<p>Hi all,
I was looking for advice on how to approach an appeal to Davis and Irvine.
I have a 3.7 UC GPA and a 2080 SAT. So I know I was not a virtual lock to get in, but I have over 1000 community service hours and many other EC’s. I got rejected from both schools, but due to financial hardship I need to attend a UC because NYU, Tufts, and USC are now out of the picture for me even though I got in. Seeing as many students who had lesser stats got in, I thought it was worth a try considering I went to a top private high school and my sophomore year grades were bad due to a family problem at the time. Should I mention the hardship in my letter and would I have to somehow show proof?
Thanks a lot!</p>
<p>if you already mentioned a hardship previously then dont bother. you can only talk about NEW information</p>
<p>I didn’t mention the financial hardship because it happened two months ago, after I sent my application in. And I never mentioned the dip in my sophomore year grades, I just thought that overall I would be okay for middle tier UCs.</p>
<p>^^^Why can’t you go to Tufts (need-blind) or USC? Perhaps you can report the special circumstances that have arisen…</p>
<p>I did apply for aid, but it’s looking like I probably won’t get much. I looked more and more into both these campuses recently and they are better fits than the privates I originally wanted to go to. If not, I’ll most likely go to Syracuse which just isn’t the place for me.</p>
<p>dont even bother asking the UCs for aid with this crappy economy and all.</p>
<p>There is consideration for family problems and for hardship. More at some UCs than others, I think (not sure). It certainly cannot hurt to try, but if the financial hardship is simlpy that you can’t afford a private school, I don’t think it would be very persuasive. Most people can’t. Best of luck, this was a really hard year for mid-tier UCs. I know that several of my daughter’s friends failed to get in at UCD, UCI, and UCB that we thought would do fine.</p>
<p>Thanks Strykermom, it’s sad because I really would prefer going to UCI or UCD over any of the schools I got into. I’m going to explain how my grades have improved, new leadership positions and awards I’ve accumlated since november, and how financially it is the only option. I’ll actually have to pay for a portion of my tuition on top of all this.</p>
<p>Markymark2, You got into USC but not Irvine? How is that? I thought Irvine was much easier to get into.</p>
<p>Oops above where I said UCD, UCI, and UCB, I meant UCI, UCD, and UCSB. The applications are up and they have to take 6% less students because of lack of funding.</p>
<p>Lucy55 - you’ve obviously been misinformed.</p>
<p>Yes, the whole California school admissions doesn’t seem to make sense. My son did get into Irvine and what you are telling me he has a pretty good chance at USC. He was rejected from UCLA so I assumed that he would probably be rejected from USC.</p>
<p>USC is easier to get into than UCLA, if you look at the GPA and SAT that are required to get into those schools. UCI is actually probably slightly harder to get into than USC.</p>
<p>For appealing to UCI and UCD, would I just call their admissions offices and speak with an officer when they’re open and start telling them about how I wasn’t able to do so well with my studies and SATs due to legitimate things that happened, for instance the death
of a friend of mine who used to attend my church before he graduated from school and
even the passing away of my grandfather during my sophomore year?..
Even worse was when I found out one of my friend’s father passed away in a car accident just a few day before New Year’s Eve about three and a half months ago.</p>
<p>Can anybody suggest to me as how I would go about approaching an appeal to UCI and UCD?
I don’t want to downplay or make it seem as if these people’s lives are just something that I’m using to get into college…I’m not, but I believe I have to really let schools know ever factor that could have had a role to play in my not being accepted into UCI or UCD or UCSB due to my “lack of points” (since most of them are point system based)</p>
<p>Just my two cents…</p>
<p>I really don’t think the UCs are going to be very welcoming to those saying “My life was hard so I did poorly”</p>
<p>Instead, they would rather see “My life was hard, but I got a 4.1 anyway!”</p>
<p>College is a stressful time, and they essentially want someone who will succeed at their school. Yes, you were thrown a fee complications in your life, but many other people have…and throughout your years in college, you are likely to face many difficult circumstances. If you are just making excuses for yourself, it is unlikely that your appeal will be successful. </p>
<p>If you really want to get in, don’t talk about all the reasons you did poorly…instead, talk about where you excelled.</p>
<p>But if my trend of GPAs can really be seen that there was something that happened (like a significant drop from a 3.8 Sophomore year to a 3.33 Junior year) shouldn’t I tell in an appeal to the colleges a few reasons that may explain the reason why my grades were poor? Not to say that I’ll just leave it at that.</p>
<p>I will also explain how I’ve turned this hardship around into something that I now have under control, but again not to downplay the deaths of some people I knew.</p>
<p>I’m aware that solely stating a number of difficult circumstances is still a weak, however pitiful, appeal to send to the colleges.
