<p>I got rejected from UCB but I desperately want to get in. I shall probably have an appeals packet put together, with the help of my Higher Ed. Advisor and my teachers, by the end of this week.
The only deficiencies I feel were in my application was very little extracurricular, a C in Spanish last year, and a 570 in US History SAT II.
Because I mean, I have all As in everything else in my high school career, got 790 in English Lit SAT II and 2100 in my SAT.
(Oh yes, and I'm out of state)</p>
<p>I was wondering if anyone could tell me if my appeal has a chance with the following information which was not included...? </p>
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<p>I have a medical condition which resulted in several accidents and I started some meds which didn't work etc...
During the time I took my SAT IIs, I was going through a horrible/abusive relationship
My school does not offer any extra curricular activities, but I do anything I can. (ex. new opportunity arose to mentor 10th graders which I am now doing).</p>
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<p>I also plan to include:</p>
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<p>Teacher reccomendation letters
Names of Universities I have been accepted to/offered interviews at (which are prestigious)
why I want to go to Berkeley (obviously)</p>
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<p>Anything else I should include? Is this type of extra information good or should I not bother? Thanks.</p>
<p>I believe that UCB would only take ur first reason listed above. The UCs only take appeals ONLY if you find that u made an error on your UC application or u had a personal/family emergency. The second point you made…you need to be more elaborate on that. If you feel comfortable, describle briefly what was going on in ur “horrible and abusive relationship”. Lastly, your last point on ECs the UCB admissions would not accept that b.c they only take info that relates to either an error on your UC application or u had a personal/family emergency. </p>
<p>Okay, thanks. That makes me a bit more confident regarding my plan to appeal. I do plan on elaborating on that relationship- just didn’t want to do so on CC ;)</p>
<p>I have heard of people’s applications being misjudged due to their school systems which differ from the traditional American ones so perhaps I should insert a small paragraph regarding that anyway?</p>
<p>Planning on calling admissions on Monday on the off chance that they tell me why I was rejected.</p>
<p>Try not to include mentioning the other universities that you got into because that just screams “I got into all these other schools so Berkeley should’ve accepted me and add to my collection of schools that I got into,” which isn’t something you want them to feel. The points you want to mention sound legit except the abusive relationship might not be a good idea if its not family-related, unless it was exceptionally influential to the point that it took over your life (be careful on this one, it might backfire because relationships should not surpass all other priorities for an ideal student). You are encouraged to keep your appeal short, but I do suggest that you try to incorporate all your points coherently and elaborately–though you should not exceed 2 pages.</p>
<p>And you shouldn’t bother calling admissions because they do not tell you why YOU got rejected and they give you minimal information about appealing. Just save your time and energy and write a kickass appeal.</p>
<p>I myself appealed last year and got in, but I was initially waitlisted, so I totally understand how you feel and what you’re going through.</p>
<p>You appealed? May I ask what you wrote about?</p>
<p>Hmm…I suppose you are right about the Other colleges. </p>
<p>Regarding that abusive friendship, it’s complicated. I did not let it affect my school performance. Although my teachers still noticed somehing eas up since I was visibly distraught. However I had to take the sat IIs in those couple of months and I pocked us history and English. Got 790 in English but was much too distracted to study for the other one (which I basically had to study for from scratch- should have done world history. Haha.). Thus I ended up getting a measly 570 in history :p</p>
<p>I would suggest for you to call the admissions office. You don’t always end up on the phone with someone who has access to your application, but occasionally you will find someone helpful who has access (after calling for the nth time).</p>
<p>Guidelines on Writing Your Appeal</p>
<p>Remember, telling the admissions office they made a huge mistake is not going to help you. For your appeal to be considered, you must prove that you are a much stronger candidate than what was presented in your application. Specifically, you must present new and compelling information that was not previously available to the admissions office. So if you failed to include information regarding extraordinary hardship or exceptional talent/extracurriculars on your application, you can discuss these things on your appeal as reasons for the UCs to reconsider you. Make sure you describe exactly how the exceptional talent/extracurriculars qualify you for UC admissions or how the hardship prevented you from achieving academically.</p>
<p>The focus of your appeal should be why you are an excellent candidate for the UCs, not why your hardship is horrible or why you have to get into the UCs. Your objective is to explain why the UCs should be interested in you, not how much you love the UCs. State your case concisely (one page appeal is ideal and two pages are acceptable) and don’t exaggerate or try to be dramatic. Keep in mind that the acceptance rate on appeal is less than 3% at Berkeley and UCLA, and under 10% at most other UC campuses.</p>
<p>Campus-Specific Appeal Filing Instructions</p>
<p>Each UC campus offers a set of instructions on how to submit an appeal. You MUST follow the instructions to ensure proper and expedited processing of your appeal submission. Failure to comply with the instructions may result in dismissal of your appeal.</p>
