It sounds like priority is being given to those who applied to UC Merced rather than those who are relying on ELC.
Priority registration is a huge perk.
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Decision: Accepted
Merit scholarships awarded (if any): None
Major (and division if applicable) applied to: Economics
S24 is OOS, IB curriculum. School does not calculate GPA.
Supplemental/Augmented Review: No
DEMOGRAPHICS::
State/location of HS (if domestic applicant): NA
Country (if international applicant): NA
Applied for need-based financial aid? No
First Generation? No
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Accepted as BIOLOGY MAJOR with Chancellor’s Scholars Award!
ACADEMIC STATS:
Unweighted GPA: 4.00 / Weighted GPA: 4.33 / Weighted and Capped GPA: 4.27
Senior year courseload: 7 classes w/ 4 APs 
ELC (top 9% CA HS): Yes
AP courses/exams: AP Lang (3), AP Bio (4), APUSH (5)
SUBJECTIVE:
Extracurriculars: XC and Track Captain, school newspaper (a measly student reporter)
Work Experience/Summer activities: NIH NIDDK STEP-UP Program (paid summer internship at UCSF-probably the best thing I’ve done)
Volunteer/Community service: School community-building workshop, The Bay Foundation (restoration events/essentially picking weeds)
Personal Insight essays: one on being XC captain and leading team to win championships for the first time in school history, public speaking skills, two on my summer internship but from different angles (one about the actual science/the other about the lessons I learned)
DEMOGRAPHICS:
Location of HS: Bay area, California (public school)
Applied for need-based financial aid? No
First Generation? No
This doesn’t matter in the context of the application, but I’m Mexican-Filipina-American 
Other Acceptances: UCSC & UCR
Waitlist: UCSB, UCI, UCSD (dream school!), Cal, and UChicago (Regular Decision)
tl;dr my personality is the one UCSF internship I did last summer
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As of April 9, 2024, the UC System has sent out the ELC referrals. Make sure you check your emails for more information.
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Son just received an offer for UC Merced. (Waitlisted at UCSD and SDSU, rejected by UC Davis and UCLA)… He has a number of other acceptances outside CA, but I’m still hoping he’ll consider Merced.
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Got the email without top 9%. Is there precedent for this? waitlist santa cruz, didn’t apply riverside/merced, rejected all others ):
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Yes, if you are not accepted to any UC’s in which you applied (including waitlists) and you are either the top 9% of your HS or Statewide then you are ELC eligible and your application is referred to UC Merced for consideration.
You can check your application for ELC eligibility as follows: If you go to the UC application and log in…then go to the link that says “View how your application is viewed” it should show if you are ELC.
The ELC program started 2001.
Yeah just checked again and I am not in the top 9% but got the Merced email. School doesn’t do class rank, but I pass/failed my freshman high school year so thought I was out of the running.
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Congratulations!
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Perhaps they are doing something different especially with the Freshman year having P/NP classes. Congratulations on the admission and in the FAQ they are not referencing ELC but meeting UC’s minimum requirements.
According to Ms. Sun’s blog, the Bright Beginnings replaces the Count Me In program which is for ELC eligible students.
I received an email saying that I was admitted to UC Merced, but I did not originally include UC Merced as a campus choice on my University of California application. Do you know if this offer still applies to me?
Yes. The University of California is committed to ensuring enrollment opportunities for all qualified California high school graduates, and we recognize your potential for success. Since you have been determined to meet the minimum requirements for UC admission and UC Merced is growing, we would like to offer you the opportunity to join our campus.
Yeah I think so with the P/NP. Hope my rejections help somebody :P.
Email title is “UC Merced Count Me In”, and the visual is the bright beginnings. Planning on visiting Merced on the admitted student’s day just to see, but am leaning towards CC. Live in the Bay Area so the community colleges are pretty good. Keeping my mind open though. Appreciate the congrats, and thanks for the swift replies!!
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Here is another data point. My S24 also received the same email on 4/10 with an offer of admissions to UC Merced. He was not identified ELC on his UC application. He was not accepted to either UCLA or UCSB, which were his only UC campus choices.
The email he received yesterday from the director of admissions indicates that he has been admitted as undeclared and is free to choose any UC Merced major when submitting the SIR.
While I have encouraged him to attend Bobcat Day next weekend, we will not be attending because of a lack of interest on his part.
At the risk of jumping to conclusions, does this admission without the ELC status imply that maybe the UC is having a hard time filling seats in Merced? It would probably not look good if the campus enrollment started shrinking. I don’t know if there is any evidence for that one way or the other. Just a thought.
@SRp89 I imagine this is more due to the California budget for UC system as a whole trying to meet enrollment targets and the only 2 campuses with growth/capacity are UC Merced and UC Riverside. See Enrollment section in the budget.
What has got a lot of discussion on College Confidential is the cap on OOS/Intl to UCs so more CA resident students are enrolled, but there is definitely emphasis on UCs increasing enrollment in total over the next few years… and this language re: penalty if the UC system falls short “The budget act included provisional language allowing the administration to reduce funding if UC fell short of this target. In this case, the Director of the Department of Finance may reduce UC funding at the state marginal cost rate of $11,640 for each student slot below the target.”
I’ve been a fan of UC Merced over the years and have been promoting this campus in our school district.
UC Merced was most recently highlighted on the Amazon College Tour (30 minute video).
There were additional interviews that College Tour recorded and this 8 minute interview with Chancellor is particularly inspiring.
S24 applied to UC Merced and got in, but it turns out the Physics department doesn’t have the specific research that S24 is interested in.
Edited to add: My DH is in an academic in a STEM field and I’m in private industry, so we both value “high functioning” leadership. 
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Thanks for that!
Things that I noted
- nearly 20% of the students major in a biological sciences
- pre-health advising is open to all majors
- USNWR ranks UC Merced as the top (#1) UC for participation in undergraduate research & creative projects.
One of the featured students, Ellis Tom, sounds like an amazing kid. His YouTube channel has a lot of great info for prospective students.
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