Drafting UC Appeal Letter - Help Needed

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - GENERAL
1

I’m in the process of drafting an appeal letter for UCLA and Berkeley. (I got denied to UCLA for Computer Science last week and I feel that I’m going to get denied to Berkeley for EECS.)

Here are my stats:

3.807 UW GPA (calculated only using a-g classes from 10-11th grade
4.077 capped UC GPA (using up to 8 semesters of UC-designated honors as a bonus point in the GPA calculation)
4.077 uncapped UC GPA (the schools I went to for grades 9, 10 and 11 were OOS, so only my 7 semesters of AP classes were given the UC-honors designation)
35 ACT
800 Math Level 2, 800 Chemistry, 790 Physics SAT 2’s

Additional important info: B’s are only in English classes and Humanities classes; straight A’s in all math/science classes. I moved to California for my senior year, attending high school for freshman, sophomore and junior years OOS. I feel like this might have been an important factor in my decision, as it impacts my GPA calculation and makes me seem like a worse applicant (only AP classes are given the Honors designation and my GPA is compared to the GPA of students who went to my school, which is bad because my current school heavily inflates grades).

I need some help on what i should write about. What are some do’s and don’t’s of UC appeal letters? Has anyone written a successful appeal letter? What did you write it on?

What supplemental materials am I allowed to/should I include? I read on UCLA’s appeal website that higher senior year grades aren’t the basis for an appeal, so does that mean my senior year first semester grades are out of the question? Thanks.

I know appeal decisions are in the order of 3% for UCLA and Berkeley, so I need serious advice.

2

Some topics I want to mention:

  1. My upward trend in English grades (B- first semester of sophomore year Honors English to B+ junior year AP English; yes I know this might seem very minor, but I need anything I can get) which isn't mentioned in the application due to only whole letter grades being reported.
  2. The fact that I had to move between sophomore and junior year, which influenced how many AP classes I could take junior year. (I had to take 2 freshman classes at my 11th grade school just to satisfy graduation req's at my 11th grade school instead of 2 AP's, which differed from that of my old school, and also because I was not eligible to take summer school at my new school due to not having attended that school sophomore year, which made me ineligible to take more advanced math classes junior year.)
  3. How I could contribute to UCLA's/Berkeley's mission of promoting cultural diversity (I was born in Korea, moved to the Netherlands, then to Illinois, then Texas, and finally Cali make me a unique addition to the community, etc..)
  4. Immigrating to America when I was in second grade to explain my lack of English skill (I know....this is an extreme stretch, but I need any reason I can get to put myself in the best light possible.)

Are these reasonable reasons or should I just completely ditch the effort? Part of me thinks it’s impossible to get into CS at UCLA and EECS at Berkeley (the most competitive programs at both schools) without straight A’s or debilitating medical circumstances. The only reason I’m even trying for an appeal is because I feel as though my ACT/SAT 2 scores are in or above range for admits. (at least at UCLA for CS)