Riverside and UCI, but not including UCLA or Berkeley.</p>
The previous ELC percent was 4%, and it included guarantees to specific schools. The individual schools would contact students and encourage them to apply. The current 9% is an expansion of ELC, but specific schools are no longer identified as offering a guarantee. The overall UC target, including those with local eligibility and statewide eligibility, is and was 12.5%. </p>
<p>It is generally best to apply to the UC campuses that you would like to attend and leave those you do not wish to attend off your list. As mentioned, if you apply to only one and are denied, the spot offered will most likely be Merced.</p>
<p>Currently admissions is very competitive, even for ELC students, at UCB, UCLA and UCSD. ELC applicants tend to fare well at UCI, UCD and UCSB, though admission is not guaranteed and should not be assumed. Choosing your favorite from among UCM, UCR and UCSC would be a good idea as admission is likely for ELC applicants at those campuses, and it is best to have the one of those three you prefer in your pocket as you sweat out your other admissions results.</p>
<p>This is just the kind of information I was looking for, thanks. You make a good point that if you apply to a highly competitive school you will likely get stuck at Merced (not saying Merced is necessarily bad), which I hadn’t figured out at the time I first posted. </p>
<p>I also appreciate the way you grouped the UCs in order of competitiveness. That’s extremely helpful and gives us a good idea where we should be applying (I’m thinking maybe one from each group).</p>
<p>Remember, the ELC is only for Californians because the UC’s and any other public-funded California school is meant to serve Californians. The ELC does not apply to out-of-state students. So, what I recommend is that you have your child or whoever you are helping out apply to the UC(s) of their choice, and then choose either UCR or UCSC as their safeties (or both). God forbid he or she gets rejected from every UC he or she applies to, he or she will be offered a spot to either UCR or UCM, even if he or she might not have applied to that school. However, I think UCR is not doing that anymore since it’s been getting more competitive just to get into UCR lately. Like others have said, worst-case scenario would involve being offered a spot at UC Merced.</p>