<p>Just sent my appeal letter off in the mail this morning. Let me tell you guys what I talked about (new, compelling evidence) and tell me if you think I have a shot.</p>
<p>Took the January SAT (didn't report because it was too late) and got a 2040 on it. SATs I did report: 1730 & 1880.</p>
<p>Talked about some of the extracurriculars stuff I did between November and March (ran an entire basketball tournament with all of the responsibilities on me and started from scratch, participated in other ROTC events, big ones btw).</p>
<p>Started working as a tutor for elementary students.</p>
<p>Talked about two awards I won between that time span (bank of america science & math award, CIF male scholar athlete for my high school. each only go to one individual per school).</p>
<p>Awarded a very prestigious 25,000/year scholarship for 4 years. Along with my pell grant & cal grant, I'm completely covered for college; therefore, I won't need a cent from UC Berkeley. </p>
<p>I know UC Berkeley accepts like absolutely nobody through appeal, but I think this info gives me a good shot, what do you guys think? Honesty please.</p>
<p>I must add that I also played basketball in winter, and am currently playing baseball for the high school.</p>
<p>you do understand that you’re not appealing to us…right?</p>
<p>but best of luck anyway…</p>
<p>I want opinions on if I can make it.</p>
<p>No. They already accepted almost nobody through appeal, and now they have a waitlist. So now you have to show why they should admit you, who got rejected, over every single person in that waitlist.</p>
<p>Alright. Thanks for the info, we’ll see.</p>
<p>No, it’s not impossible to get in through an appeal. I don’t know what’s the deal with this year’s UC waitlists. Good luck, anyway.</p>
<p>I thought they want new information that you didn’t report from your freshman year up to the point of your application. I’m not sure if they will accept ECs that you did AFTER the app. deadline.</p>
<p>No, they want things that happened after you applied. If you try to appeal with information you had when you did the initial application, the usual response is “too bad, you should’ve filled out your application completely”.</p>
<p>All of that happened after I applied.</p>
<p>The ECs aren’t the important part… The fact that I’m now working, got a higher SAT score than what was reported, and that I won’t need any money from the university are the things that stand out in my letter… Not so much the ECs.</p>
<p>Always worth a try. The worst that can happen is that they say “no.”</p>
<p>While they will look at anything you send, appeals that just restate what went in the app or add in stuff like 1H senior grades are generally silently ignored. Now, if you won the nobel prize after the app deadline, or gold at the olympics, that would be different. The key phrase is ‘significant or compelling’ - if a high GPA student earns more high grades, not very different. If an applicant with a low GPA due to problems in sophomore year were to show that not only were junior year grades exemplary, but the 1H senior grades continued a proof of excellence. </p>
<p>OPs case is ambiguous - some stuff that is typically ignored, but some new awards. If the added EC stuff was underway at the time of the application, it falls into the ‘why didn’t you mention this before’ heading but sometimes old items not in the application are important. Someone may have had a major life crisis and not mentioned it in the application. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compreview/0308_meeting/appeals_matrix.pdf[/url]”>http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compreview/0308_meeting/appeals_matrix.pdf</a> but it is a couple of years old, don’t know how it might have changed in light of the new situation and waitlists. It lists the appeals process, grounds for reversal, and the typical success rate (about 10% for Cal).</p>
<p>I think you may have misunderstood the meaning of new and compelling information.</p>
<p>For your appeal to be considered, you must prove that you are a much stronger candidate than what was presented in your application. Specifically, you must present new and compelling information that was not previously available to the admissions office. So if you failed to include information regarding extraordinary hardship or exceptional talent/extracurriculars on your application, you can discuss these things on your appeal as reasons for the UCs to reconsider you. Make sure you describe exactly how the exceptional talent/extracurriculars qualify you for UC admissions or how the hardship prevented you from achieving academically. </p>
<p>Recent achievements (in senior year) do not improve your overall achievement in the past years and are usually not seriously considered for appeal.</p>