@SchalkeJunge Will do!
UCSD switched to the same sort of holistic review that has been used for years by Cal, UCLA, etc. It no longer uses a point system, so you cannot learn “how many “points” you were missing from your application.” You can, however, guess that your chances were affected by the fact that you are an Asian female (pianist!) with good grades and good test scores who is applying to a system that is inundated by applications from Asian females with good grades and good test scores. You have to make yourself stand out.
You’re likely correct that your response to (the first?) UC essay prompt could have been tailored to address the circumstances that affected your high school years. Here is one of the 14 factors UC weighs in admission decisions:
“Academic accomplishments in light of your life experiences and special circumstances, including but not limited to: disabilities, low family income, first generation to attend college, need to work, disadvantaged social or educational environment, difficult personal and family situations or circumstances, refugee status or veteran status.”
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/freshman/how-applications-reviewed/
That section explains why you’ll see in this forum that, say, URMs with, say, lower GPA and lower test scores than yours were admitted while you were not: the University considers their status as it tries to assemble an appropriate and diverse class. Your application, based on “your life experiences and special circumstances, including but not limited to: … low family income, first generation to attend college, need to work, disadvantaged social or educational environment, difficult personal and family situations or circumstances” should be accorded similar attention. You have another chance to explain that in your appeal.
@SchalkeJunge bpatient posted really good information that might answer your question from before
My son was WL’d in 2013, opted into the WL AND appealed his decision at the same time. Within a very short time, he was accepted to UCSD on his appeal (not from the WL). Be aware that UCSD has an on-line form to use for the appeal and they will not review any appeal that is not submitted on that form. It is very short and to-the-point. It allows only a very limited number of words for you to make your appeal. I don’t remember how many, but VERY few. Your appeal will have to be very short and sweet- no room for an introduction or background. In my son’s case, he appealed based on a medical condition he has that he had not discussed earlier. He basically said, this is how it affects me and even with that I was able to maintain a high GPA and participate in many activities. He stated that because of his proven perserverance he felt he would contribute to the UCSD community and be a successful student. You could use the same argument- because it was necessary for you to spend time caring for your grandmother and helping with the family, you had little time to spend on studies and were still able to succeed…
If you call admissions, they will not give you any information about why you were not admitted. They will be able to tell you how to find the form on-line. If I remember, it is very difficult to find. I believe you have to sign-in to your portal and then look FAQ’s for Students Denied Admission, or something like that. The sooner you get your appeal in, the sooner they will review it. In my son’s case it was done in under 2 weeks and they did not notify him. He just happened to look at his Portal on-line one day and it said “Congratulations…” It was soon enough that he was able to put his housing deposit down on the 1st day. Good luck!
Here’s a link to information regarding appealing UCSD’s decision:
https://students.ucsd.edu/_my_application/_files/admitfaqnfrsnrt.pdf
From your perspective, the critical information is that your appeal will be successful only if you include “new and compelling information that was not on your original application,” which may include “personal hardships, and/or extraordinary personal circumstances or events.”
You already noted your family income in your application and had the opportunity to indicate that your father was unemployed and that you are a first generation student. However, if your need to care for your grandmother affected your application (for example, if you needed to be at home to help care for her, but that made studying more difficult not only because of the hours you spent caring for her but also because it’s rather harder to concentrate near a person with dementia who requires your care than it might be in a quiet library or in most other homes; perhaps the demands on your time precluded racking up an amazing list of ECs or getting even more impressive grades; etc.) you might consider emphasizing your situation at home. Perhaps your grandmother’s illness can be tied in to your other challenges and presented as new information; just as takeitallin’s son presented new information on how he succeeded despite his previously undisclosed medical condition.
Now for something completely different:
If my daughter was in your situation, and if her appeal was unsuccessful, I’d advise her to consider attending a community college rather than to move to SDSU. (In fact I happen to know two faculty members here whose kids were both denied admission to this campus–their first choice, so that they could live at home for financial reasons–and who are now considering whether to go to the local California State University or to a local community college.) Once you’re in the CSU system, it seems to be very difficult to transfer to a UC, but you are essentially guaranteed admission to some UC campuses as a transfer student from an appropriate community college through the Transfer Admission Guarantee program. UCSD ended its TAG program last year (but still does accept transfer students; UCLA and Cal don’t participate in that program, either) but other UC campuses guarantee admission to community college students who maintain variously a 3.0 to 3.2 GPA for two years at a junior college and take the appropriate courses for their anticipated major.
That’s not only an inexpensive way to get a UC degree, it actually has some other advantages. For example, I recently met a young woman who had immigrated from China as a child, lived at home and attended a junior college for two years, and then transferred to the UC here (which still participates in the TAG program) as a pre-med student. She thought that the instruction at her JC was far better than what she’s experienced here, where she interacts mostly with graduate student Teaching Assistants rather than with people who actually know something about teaching and have experience as teachers. (Yeah, I write that as a former TA.) You can now apply to transfer to only one of the TAG schools, but, since UCSD no longer participates, you could apply to transfer to both UCSD and to, say, UCI and be sure of admission to at least UCI. (Another option might be to enroll at, say, Merced (since you are guaranteed admission there) and then attempt to transfer to UCSD after a year or two; I don’t know how easy that is these days.)
http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/
Good luck. I hope that your appeal is successful, but carefully consider your options if it is denied.
Sorry to hear about your situation. You should appeal. What’s the worst that can happen? I am really surprised you d
did not get into UCSD. You have good stats for UCSD.
Did you get into any other UCs? Hope you get into UCLA.
@bpatient @takeitallin ;
Thank you for the extremely helpful posts. I’ve gotten advice on how to make my appeal short and (hopefully) effective and I’ll start revising my rough draft for now.
As for attending a community college, that is actually one of the plans I am considering if I don’t get into any UC schools. I live close to Mesa and it would allow for me to finish my first two years at a lower cost. Again, thank you both for your help!
@parentnil95 I have not heard from any other UC schools yet, but thank you! If I do hear from them, I’ll update you on it
@elixin54 Have you appealed yet?
I got rejected 