I think that also including what Skadforlife says about “talk about where you excelled” is the way to go, especially if you really did have some pretty big things that happened to you during high school.
It’s true that many people go through the same problems as you do, no matter how unique you might think your situation is, but the difference between you and others is how that shapes your life afterwards (e.g., whether you totally fall apart, or you still don’t completely give up on school even though your circumstances may have taken a toll on your grades).</p>
<p>Lastly, I honestly feel that my situation directly correlated with how well my studies went, with the passing away of a few friends of mine. I still think that you should try to appeal if you have had legitimate hardships during high school too.
Wouldn’t at least giving them a call and SINCERELY explaining to the admission officer about your hardships give him/her a better impression of you rather than having to just infer things about you from your stats?</p>
<p>The bottom line for me is that appealing to schools never hurts, and you should just take every advice you get, like Skadforlife’s, and use it to your benefit when writing your appeal.</p>
<p>By the way, can someone tell me what people normally put in their letter when they appeal to UCs? Or what people send to the UCs in general, like letter of recommendations, Fall Senior year transcript, a written or typed letter?</p>
<p>My two cents:</p>
<p>Overall, appeals are given rarely, but they are definitely given. People on this forum do not have much experience with the appeals process, so do not take any one person’s opinion or advice with too much emphasis. My girlfriend had similar Stats as yours with plenty of leadership and EC’s and was rejected by UCD last year. She appealed and the rejection was reversed. Don’t give up hope because everyone tells you it can’t be done. It can be done, and here is how she did it:</p>
<p>UCD:</p>
<p>-UCD is a point system. Find out where you can get more points. A Hardship that was not mentioned in the original application is definitely something new that you can try to get points for. We went over her application and found out exactly which points she received and which points she did not (she omitted leadership roles). I think you may have been too modest in your application, just like she had been. </p>
<p>-Which major did you apply for? Engineering majors have a higher required point total to be admitted. You however cannot request another major. This is just food for thought as to why you might have been rejected. This is the sole reason why my girlfriend was rejected in the first place. She applied for aeronautical engineering, which required a much higher point value than other majors.</p>
<p>-Teacher Recommendations… She received several all-star recommendations from her various AP teachers. I think this can definitely help any applicant if they are on the border, as she was, and you also seem to be. </p>
<p>Once you figure out which points you can receive, use the rest of the space to talk about why it is important for you to go to UCD. It seems to me that you have a lot of passion for UCD, so show this passion when you write your appeal. </p>
<p>Best of luck!</p>
<p>cali, that was some good motivation. thanks.</p>
<p>Has anyone ever tried the calling method before?</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack this thread…but in my particular case; they (Santa Cruz) rejected me because I had D and F in a “a-g” course…but I clearly passed their cutoff point.People with the same or lower stats than me got in.And I still met the math requirement.I guess it just bothers me that SC has a “no D and/or F grades or automatic disqualified” policy…I don’t event think UCLA or Cal does this.</p>
<p>Would they even bother looking at my particular appeal?</p>
<p>The points I included in my packet(already sent out)
-I added that my GPA went from a 3.8 to 4.2 between junior and senior year.Which would bring my AVG GPA up(from a 3.42).
-Forgot to mention my mother becoming sick with cancer and that I had to visit because she works overseas.
-CSF membership
-Got a leadership position in JSA
-Will retake the math class this summer if permitted(lol kind of pointless…but w/e)
-Teacher recommendation</p>