Rejected from UCLA.....planning on writing an appeal letter

Hi!

   I applied to UCLA for a chemistry major in the college of Letters and Sciences and was swiftly rejected. This surprised me because most of the people I know in my school at least got waitlisted. This had led me to believe that the UCLA admissions committee saw something seriously wrong in my application, and I think it is my unweighted GPA. It was only a 3.74, and my UC GPA only comes out to 4.1ish (because I took a community college course and got an A, along with a bunch of AP classes). So in my appeal letter, should I focus on the fact that I CAN handle the UCLA course-load and detail the reasons for my relatively low GPA? Of course, I would also mention how much UCLA means to me in terms of fitting in to my future career plans.

For example, I wanted to talk about the fact that I was ambitious but naive, and I ended up taking 4 AP Classes sophomore year (including AP Calculus BC and AP Chemistry), and 8 AP classes (while self-studying a few more) Junior Year. I only did this to challenge myself and gain more knowledge, but it (obviously) backfired and I got a couple of B's along the way. I also took AP Physics C my junior year and had an absolutely horrible teacher that received a lot of similar complaints from his student. In fact, my parents had a meeting with the principal to discuss his inept teaching and unnecessarily difficult tests. But my guidance counselor won't mention this to UCLA for obvious reasons (will look bad for the school). It was the first year the course was available in my school, and the teacher was actually let go immediately after the year I took it, but it was too late and the damage to my GPA was done. I got a C in AP Physics C Mechanics and a C in AP Physics C Electricity and Magnetism. But that's why I worked hard to self-study SAT Physics and I got a 770. I just feel like that effort was unrecognized. I know a C isn't the best grade, but I got it in one of the hardest, if not the hardest, classes a high school student could take, and many students don't even take the class. 

Not to mention the fact that I did have a lot of medical issues with asthma and having to miss school a lot throughout junior year, which is when I took Physics C and all those other AP’s. I did not mention any of this in my original application, something I completely regret. But what’s done is done.

In fact, I have strong test scores that are a testament to my intelligence (2380 SAT, 790 chem SAT2, 790 Math SAT2, 770 Physics SAT2, 710 Lit SAT2, lots of 4’s and 5’s in AP tests). Unfortunately, I cannot say the same about my GPA. But I did get all A’s my first semester of my senior year (in a rigorous courseload of AP’s), but I don’t know if they care about that.

I’m 100% expecting my appeal letter to be thrown in the trash, but it’s worth a shot. I say this because I know that UCLA values GPA among everything else, and in fact this year I saw a lot of people with a high GPA and mediocre test scores getting accepted. Of course, they must’ve had something unique/interesting about them.

So my question is: Will my appeal letter at least be given some consideration, or does it seem like I’m whining/making excuses?? Because I know that I’m better than what my GPA says about me, and there were a lot of external reasons why I didn’t do as well as I should have in a few classes.

If you read all of this, thank you so much! It really means a lot to me.

It really does sound like a lot of excuses, and some of them won’t be very persuasive. Do you have other options to attend?

I have seen your posts on the UCLA 2021 Applicant Thread and I distinctly remember you posting a comment about how you never really considered attending UCLA. If you never wanted to really attend a school, then you should not have applied to that school. Maybe you believe that you should have been accepted to top schools in the country solely due to your stats, however, stats are just a way to get your foot into the door of acceptance. The UCLA admissions officers probably did not recognize any other significant reason to accept you other than your stats, and unfortunately for you, many students have high stats that are not accepted to universities. UCLA is doing you a favor by rejecting you because you have clearly posted in the past on College Confidential that you never wanted to go to UCLA. Lastly, your appeal letter seems very generic and contains excuses that many other students will probably write in their appeal letters. Submit your UCLA appeal letter, but do not expect anything because admissions officers will know if a student is a good fit for their respective academic institutions. If this reply sounds like I am being condescending toward you, I really am not. Life sucks and things do not go as you expect them to be. Keep your head high, focus on schools you have already been accepted to for next year, and either transfer to another school or go to one of the top schools in the country for your graduate degree. School does not define your life. What you do in life is what defines your life.