<p>How do I approach writing an appeal, like i am really lost. UC Berkeley is the only school i applied to and so i really wanna go there or else i have to spend my time at CC; i have a lot of classes already completed at cc, but i really wanna go to Berkeley what should i write. I suspect they rejected me because of my grades, but i was sick during the period my grades dropped so i didnt have much influence over it </p>
<p>also this year i am taking a lot of ap tests, which i dont think i reported on my uc app</p>
<p>@cheesebear, you should describe how you’ve overcome hardships or how well you performed in school/extracurriculars to demonstrate your strengths. An essay is probably not going to help very much.</p>
<p>@berkeleyappeal, explain that you were sick and what actions you took in order to remedy your grades.</p>
<p>I submitted my appeal just days after my rejection and was soon notified that it had been received. When can I expect a response? I believe I had solid grounds for an appeal: I had originally applied to an impacted major in CLS (Econ) and, in my letter of appeal, asked to be considered for either the Political Economy major in CLS or the Environmental Econ major in CNR (which, rumor has it, is the least selective college at UCB). I also submitted my 7th semester grades (4.5 GPA) and a solid letter of rec from my Econ teacher. Still, I’ve heard nothing back from Berkeley yet. Would anyone happen to know of any successful appeals? I haven’t known any myself… I can’t believe I was rejected in the first place gaaaahhh! Oh wellll. Crossing my fingers!</p>
<p>theburrow93- If I recall correctly, that’s not solid grounds for appeal. When looking at appeals, I’m pretty sure Berkeley doesn’t look at changing majors–they look at appeals from a more holistic standpoint. Most successful appeals are either based on missing core components of the application (for instance, an SAT 2 score that wasn’t submitted or an omitted A-G course) or family obligations that require one to be close to home (which is my case this year).</p>
<p>Of course, I haven’t read your letter or know your exact circumstances, so I can’t be sure. Regardless, good luck with your appeal. You never know!</p>
<p>Blah. When I was writing my letter I called to ask them whether it would be considered new and acceptable grounds for appeal if I appealed to a different college, and they said it would be. Guess not. I actually wanted to study Environmental Econ/Policy too, and none of the other UCs offer that major ah well. Any accepted freshman appeals? Or are they mythical? GL to everyone btw</p>
<p>Congrats, wuHooo!!! I got in for spring as well! So happy- I can do so much during the fall and it’s a nice break so I am very happy with spring!
By the way, has your financial aid come up yet? My finaid page is blank :/</p>
<p>I got in for the fall :D, I’m so happy! are you guys able to see your financial aid on the fin aid website??? Mine isnt showing up and i’m starting to freak out.</p>
<p>The website is still blank. I emailed the fin aid office and they said they have been having problems and that it should be up sometime this week. The problem is that we need to submit our SIR by May 6th ( the actual deadline is may 9th but you have to commit to apply for housing) I think I’m just going to go talk to them in person tomorrow. Berkeley has been my dream school for years, and the only thing I need to know to commit is how much aid I am getting. Does anyone know how much aid Cal gives to people? compared to other UC’s? I got offers from ucd,ucsc and ucsb and they all offered me about the same. Should I expect the same from Cal?</p>
<p>Hi cheesebear,
I am a transfer student and I am going to do the appeal, too. May I ask you for a sample in order to see how to succeed in being admitted by writing an appeal? Thank you for your help!
Flora</p>
<p>CONGRATS TO BOTH! financial aid should be coming in the next couple of weeks; it takes a while to process after you get admitted. </p>
<p>@cheesebear: What are you planning on doing your fall semester? I really want to study abroad but I don’t know of Berkeley will transfer the credits… </p>
<p>BUT I am super excited nonetheless and maybe I will see you guys one day on campus without knowing…lol. Majors?</p>
<p>Whoo! Myfinaid is up. Only they need me to ‘deliver by hand’ proof of citizenship. Sorta difficult since I’m overseas OTL. But I’ll call them on that…</p>
<p>@Flora6: I don’t have a ‘sample’ per say, but I can give you an overview of what I wrote- I just talked about how there aren’t many extracurricular opportunities here and so the things I did were pretty big (because I think they found my extracurricular activities to be quite sparse). About how the reasons I had a couple of really bad grades was because of my medical condition. And also I talked about why I am interested in Berkeley (aka why their course is interesting). And I had three amazing references from my teachers. As well as a sample of my essay writing. (A very long sample!)
Hope that helps Just know that when you appeal, you have to ask yourself this: “Am I appealing because I want to go and they didn’t take me so I’m going to try again? Or am I appealing because I KNOW that I deserve to go there and they overlooked a lot of stuff?”</p>
<p>@wuHooo: I’ll probably take a bunch of classes. Learn how to drive, resume learning the guitar, take singing classes. Perhaps I’ll travel within England- stay with my friend at Cambridge University once she settles down- and travel outside as well. But mainly I think I’ll just learn new and exciting stuff and hang out with my friends Oh yeah, and continue teaching so I can make money!
Aaaaand I’m majoring in English You?</p>
ah well. Any accepted freshman appeals? Or are they mythical? GL to everyone btw</p>
financial aid should be coming in the next couple of weeks; it takes a while to process after you get admitted. </p>
Oh yeah, and continue teaching so I can make money!