We evaluate the possibility of using dichroic electron energy loss spectroscopy (DEELS) as an alternative to x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). It is well known that electron energy loss spectroscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy provide similar information. A simple semiclassical model suggests that reflection DEELS might have a magnetic sensitivity similar to that of XMCD. This sensitivity will be reduced, however, by multiple scattering of the probe electron before and after the energy loss event. Thus, it is difficult to predict the magnitude of the DEELS effect. Experiments were performed at the L edges of polycrystalline Fe, Co, and Ni thin-film samples prepared in situ with a uniaxial magnetic bias. Even in these most favorable cases, the DEELS effect is limited to less than one-tenth of related effects in XMCD.