UCs and class rank?

epiphany
Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:58:38 +0000

<“I think all public schools are eligible to be included.” >

You can “think” that all you want, but they are not all eligible. In fact, further, your understanding of the reasons for ELC creation is also not accurate: it was not about getting the top 4% from each CA school – not then, not now. It was, & is, about attracting the truly outstanding CA students that UC was losing to highly selective private colleges & U’s. In response, UC developed a way to try to identify those students in order to improve the quality of the UC student body on every campus. They need the Honors & AP categories labeled as such in order to make the calculations meaningful. In addition, any high school who is eligible may choose to opt out of the process for whatever reason.

“Your kids’ school” way of handling ELC is not a blueprint for the way it’s done everywhere. At my D’s high school, UC did not determine the top 4%. They specifically asked the h.s. for that, & gave them the guidelines for the calculation. They did not ask for the top 13%, top 5%, or anything like that. They asked for exactly the top 4% including ties, & they received that.

Certain public high schools & certain private high schools participate in the ELC identification & recruitment process. Many schools from the 2 categories are not included. It is an attempt to capture at least some of the State’s top producers & ambitious students.

Top 4% of a low-performing school with no advanced classes may be worlds apart from top 4% of an elite school with 15 students tied for Val. The goal of ELC is not about rigid or blind percentages.