Yes, under California's Eligibility in the Local Context (ELC) program, students who rank in the top 9% of their California high school class are guaranteed admission to at least one University of California (UC) campus. However, this guarantee does not mean admission to a specific UC of their choice (like UCLA or Berkeley)—instead, if a student is not admitted to any of the UC campuses they applied to, they are typically offered a spot at UC Merced, which has space available.
If Stanley Zhong was indeed in the top 9% of his class and was not offered admission to any UC, that would suggest either:
- He did receive an offer from UC Merced but declined it, or
- The UC system made an error in their ELC policy application in his case.
This could be a key point in his lawsuit against the UC system. If UC did not offer him a spot at any campus despite his eligibility, that might indicate a failure to follow state-mandated admissions policies.
