Appeal Questions

<p>I have been a die hard gator since I was born. With both parents, a brother, two cousins, and an aunt and uncle graduate from the University. I have been accepted into UCF, Auburn, Clemson, and Georgia Tech. But truthfully Florida all I have ever known and its all I have ever wanted to do with my college career. Ive watched a significant amount of individuals with lower credentials get accepted and it boggles my mind. Im shocked.</p>

<p>First off, my credentials are:
28 ACT
Straight A's since the 8th grade (ranked 12 of 450 in class)
5 of 5 AP exams passed (with 3 more currently in progress, its the max I can do at my school)
Team Captain of the lacrosse team, NHS and SGA officer, part time job, ect.
In state, white, male.</p>

<p>Questions are:</p>

<p>Would letters of recommendation (principal, UF staff, UF alums) help to warrant my case?</p>

<p>What more do I do beyond calling them on monday?</p>

<p>What questions should I ask?</p>

<p>What happened??</p>

<p>Thanks in advance. Its all I've ever wanted, and its killing me.</p>

<p>As I noted in another thread, the only basis for appealing is that UF Admissions overlooked something substanial in your file or that you omitted something that had a tramatic effect on your academic performance or your life i.e. health, family situation, death in family, etc. Even under those circumstances appeals are a long shot. Last year of 300 or so appeals , 10-15 were granted. The UF adsmissions committee will not simply re-evaluate your stats in the hope they will come to a different conclusion. Also remember it is not just stats that impact the decision, it is also geography as in which county you live in, rigor of curriculum,
EC’s, quality and appeal of essay and in some cases an interesting and/or unusual life narrative. Also there are affirmative action considerations in some cases that also have an impact on the overall composition of the class. In sum it is a complex set of evaluating factors which simply cannot reward all talented students with admission with a projected class size of 6,400 with about 11,300 admissions from almost 33,000 applications.</p>

<p>Thats the thing, I was confident in everything you mentioned… My essay was about an award I received for helping start a club lacrosse team by applying for grants and giving multiple presentations to the city council. I literally covered every base I could think of. Then people with far less get in. Kids I actually showed how to do the work in classes got in.</p>

<p>i would appeal, just try to get someone on your side. while they dont care that much in the first selection, the truth is that they would rather have die hard gator fans than apathetic students, given a clear enough distinction. it adds value to their university.</p>

<p>I’m definitely goin to try, it just makes no sense. It would be one thing if I wasn’t qualified. But to watch individuals with less get in makes me feel like the overlooked something. I just did 75 hours of volunteer work which may help my case aswell.</p>

<p>For those of you who think that some kind of mistake was made while reviewing your application I recommend to personally come to the office and talk face to face to an admission counselor. There is nothing that shows more interest than coming all the way here and asking what happened. Good luck!</p>

<p>Yeah that’s the plan, I’m calling after school to weigh my options and set up the appeal process. To be honest Florida means alot to me, I’d be more inclined to go there even in the spring than go to Georgia tech, even know they have amazing academics up there.</p>

<p>I’m also going to appeal as my grades were not completely accurate on the transcript?</p>

<p>In the appeal, will they only consider what is on the NEW transcript?</p>

<p>Can someone explain to me WHAT they really want in the appeal? Do they ONLY accept really qualified students, like those with over 2100 and such? Or people that actually want to go to UF with all of their heart?</p>

<p>i successfully appealed my rejection 2 years ago. You have the opportunity to write a letter to an Appeals Committee and in that letter you state what you feel held you back from being at your full potential. You can use whatever evidence to support these points, and send in your senior year grades since they haven’t seen them. I believe the you can call after march 1 and have your appeals packet sent to you and you have like a month or something to return it.</p>

<p>Good to hear of a successful story, its always nice to have a little hope. It’s something pretty hard to find about now… But someone will literally have to beat me unconscious before I quit trying. Worst case scenario I go to Georgia tech and start architecture, then transfer into upper division at UF after two years.</p>

<p>I was wondering what county you are from? A friend of a friend did get in on an appeal two years ago so do not give up!</p>

<p>I’m in the same situation as you (2150 SAT, 13 AP’s, Instate, W, F) and based on some super-vigorous googling here’s a few things:</p>

<ol>
<li>There’s no information on the website, and I’ve called, you pretty much won’t get anything vital from the source until at least March 1st.</li>
<li>From what I understand, letters will now be accepted. I don’t know how many…because there’s a few I’d like to get, and you should consider:
-Principal
-Favorite teacher or sponsor of something (Mine’s SGA)
-Teacher you’ve known/had longest (Since freshman year, ie. has seen growth)
-Guidance counselor considering you (and I) have taken the hardest schedule possible</li>
<li>The letter prompt is most likely unwavering: Why do you belong at Florida? Why did we miss it?</li>
<li>Apparently they don’t want a bunch of statistics again, just work in quantity of improvement.</li>
<li>When you call for the appeal packet to be sent, you have to tell them that you have new/differing qualities. Play that up because they CAN deny to even send it out.</li>
</ol>

<p>As far as what happened…I’d love to know. If you check the decisions thread here, someone got in with a 1410 SAT. For all three sections. Not a joke. It’s crazy unpredictable this year, but if you’re smart and sincere, why not pursue it. </p>

<p>I’m even at the point of considering taking 3 pre-professional courses over summer locally, and applying as a transfer preemptively…with two community college classes (deadly easy) I technically have a 4.0, and another shot.</p>

<p>How fun.</p>

<p>If you actually look at it, the person that got in with a 1410 out of 2400 was also a first generation latin american student who was president of every club n had over 400 hours of commuity service.
UF in particular looks at so much more than just a test score. SAt’s/GPA get you on the table, your EC’s letters of rec essays etc get u admittied. Might wanna consider focusing on those things rather than just an SAT score.</p>

<p>I’m inclined to think you don’t really know what you’re talking about because they don’t take letters of rec, but anyway… That’s wonderful and all but I personally know several people with comparably remedial scores and no URM entitlement.</p>

<p>So yeah. It’s basically a crapshoot.</p>

<p>what did you include in your appeal?</p>

<p>I appealed and am waiting on my decision. I was going to send in a letter of recommendation but from looking at the appeal packet it didnt seem like they would read it. It’s not the admissions committee that makes the decision but instead its a committee of professors. I appealed based on a condition that wasnt known to me until the summer after my junior year. I didnt put it in my original application because I didnt know if the medication that I am now on would help and I had nothing at that point to compare. My gpa (uf) for my three years was a 3.9 and my first semester senior year grades are UF gpa 4.75 with 4 aps, one honors and a regular course, straight a’s. Big improvement. All I sent was a letter explaining the situation, my transcript including the senior year grades and my doctors letter telling them when treatment started and the diagnosis.</p>

<p>I’m hoping to hear soon, I had all of this to them by the middle of March. Im hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.</p>

<p>have you heard back from them yet?</p>

<p>I think they get decisions later in April, like the 20th</p>

<p>99% will get rejected with an appeal.</p>

<p>I even talked to one of the head people in the office of admissions, when their offices were closed, and he said you could even have the best appeal, but sometimes not even more than one is taken because the seats are already filled completely. This year it looks like enrollment will be higher than ever due to economic situations. Average is 10-15/300-400 appeals, so this time it might be around 10 for 350 appeals. Very very hard, more “selective” than harvard</p>

<p>I’m also appealing as well and I’m turning the packet in tomorrow…
I’m just sooo nervous right now.
Do you guys have any SF for your second plan???</p>