Appeals

<p>Does anybody know how hard it is to get in on appeals? I got a 4.33 my first semester as a senior, and decent stats. but i want to know if it is impossible to get in.</p>

<p>I know of people who have appealed and got in. You have to have a pretty stellar reason though, some circumstance or reason why part of your app was lacking, make sure it is something they haven't heard before.</p>

<p>Well i got a 4.33 first semester, i am working on a research proj that might be published, my competitive civics team got 4th in state (nationally ranked tho). Do you think this is strong enough?</p>

<p>Don't mean to offend, but Senior Year stats don't have any bearing on admissions... everyone is admitted on Sophmore and Junior grades.
On the other hand, if there is compelling information to present with why your GPA was lower in previous years (and you have evidence you are capable of higher grades with Senior Year grades...) </p>

<p>Appeals are a real long shot. Don't get your hopes up!</p>

<p>My friend who got rejected has a similar question. He has a 2340 sat score and 780 lit 720 Math 2C and 800 Bio E. You might be thinking how the heck he got rejected with those stats but his gpa killed him. 3.6 uw, 3.8w. He went through some tough times his junior year, including his older brother's drug addiction. He didn't really write about it in his personal essays because he thought it would make him seem whiny and desperate. He wants to appeal, but I found out on the website that to appeal you have to have special circumstances that occurred after the app was turned in. Would if be alright if he sent in a letter explaining his severe family problems in junior year? That made his gpa drop from a 3.8 to a 3.6. Would it be worth for him to appeal? Berkeley is his number one choice.</p>

<p>Yeah your friend should definitely appeal. I know some people who appealed and got in to both Cal and UCLA. Cal and UCLA for that matter actually have set aside an allotment of admittances for appeals candidates.</p>

<p>I see I'll make sure to tell him. However, will he need to send in a letter of rec? Also, his senior year grades weren't to hot since he decided to try and impress colleges by taking 6 APs -_-..Obviously with his ongoing family problems and the stress of college applications he didn't really have that much time to concentrate so since they request a transcript how would they view that? He also took college classes but didn't know he was supposed to send in transcripts, should he send those in now?</p>

<p>ni24045, bioE is the toughest major of all to get admitted into (on par with EECS and possibly higher). It's a crapshoot for many applicants.</p>

<p>tell your friend to send in everything that will allow admissions to reevaluate the decision in a new light</p>

<p>Uh actually he applied as a biology major, just regular biology.</p>

<p>so is having outstanding first semester senior year gpa completely useless for appeals, or does it have some merit (even a little)?</p>

<p>Great senior year grades definitely help in the appeals process, but this is one of many factors that they will look at when evaluating the appeals process.</p>

<p>This is the latest thing I found about the appeals process. It contains information for Cal, Davis, Irvine, LA, SD and SB:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compreview/0308_meeting/appeals_matrix.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compreview/0308_meeting/appeals_matrix.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Having outstanding first semester senior GPA by itself won't be considered. You'll need some special circumstance that wasn't mentioned such as a severe medical condition during your sophomore/junior year that caused you to underperform, or something like that. But if you're going to appeal definitely include first semester senior year grades and probably a few letters of recommendation.</p>

<p>Yea, i am trying to show as many things as i can for my appeals. I think it says only 1 letter of rec, but i am not sure. can anyone confirm this?</p>

<p>so if i only have the first semester grades to show, it is definitely pointless to appeal right?</p>

<p>Pretty much, if that's your basis for appeal.</p>

<p>unlimitedx, about my friend's situation. During his junior year, his family came close to being bankrupt, almost got forced out of their house (rented), brother's drug addiction, brother almost went to jail, dad got a tumor, and he is really low income. Would that be grounds for filing an appeal?</p>

<p>nope....just b/c he had that doesn't mean they are going to feel pitty for him. Your friend should include how he overcame those difficulties and there needs to be proof that he is now a stronger person.</p>

<p>so i have a friend who got straight B's during first semester. he also got 1st place academic decathlon team and 1st place individual is that a valid reason that would help him in his appeal or would this be pointless</p>

<p>Well yeah he managed to pass 4 aps with 3 5's and 1 4, and he self studied comp. gov and got a 4. The reason he got a lower gpa is that he sort of gave up, because he felt so depressed about his life at home.</p>