You have posted many times in the UCLA 2021 Applicant Thread that you never really considered attending UCLA. If you do not want to attend a certain university, then do not apply to that university. Also, high stats are only able to get your foot into the door of admissions. UCLA probably did not find any compelling reason to accept you to their university other than your high stats. Unfortunately for you, many high school students are rejected by universities despite their high stats. Furthermore, your appeal letter is very generic and is filled with excuses. In addition to, colleges will know if you are a good fit for their university, so they are doing you a favor by rejecting you because you never wanted to attend UCLA. Lastly, I am not trying to be condescending toward you. Life sucks and things will not always go your way. Keep your head high, focus on schools that have already accepted you, and either transfer to another university or attend one of your top choice universities for graduate school.

I agree with @Bakasworld

I think you are having the fear of being looked down, and that is the only reason I can think of to explain why you are still trying to appeal knowing that you are not going to UCLA anyway. Not only once people on this website have told you what should be told, but it seems like you still having that thought. I consider what you are thinking about this issue is something that would hurt you really really bad in the future when you encounter similar situation. Its not about getting in UCLA anymore, its about your attitudes and thoughts towards life. Not getting in doesn’t mean that you are worse, and getting in doesn’t mean they are better than you. People have told you hundreds of times, and you should know this, that admission is a holistic process in which gpa is extremely important, but doesn’t mean all. No matter what, the fact that you are not going to UCLA anyways but still want to fight with other people to get a seat really really irritates me.

I would also mention how much UCLA means to me in terms of fitting into my future career plans.

“You have posted many times in the UCLA 2021 Applicant Thread that you never really considered attending UCLA. If you do not want to attend a certain university, then do not apply to that university. Also, high stats are only able to get your foot into the door of admissions.”

One more advice, instead of trying so hard to prove your potentials for nothing (especially if they reject you again, that will be even more embarrassing since you have no reason to explain to your friends anymore) , focus on you senior grades and do not get rescinded by the universities that accepted you so far.
Your similar thread was deleted like a couple weeks ago, I hope this one wont end in the same way.

UCLA does not consider an applicants level of interest if you check the common dataset. http://www.aim.ucla.edu/profiles/cds2.aspx
Agree with the other posters, you have some great options. UCLA is always possible for Grad school so move on and get excited about your other acceptances.

@bodangles Yeah, I do have other options. I already wrote my appeal letter, so I’m still going to send it. But again, I’m expecting a rejection so I’ve already moved on.

@andrewjchang Thanks, I’ll keep my head up! If I said anything about not wanting to go to UCLA, it must’ve been in the spur of the moment due to my disappointment about my rejection. I honestly did want to go, but there’s really nothing I can do about it now. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on my senior grades. I kind of hope this thread gets deleted cause there’s really no use for it now.

@Gumbymom Ok, thank you!

I got rejected by UCLA too so I feel I am not qualified to have a say in anyone’s essay lol, but reading the information you plan on putting in your appeal does sound like you are making excuses all the way through though.

@giriboy That’s what I was thinking too. For an appeal letter you’re supposed to present new information, which I don’t really have. Anyway, I already sent my appeal letter so whats done is done. I just didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to try, and wanted to improve my writing skills.

Good Luck on both your appeal letters to UCB and UCLA. If not admitted, where will you go?

Good luck bro!

Bro just take the L and go to UCSD

@preppedparent Thanks :). If not admitted to UCLA or Berkeley, I’ll attend UCSD.

@LookAtThisNet I already submitted my appeal letter, but I’ll probably end up taking the L and going to UCSD, don’t worry :p.

@andrewjchang Thanks! Again, thank you for the advice :).

Did you get waitlisted at Cal?

@10s4life No, I was rejected from the College of Chemistry for the Chemistry (B.S.) major.