should get into a UC. Her counsellor double checked this as well.
But logistically, we are at a loss.
Do you ever get notified if you qualify for the statewide guarantee?
I presume the guarantee is like the local school guarantee, it is for any UC but is it also for any major? Or are you guaranteed to get into Merced with your major of choice.
Any other information for people who have used this guarantee would be great!
If you go to her UC application and log inâŠthen go to the link that says âView how your application is viewedâ it should show if she is statewide or high school identified I believe.
My daughter is top 9% at her high school so it shows thisâŠ
You rank in the top 9 percent of your graduating class according to UC calculations. We refer to this as âEligibility in the Local Contextâ or ELC. If you meet the minimum admission requirements and arenât admitted to any UC campus to which you applied, you will be offered a spot at another campus if space is available. For more information about ELC, visit the "Local Path"opens in new tab page on UCâs admission website.
It is my understanding that you will either be identified statewide or high school 9% but not both.
The above posters are correct that your should check your portal and under âhow your application is reviewedâ it will state whether or not you are top 9% ELC OR State, but not both (even if both may be true). You only get one designation.
How it works is that you apply to the UCs you want and, should you not be offered admission at any of the UC campuses that you applied to, then your app will be sent on to Merced and, as long as they have space, they will offer you admission. Technically there is no guarantee that you will get the major you want, but Merced often has enough space that it isnât a problem (at least that is what I have heard).
In another discussion, you stated your daughter applied to UC Merced as a Biology major so she should get into UCM with her choice major. She will not need the Statewide guarantee referral with a 93% admit rate for Biology.
Changing Major or Declaring Minor | Bobcat Advising Center lists a 2.00 college GPA (with needed prerequisites completed) as the minimum to declare any major at UC Merced, so getting into UC Merced as frosh is pretty much assurance of getting into the major of choice that is offered there.
In recent years, the guarantee is for a spot at Merced. That is where there is space available.
I donât believe there has been a problem in recent years, but this could change if Merced receives a ton of qualified applicants and fills up a lot of the spots and/or a lot of 9%-ers donât get into a UC of their choice and need to use the guarantee. Seats arenât unlimited. But as of recently, they have been sufficient.
California resident students who meet the statewide path or local path criteria and are not admitted to any campus to which they apply will be offered a spot at another campus if space is available.
Here is a graph of the Referral applicants, admits and enrolled at UC Merced. As of now, ELC eligible applicants are referred to UC Merced as the default campus through the Count Me In program
In âTable: Single Year by Majorâ, it looks like the campus overall had an 88% frosh admission rate, 12% frosh admit-to-SIR rate, and 72% SIR-to-enroll rate. I.e. 28% of those who SIRed (committed and deposited after being admitted) did not enroll â a lot of âsummer meltâ. There does not seem to be much variation in admit rate by major, but there seems to be more variation in both yield rates by major (the table does not show HS GPA characteristics, so that important piece of information is not available to interpret the admission and yield rate numbers).
In âTable: Annual by Characteristicâ, it looks like the admit rate for the frosh referral pool (ELC and statewide âtop 9%â) was not 100% in recent years, although it has been 97-99% since 2018 (but the lowest ever was 86% in 2015). So it looks like there is a small possibility that there is not enough âspace availableâ at UC Merced. The transfer referral pool seems to have admitted fewer than half of applicants since 2014.
Probably a long shot - but wondering if there are any examples out there of non-ELC students with very high stats getting into impacted majors (aero engr, for example) at the UCs? I know certain UCs seem to weigh this more than others. He did get state-wide designation - but that doesnât seem to count for anything in terms of admissions.
He falls just below 9% ELC (very likely top 10%). He got one B+ in one semester for AP Comp (English), all the rest As, tons of APs/honors, etc - and I was shocked to learnâŠyes, there are ~55 students who have a higher UC uncapped GPA in his class of 600. Certainly quite humbling and a jolting reminder of how competitive our area is when it comes to student performance.
Stats:
aerospace engr
SF Bay Area
3.97 UW, 4.28 UC Capped, 4.54 UC Fully weighted, 4.23 SLO (9-11 capped), 4.67 fully weighted
No ELC (yes Statewide)
1550 SAT (know SLO and UC donât take)
17 AP/H/DE (all 5s except one 4 (AP Comp English) on AP tests, multiCalc/LinAlg, AP PhysC, AP Stats senior yr)
Very good leadership ECs (founded club, multiple clubs), no research or internships
Multiple awards, commended scholar
Year round club/varsity athlete
Part time job
Trying to hold out hope! Waitlisted at UCD, so hope definitely deflated.
While undergrad MechE curriculum is closely related to aerospace, and many excellent engineering schools do not even offer undergraduate aerospace (e.g., Cornell, Princeton and, until relatively recently, Stanford and UC Berkeley), those programs generally have robust and highly regarded graduate aerospace programs (except Berkeley, which I believe is undergrad only, but their OR and transportation research in the aero domain is world class). Merced has neither undergraduate nor graduate aerospace and very few aerospace electives as a result (âintro to UASâ is the only one that I would classify as an aero elective, and it tries to cover everything aero from aerodynamics to vehicle design to flight dynamics & control to payload and mission management⊠mile wide, inch deep⊠rarely useful). No intro to aerospace, no flight dynamics and control, no turbine or rocket propulsion classes, no aircraft or spacecraft design courses. There is no aerospace minor at Merced for a reason⊠they do not offer the classes to support it. The aforementioned institutions with graduate programs in aerospace? Iâd not hesitate to recommend them to a student interested in aerospace, as they can enroll in graduate electives as undergrads during their final two years, possibly receiving an aero minor.
The faculty, while accomplished, has very little aerospace background, and without a graduate program, undergrad research opportunities in aero-related topics will be few if any. Another reason ME is frequently mentioned as a good undergrad program for aero-interested students is the availability of undergrad research opportunities to support those AE grad student researchers⊠those undergrads looking for aero-related research will be in demand at such an institution. Merced may have a fine MechE program, but I would not recommend it to an aspiring aerospace student.
Thank you @gumbymom and @ucbalumnus. Given Merced doesnât have an aerospace program, unfortunately that wonât to be an option for him. Still hoping there are some examples out there of high stat non-ELCs getting into the UCs for some of these more impacted majors. Maybe I will scroll through some of last yearâs stats threads for a glimmer of hope.
My kid qualified for the Statewide guarantee but not the local guarantee. Sheâs got into Merced Riverside and Cal Poly in relatively high demand majors such as bio
Waitlisted at UCD, so hope definitely deflated.