<p>MaMoose: Mea culpa! Rank 9 & 10 are the top two deciles, You are right! But the central point on the implications of ELC remains.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reference.</p>
<p>@tkd2009 yes of course!
i go to a high school with a range of around 910 and around 55 % asian (whites are a minority lmao)
BUT an ELC is an ELC and according to ucsd, ucd and ucsc, the colleges that use the point system, students from the 4th and 5th quintile automatically receive 300 points
UCSD
Educational Environment 300 earning 3.0 gpa from a public HS in bottom of school rankings</p>
<p>and 300 points can make a huge difference between in and out</p>
<p>you're right, I was just saying that Berk and LA are more holistic and dont use points so it shouldnt matter that much.</p>
<p>FOR SD, 300 points is big I agree.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The undeniable fact is that in a capacity-limited situation, accomodating ELCs from low ranking schools does come at the cost of a non-ELC...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Absolutely true, and this IS state policy. But what we don't know is prior to ELC (and statfinder), if those kids from those high schools still got into Cal. If they were accepted, then ELC by itself means little in the big picture -- it must becomes a marketing tool for UC.</p>
<p>
[quote]
...who otherwise had the stats and qualifications to get into Berkeley.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yes, but thousands of other kids also have the stats and qualifiications to get into Cal, but they don't due to poor essays, class rank (yeah, I know it's officially not an admissions criteria, but it becomes a defacto one), lack of EC's, etc.</p>
<p>For those interested in a simple graph which illustrates how ELCs dominate admissions at the TOP UCs, please review the third graph (scroll down) on page 1 here:
<a href="http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2008/freshman_admit_profile_2008.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.ucop.edu/news/factsheets/2008/freshman_admit_profile_2008.pdf</a></p>
<p>Stolen from the UC Irvine thread.</p>
<p>"So if they want to reduce the incoming class size by 550 they'll cut acceptances by 2500 or so if they're matriculation rate is about 20%. Tough year to be applying to college especially since this is supposed to be the biggest graduating high school class in years."</p>
<p>Isn't this just great? ELC students from "easier" or "bad" schools get in without a sweat but students who worked their behinds off in competitive HS in have to go to a community college. WOW</p>
<p>=) I'm not tripping. ELC guarantees me admission in my safeties.</p>
<p>amb:</p>
<p>You assume that the 550 kids not matriculating will be those who "worked their behinds off" but they could just as easily be the bottom of the applicant pool, i.e, 3.0 gpa.</p>
<p>ELC helps those of us who couldn't afford to go to great schools. End. It's affirmative action based off of class. Otherwise, UC's would be 70%+ private school kids, because the public schoolers couldn't take any AP's and had to go to community colleges.</p>
<p>ELC is actually an ingenious system to ensure diversity and provide opportunity across the whole state of California. Every high school can be sure that its top 4 % will be admitted to the UC. With the exception of UCB and UCLA and possibly UCSD, every ELC is guaranteed admission at other UCs including UCSB and UCD. Of course, both UCB and UCLA admit an substantial majority of their classes from ELC ranks. Once you are ELC, other factors such as low SAT/ACT scores and even lousy essays don't matter.</p>
<p>I wish I had known about it my freshmen.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, If you get good grades in HS, you get to go to the top schools....</p>
<p>If you lucked your way into College whether it was an easy HS or not, you will probably get owned in college and result in a ****ed up GPA. It's not all about getting in guys. If you just aren't good at schoolwork in general... consider that in your college choice. </p>
<p>What I am saying is the ppl from lower HS with ELC's who "don't deserve a spot at a top school" will eventually pay later if they really don't deserve it. It all works out.</p>
<p>We musn't be pessimistic, darling. =P</p>
<p>it sucks being in the top 4.2% and not getting ELC :[</p>
<p>You'll be fine. :)</p>
<p>I don't mind it, for most colleges.
However, when it comes to upper-tier UCs, I really think it shouldn't even be considered.</p>
<p>My school is extremely competitive, and I place in the top 4 or 5% of my school, by its weighting system. However, I didn't get ELC. I believe this is due to the fact that the UCs cap honors/AP credits at 8, but I take about 12 honors/AP semesters per year, with my 10th and 11th having 7-8 classes total.</p>
<p>Although by my high school's weighting system, my GPA is high, my UC gpa falls to about 4.21, when I only have a single B in 10-11. My HS weighted 10-11 is 4.86.</p>
<p>The cap is designed to help the schools without as many honors/AP courses as made available at my school, and I'm OK with that. The part that I don't like is how it detriments me when I have obviously passed the cap and took a huge dock from doing so.</p>
<p>The UC GPA system hurts both my UC GPA and ELC "points," especially at competitive schools such as UCLA.</p>
<p>I really don't understand the general consensus of ELC = smarter/better/better stats than the non-ELC. I have friends in other schools who have much lower stats than me that place in their school's ELC program.</p>
<p>All in all, I'm just saying that the ELC is to accommodate those who achieve in harsher conditions without as many opportunities, but it really hurts those who take all the opportunities a school that offers more honors/AP classes has to offer. This is fine for schools where my stats couldn't have taken that big of a hit to, if I was going to be competitive for, but I'm competitive for UCLA/UCB/UCSD, where my GPA and "points" have taken a huge hit from this system.</p>
<p>I currently go to a public high school, and that distinction between private and public high schools in terms of honors/AP is completely invalid in most cases. Of course there are outliers, but don't underestimate the public school system.</p>
<p>evera:</p>
<p>First off, the ELC calculation is UNcapped. Thus, you recieve credit for all UC-approved honors & AP/IB courses. Second, and this is really important, Cal and UCLA admit a lot of kids from highly competitive high schools, and only one or two (Val & Sal) from the podunk high schools. For example, our competitive HS usually receives acceptances for 8% of the seniors to Cal and/or UCLA. The top 30% recieve a UC acceptance (somewhere). Finally, while the cap determines eligibility for admissions, the application reader will also see your uncapped gpa, so you will get 'credit' for your difficult schedule.</p>
<p>Incidentally, if you have single B and are not ELC, your HS has grade inflation, IMO. Our ELC goes down to 3.8 uw, i.e., several Bs can still earn ELC.</p>
<p>I believe ELC is unfair.</p>
<p>I was in the top 4% my Junior year (but due to moving around/a few Bs) I went down to top 10%</p>
<p>I was qualified for ELC but because I didn't sign a letter (that I supposely should've received by my school) I didn't get a PIN</p>
<p>and then my senior year I couldn't put ELC even though I qualified the year before.</p>
<p>@bluebayou:</p>
<p>Then I don't understand - I know of people with 3+ B's in my school that received ELC, yet I was "considered" and later received a letter that I didn't get it.</p>
<p>I don't believe my school has grade inflation - we have a chart with the weighted GPAs and numbers of students in the range, and there is an obvious bell curve.</p>
<p>ELC is going to save my as*.</p>